Kwiky burner with a twist

I tried a bouncy house blower once. Yup, it was way too much air. I've kinda struck the sweet spot with my microwave blowers. I just adjust the fuel. I'd go with the go cart idea.
Here's a BETTER use for that monster. Use it as a way to blow the snow off your property and onto the the neighbors!

 

There's a Youtube channel where this guy does nothing but run a naturally aspirated Devil Forge furnace and melt down scrap into ingots: he got one of these blowers and instead of fitting it to his furnace he melted it down into ingots. Ironsides has used a similar one to good effect.

 

Now THAT'S a shame! I'll have to speak to him about that one. Amazing you can have a channel just melting crap and ice blocks and the sheep will watch it. In his defense, I hope he's making a bunch of google money as I happen to know his wife is battling breast cancer. I've already got that T-shirt.

 

It’s not really a ring compressor, it is a regenerative blower. I used 3 on every waste treatment plant I built for the last 10 years. There are two basic designs, one made popular by Gast and the other by Siemens. Yours is the Siemens variant and while the rotor to housing tolerances are pretty tight they at least don’t seize when you sneeze like a Gast. The Gast style will seize from a brief power failure and quick restart and tolerate absolutely no particles in the intake. Gast uses the motor bearing to support the rotor and because it is between the hot motor and hot rotor they often fail. Yours has the bearing outboard against the cold wall which is much better.

 

What do you use these for in waste treatment plants? I’m guessing adding air to the water.

Through my Google search I also found roots blowers being used. They are about 10 times the weight, but they can also create 5 times the pressure.

 

It is a definite shame. He could’ve fixed it and put it on the used market for North of 500 USD. But his channel is all about melting his finds for a YouTube following.

 

I can offer a guess why that was scrapped based on my own experience. It probabably needed repair and the owner was faced with 3, 4, $500 (or way more) repair bill so he bought a used replacement for $500 that doesn't sound like a jet engine and doesn't turn an otherwise normal work environment into one that requires hearing protection.
Sometimes that's the best pump to perform a given function or is in an area that already doesn't require people to be able to hear. Or it came with the machine it's hooked to and is too high-value to just throw out and replace. I run one now for the last reason and if it ever craps out I will be looking at the above alternatives. My pump has been moved out into an enclosed garage area 30' away from the machine it supplies air and vacuum to and is plumbed with 1-1/2"PVC. I've done that with several of these pumps over the years. Even over that distance there is plenty of supply for its application and it makes the production area a not-unreasonable place to work. But if it ever craps out its a goner. You can hear that thing running out at the street.
Equipment dealers will just shrug and say that's how it is. Baloney. There are often satisfactory alternatives, all of them loud, but nowhere near what that regen puts out.


Pete

 

We used them for aeration of the wastewater to nitrify it removing ammonia and also for scouring the membrane surfaces of the ultrafilters we used. Our systems were small with tanks only 10 feet deep so we operated at about 5 psi. The benefit is that these blowers are inexpensive and have very low maintenance compared to Roots style blowers, which we also used.

 

Thanks Pete. I got the manufacturing specs on this. It is better than I expected. I might be OK with the sound level as I’m going to put this on the VFD. Maybe it will be OK running at half speed at maybe 2/3 of the noise. I don’t know how they measured the 78 dbA (if it was at 2 feet or 10)

The one I have is the second last one in the column. At 133 inches of water column (or 4.8 psi) this thing looks like it’ll pack a small punch at 212 CFM. From what I’ve read about these, if they are set up properly they could have 50,000 hours of run time, comparable to a 10-15,000 RPM vacuum cleaner that has about 1000 hour run time.

I have completed my trials with my mini four stage turbine. It can do the job and I think it can do the job a little better if I make the torches just a tiny bit bigger. And/or add bigger pressure behind it.


One thing I have been constantly trying to keep is keeping the torch as small as possible. Not needing a monster air compressor and having this whole thing somewhat portable. This regenerative blower will not add to portability as, I will need a 240V. power supply at 30A.

Thanks for the extra information. It was helpful.

 

Adding a spin vane to the torch. I am starting out with a big washer blanked out of my stainless steel scraps.
I’m building the torch a tiny bit bigger with no 90° corners. Traditionally a 90° corner can add up to six times the diameter static pressure. I’m starting to understand why manufactures try to get rid of 90° Corners/elbows.
I’m hoping this will create a double edge sword.

 

You are using it for a blower. Go to Walmart and buy a large stainless cook pot. Replace the intake filter cover with the pot and line it with sound absorbing foam on the bottom of the pot and around the sides. The difference in noise level is very large. Also you need to know that the blower is cooled by air flowing through it. If you find you don't need lots of air and try to throttle it way down with the VFD you need to measure the housing temperature as it can overheat. The cure is a blowoff valve that lets it pump more air all the time.

 

Cool... Now slug us out a ton of dollars and lets go to vegas.

 

LOL, not a chance. That would be equivalent to me giving you a knapsack in Amsterdam and asking you to fly back to the USA to give to my friend once you’re free and clear of customs. LOL. Most casinos have a scan chip inside every coin. It is built into the hologram. The casino knows how many times that chips been played from the time it’s left the crib.

This is why all old coins get swept now... and new coins provided.

 

So, I’m taking my torch I am making it a little streamlined . I figure all the big boy burner oil torches are all welded so I better weld mine too! The air inlet is at 30° I have changed from 2 => 90° fittings to one 30°. Welding it had its challenges. The tube is so thin there is boogers on the inside. But I managed to clean them up and tap. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll solder the fuel tube.

I did have to go up from 0.031 tube wall pipe to 0.062” as I’ve realized I’m not that great of a welder.

 

I do believe I would have tig brazed that with some sil bronze. My machine can light off and hold an arc at 4amps, but that I still suck on super thin stuff.

 

I personally struggled with it. 1/2 ID and 5/8 OD stainless steel weld especially in the crotch. I have been Tool welding for over 30 years and this one got me. This was my first attempt... with 0.031” wall. I just blasted right through. 0.062 seems to be my money! I am no superstar welder. But I am pretty good.

 

I'd have blown that thin stuff apart.

 

Hopefully this will be my last torch/s. They are very simple but, not so simple to build.

 

Looks Good! Fire it up!!!

 

Pretty neat idea for centering your tube and will definitely up the turbulence. I hope to hell you haven't built an air whistle!

Pete