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I Forge Iron

Should I, or shouldn't I


ZBarrett

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So I'm looking at getting a new blower for my coal bottom blast forge.  Right now I'm using two old bathroom fans that give me about 140 cfm.  I put a manonimeter on and found I have 0" w.c. even with the gate fully open.  I know I should have pressure and not cfm.  I have another fan that might up the pressure, but it would add another 70 cfm.  My other option is I just buying a sunlar 110v 250w blower.  I'm just looking for some feed back.  I have tried some experiments with blow up motors to no avail and a air mattress pump after seeing that Lucky swears by them,  but still not getting over 1" w.c.  I need to keep my costs down as this is a hobby/ potential way to make a bit of money.  Any advice would be appreciated.  Just took some measurements if it would help with advice. My tuyere is 3" by 8" long. 

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I'm running my bottom blast with a recycled bathroom blower, rated at 115 cfm. It comes out of the blower at 4", reduces to 2" then goes 3" and up to the fire. I run it thru a dump valve just downstream of the blower- a blast gate on one leg of a 4" wye, providing back pressure to the other leg, to feed the fire. I haven't put any kind of meters on my system- I hold my hand over the firepot, feel the breeze and say "yup, thats fine". I usually choke the dump valve down halfway unless I want a lot of heat, choke it down completely and I get some major heat.

Does your setup work? Not work? Kinda work? It seems to be real complicated. Show us some pictures. I like to keep things simple and not over think things.

Steve

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You are getting hung up on measurements; what you need is enough of a blast to run your forge and note that that will differ depending on what you are trying to do; how many pieces are in the forge, the fuel you are using, etc and so on. I've been forging for 40 years now: electric blowers, hand crank blowers, bellows; never once had a gauge or checked the cfm.

If your current system will blow coal out of the firepot you have enough of a blast!  Now you need to figure out how to meter what you have and how to use it!

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I have a very basic air gate just off of the ash dump.  I just need to learn how to use it efficiently.  Covid has really messed up my ability to go to my local smith's shop to learn fire management and what a good fire looks like, and how to tend it efficiently.  But that's for a different forum lol.

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