Blown forge blower question and safety question

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motivated99

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Oct 10, 2013
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So I'm planning to build a Hi-Low pid controlled blown propane forge. My forge body is planned to be a 30# freon tank with 2" of inswool and 1/4" or so of satanite for reference to my application.

I have read thread after thread about blowers and have heard all sorts of recommendations. From what I understand I'm looking for a 110/115V blower in the 60-100CFM range and capable of providing it with a static pressure of .30" (correct me if I'm wrong) and using two fan dimmer switches for two speeds. A personal preference would be something that will be easy to connect to a 2" pipe flange (or does it not matter?). Some options I've seen are:

http://www.blacksmithsdepot.com/products/forge-fan-fuel/forge-blowers.html
The 164CFM unit looks like the only one with a flange and from what I hear might be overkill? A smaller one might work better but which one?

I was also looking at this one, a Dayton 1TDP3 PSC. It has a flange that should make for easy mounting, hits 66 CFM at .30" but has a max inlet temp of 104F.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DAYTON-1TDP3-PSC-Blower-115-Volt-/321119284155?_trksid=p2054897.l4275#ht_2775wt_1255

And then I see recommendations for bounce house blowers but A) I haven't seen any specs for them and B) I have no idea how I would mount it.

My other question is about safety. My father-in-law who is helping me out big time was thinking it could really use some safety features so no one gets hurts. One idea we had was an extra solenoid connected to an e-stop between the regulator and the burner. Another idea was a backflow preventer like on a welding setup so the tank can't ignite. An idea he had was buying a used propane heater to use the parts out of like the ignitor, flame sensor, controller, etc. That idea went over my head so I wanted to ask the experts. What safety features should we be considering???
 
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I have the Dayton fan on my blower and it works great.
If you are mounting it to a 1 1/2 pipe flange you will need to weld a slightly larger washer to it for it to match up.
I'll look for a picture.

Inlet temp will not be an issue as you are blowing cool air, not sucking hot air.
 
Thanks Eric. I plan to mount it to a 2" pipe flange so I might be ok.

Is your blower PID controlled with two fan switches or pots(potentiometers)? I'm a little concerned using a single phase ac motor on two speeds.

Anyone have any thoughts on safety features?
 
Most simple blower motors will be controllable by any TRIAC dimmer switch. They are low current shaded pole motors. No worries about safety.

The need for a flash back arrestor in a propane line is nearly zero. There should never be enough static air pressure to back up the LP line. A good LP gas regulator should make that nearly impossible, too. A flash suppressor won't hurt, but isn't needed. Read on......

About blowers. A blower for a forge is not just something that moves air. It needs to have the right volume and provide a basic amount of manifold pressure. The best ones are made specifically to be forge or burner blowers. The fan blades are different from a squirrel cage blower. That said, many inexpensive fan blowers will work just fine. The perfect blower is three phase or DC, and can be controlled to provide the exact amount of air needed. Most all blacksmith supply catalogs have controllable AC and DC blowers.

Now, some folks thing if a hammer is good, then a sledge hammer is better. They are usually the same guys that think if a 80CFM forge blower is perfect for a small forge, a shop vac, an (God forbid) air compressor, or a leaf blower is even better. These things are made to move huge volumes of air at much higher pressures than a forge blower ever should supply. Blow the leaves with the leaf blower, blow the dust off your grinder with the air compressor after you vacuum up the grindings with the shop vac.....but don't use any of these on your forge.
 
I used an automotive heater blower motor and attached squirrel cage. Mounted the motor to a piece of plywood, mounted a coffee can with air vents cut into it around the squirrel cage and cut an outlet on the side, shaped a piece of pvc or abs pipe to fit the outlet, then used an old very flexible vacuum cleaner hose to plumb to the burner.

You can sort of see it in this video at 0:13 and 1:01

[video=youtube;KKjy9fnL4YY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKjy9fnL4YY[/video]

And you can see the vacuum hose in this pic.... is it wrong that my forge is on a barbecue stand??

 
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I think my plan is to go with the Dayton blower and use TRIAC dimmers.

I'm slowly collecting parts, stay tuned for a WIP forge build....and probably some more questions :rolleyes:
 
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