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I Forge Iron

Blowers


TCook

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You want pressure and not huge amounts of CFM for solid fuel.  The old centrifugal blowers (and bellows) could put out 200-400 cfm with a couple ounces water pressure, which allowed sufficient oxygen to enter the fire push its way through the fuel mass.

 

Pressure is not so important for a gas forge since all you need is enough to mix the fuel gas and supply the proper air/fuel mixture.

 

I tried an experiment many years ago using a common 500 cfm squirrel cage blower that came off an air handler with a coal forge - it worked but not as well as an old Canedy Otto paddle blower.  Just for fun, I tried using compressed air, which also works to a point but you need enough volume to keep the fire hot without blowing coke out of the pot.

 

So to summarize - it's a balancing act of CFM, which is needed to allow the fuel to burn - and sufficient pressure to make it through the fire.

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I'm just a newb but I bought a bathroom exhaust fan from a big box hardware store for about 20 bucks to use in my coal forge. It works well enough to burn the tip off of a rr spike.  :(  I did have one of those bounce around things for kids to jump in with what I think would be an awesome blower, but I sold it like a month before I got into this, doh!

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I too use a bathroom exhaust fan on my brake drum forge.  Blows sufficiently strong enough that I usually only open my blast gate on 2" black iron pipe 1/4 to 1/2 way open.  Full open will only burn too much coal and burn too much steel  :wacko:

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  • 1 month later...

Hi

I'm in OZ and building my first forge a Brake drum forge.  I've got hold of a large cast steel pot and have just got the 2inch pipes threaded to fit to it, the blowers here are like hens teeth to get so I'm looking at all alternatives, what is the best air flow that I need to get in CFM?  has anyone used Boat Bilge blowers they seem to be about 130 to 250 cfm would that be okay or should I keep searching?

Thanks for advice

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Hi

I'm in OZ and building my first forge a Brake drum forge.  I've got hold of a large cast steel pot and have just got the 2inch pipes threaded to fit to it, the blowers here are like hens teeth to get so I'm looking at all alternatives, what is the best air flow that I need to get in CFM?  has anyone used Boat Bilge blowers they seem to be about 130 to 250 cfm would that be okay or should I keep searching?

Thanks for advice

 

You might want to check the voltage on that bilge blower before you plug it in.

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any part number from that box store bathroom fan?

 

The bathroom fan on my brake drum forge.was from H. Depot.  NuTone Model 696N.  Output 50 CFM.  Don't know what the HD part # is.  They have fans with more CFM output.

 

Their price was somewhere around $15-$16 a year ago.  Fan still running, use it 2-6 hours, 3-5 days a week.  The 50 CFM sounds low, but I only run it about 1/4 to 1/2 open on my 2" blast gate.  Wide open, it's too much and burns too much coal.

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