Blowers for cyclone

[Jack Porter]

I'm pricing out blowers for a cyclone and noticed the following from penn st. industries. Not sure if I'm crazy or not, but why not just buy the DC strip the motor and blower out and sell the bags and stand:confused:. The motor blowers appear to be about the same (the DC motor blower is actually rated at 1500cfm and the motor blower alone is 1350cfm)

$349
#DC250MB 2 HP Motor Blower

SPECIFICATIONS:
•1350 CFM • 110/220V
• 10A@220V
• 12" Impeller
• Wt: 66lbs
• 6"inlet
• 5"outlet
• Max S.P. 9.5"
• Mounting base 15" x 8-5/8"


$259
DC2000B Dust Collector with 1 micron Bags
1500 CFM
• High performance 2 HP 220V motor
• Quiet and powerful
• 12" impeller
• 1 micron VU-THRU bag standard
• 1 micron filter cartridge available
6 " inlet
FREE! with purchase: A 50' duct hose worth $40.00

[Michael Weber]

Doesn't make much sense does it? Other than costing more to ship the DC, I don't really see a down side. Probably what I would do if I were in your situation.

[Phil Thien]

Just make sure they both use the same impeller. Some blowers designed for a cyclone use an airfoil, which moves more air than a BIRI (I think I have that right, that's Backwards Inclined Radial Impeller). If the more expensive unit comes w/ an airfoil, that would explain the cost difference.

[Jim Becker]

Um....don't go by those CFM figures. Way inflated. Big time. Free air with no load. You'll get about half of that in real life with properly sized and constructed duct work, etc.

[Jack Porter]

Thanks guys, I'm going to look into the impeller, just nice to know that I'm not completely crazy.

Jim, I had expected that those numbers were exaggerated. I am aiming for 800cfm, we'll see...

[Jim Becker]

Let me re-phrase....those blowers may be able to move that much air, but only in "free air" conditions. Zero static pressure. IE, no duct work. It's more "marketing" than "exaggeration" or "inflation" as I previously stated in a sense...and all the mass marketers do it. Only a few dedicated dust collection firms give real numbers with real fan curves.

[Jack Porter]

Thanks again Jim, that sounded like the general consensus after reading bill Pentz web site and a few others. If Penn St. Ind ever gets back to me, I'll let everyone know what the deal is with the blower vs DC

[Jack Porter]

OK I got to the bottom of this...the blower is made in Taiwan and the DC motor is made in China. That is the only difference except that the blower has a free air of 1500cfm (850cfm net) vs the 1350cfm(660cfm net) of the blower. I have to give the guy credit, he did his best to try to sell me a full cyclone system and did a pretty good job of knocking wood mags design and testing. Kin do surpirsing since wood mag specifically recommends Penn St. motors in their design. Either way I'm going with a hybird wood mag/pentz design and the DC motor/blower.