[TheForge] gas forge re-doux

[Howell Steve]

Awhile ago I had mentioned that I was making the switch from an atmospheric
propane burner to blown natural gas. I just wanted to report on the new
setup and offer some observations.
I decided this time to go with a small turbine blower out of an old kenmore
vacuum. This was bought for 10 bucks at our last swap meet.  Yes, turbine
fan noise can be a factor spinning at 20,000 rpm but the rheostat makes it
barely audible once the forge is running . Why choose a turbine over a
squirrel cage? I believe (I know- everyone has different opinions) that the
higher pressure they can deliver makes a huge difference. Another
psuedo-scientific experiment was arrived at in haste; I had planned on
making a whole new manifold for this blower set up using 1 1/2" pipe.
Wanting results NOW I used a bell reducer on the fan and just screwed it in
to the 3/4" pipe size of my old burner. Same forge, new trick. I figured it
probably increased the velocity of the stream which didn't hurt.

Based on the results so far, it works amazingly well. No more propane
bottles cluttering up my space either!~

Steve H
Seattle


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