Attachment/ orientation of forge blower

[Jobtiel1]

Hi all, 

I recently acquired a new electric forge blower, and was wondering on how to attach the blower correctly.

On the sales site, a blower is listed with the following advice: " ****This coke/coal forge blower must be mounted upright - feet at the bottom - as pictured***". I don't have the blower that mentions this, but I do have a blower that is of similar design, the snail house looking ones. 

Do all of these blowers need to be mounted this way? Or is this just a piece of advice that only works on this specific blower where it is mentioned? I have mine mounted the other way around, and I wonder if this impacts how well the blower works.

Thanks for your replies.

~Jobtiel

[ThomasPowers]

I have an old RR forge that came equipped with it's original blower and it's feet bolted to the base of the forge and so was "upsidedown". So different orientations were used for different blowers.

I'd check on how it's oiled.

[Frosty]

How it's oiled (lubricated) is all important, my blower has a right side up with some room to be out of "level."

How about posting a pic or two from different angles?

Frosty The Lucky.

[Glenn]

Did you contact the seller and ask why the blower must be mounted that way?  

[Frazer]

The statement on sellers website that follows the line you have there is:

Quote

Blowers are tested by manufacturer in upright position and have shown longest life in that position.  Using it at other angles may wear differently on the bearings of your coal forge blower.   There are several factors that shorten the life of blowers including:

It seems like a recommendation to increase the lifespan of the blower. Whether or not the manufacturer of your blower recommends the same is unknown. My suggestion: If it has feet/mounting brackets, use them to position the blower in the most logical orientation.

I would think that most electric forge blowers use sealed bearings that won't need to be oiled, but I could be wrong..

[Jobtiel1]

Frazer, I haven't seen that statement, I think I read over it. but that about answers the question I guess, I'll check how the blower is oiled first thing before I turn it on again. but at least the performance shouldn't be impacted by the orientation.

Thanks all!

~Jobtiel

[ThomasPowers]

I think I would add "modern" to: "I would think that most ______ electric forge blowers use sealed bearings that won't need to be oiled";  just in case someone reads this out of context---Older blowers can be even odder than I am!

[Latticino]

Actually, in addition to the oiling of bearings there can be a couple of other reasons for blower mounting orientation to be specified.  Some types of bearing are good for radial loads, but not as good given loading along the shaft by for example an extremely heavy impeller (i.e. roller bearings).

The real issue though is if you have a blower that is either just the right size or slightly undersized.  If you mount a centrifugal blower incorrectly based on the downstream ductwork  configuration you can drastically reduce the air output to your forge.  This can be addressed by having enough duct length from the blower outlet to fully develop flow in the duct (say 5-10 duct diameters), or having an oversized blower, but can certainly be a factor.  Here is an illustration:

 

There can also be system effects at the blower inlets.  For more detail please reference this article:  https://www.tcf.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Fan-Performance-Troubleshooting-Guide-FE-100.pdf

 

[Jobtiel1]

Hi,

My current set up looks exactly like this, but it is a picture of the old blower.

It would seem that this is set up C, the worst one, but just shifted 90 degrees, I guess this means that if the blower is mounted upright, with a bit of air duct, it would work better, right?

~Jobtiel

[Latticino]

Better is a relative term.  Yes it will put out more air at higher pressure.  The question is do you need that?

[Jobtiel1]

Latticino, 

I think I do, I don't think my current set up puts out enough air at the moment. 

I've found some air duct and got some clamps to attach it, so the set up should improve once I adapted it. Added benefit is that the blower is easily detachable, meaning I can take it inside when I'm not forging. Saves it from the weather.

~Jobtiel

[natkova]

I tough oriental blower mean Box bellows

 

[ThomasPowers]

One of several types of bellows they used; example the vertical bamboo tube and chicken feather bellows used in Indonesia and other countries nearby.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

A chicken feather bellows? That sounds cool! 
 

[JHCC]

As shown here in Alexander Weygers's The Modern Blacksmith:

 

[anvil]

On 8/25/2021 at 4:02 AM, Jobtiel1 said:

I don't think my current set up puts out enough air at the moment. 

You want volume, not velocity. Velocity tends to make an oxidizing fire. Most electric blower setups i've seen and used have a manual air gate between blower outlet and twyre. That way, no matter your blower, the manual airgate determines both volume and velocity. Perhaps you could modify your fabricated connection to add this.