Forced Air Manifold plans and Fitting a rheostat on a electric leaf blower (w/pic)

[valleyman]

I have a inexpensive Toro 2 speed leaf blower and I was thinking that it needs to be retro fitted with a rheostat to give me more control over the air speed. Is that something that can be done?

If I do nothing, the low speed still cranks out a lot of air. As a test I closed off varying amounts of the intake and that reduced the output a lot. I used duct tape to block it off.

I plan on keeping the blower away from the heat.

So, if I or you guys can help me figure out a way to control /restrict the intake other than tape, will that work. Will restricting the air intake damage the unit or create a hazard?

I've included a sketch of my idea.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

[mapleack]

Put a Wye right in front of the blower with either a diverter flapper in it or some type of gate valve on the "dump" side of the Wye. Path of least resistance will lower your airflow volume to the manifold.

[red maples]

your going to need a switch in a convienient place because your going to need to shut it down when you put wood in. So just use an adjustable dimmer switch with a numbered dial. then you can control the air and shut it down when you need to add wood.

[Dennis H.]

I used the leaf blower thing with my barrel evap and have to say that it worked good. I used it just for air under the grates though.

As for speed control, you might want to re think how you will do that. Leaf Blower motors are not designed to be speed adjusted. I hooked my leaf blower up to a router speed controler and I got just over 1 year out of it before the brushes were shot. Since I was already into the next season when it gave up the ghost I had no choice but to go get a second one. By the end of this past season it was starting to show signs of worn out brushes.
The reason for wearing out brushes has something to do with shifting voltage and frequency, something like that. This causes the brushes to arc and wear down really fast.

It will work but don't expect a long life out of it.

[smitty76]

I have to agree with mapleack. This will allow you to run the blower at normal speed/voltage so that you do not damage it and control the amount of air you need. We put a switch on the wall next to the wood pile so we could shut the blower down to add wood.