Computer fans have brushless motors so no problem with a spark but the motor is exposed a lot so l think moisture and dust wuldnt help it much at operation.
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Good morning all.
Just a quick report on my starter blowers ( bilge bowers )
The oldest vehicle I have here is my V-10 ram that I will be firing up in just a few minutes for the day.
. I have been using the same blowers for 5 years and 25000 - 26000 miles . I use 5 blowers ( 4 pulling and 1 reverse ) One of the blowers have quit and I disconnected the electric wire about six months back . The others are still doing well and give good starts to the gasifier . I think I remember giving the blowers a dose of diesel fuel a year or so back ( I would have to read the building thread to be sure )
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Hi guys, have a nice day. You can put these cooler fans in serie in a 4" PVC pipe and they ad up blowing and sucking capacicty. This is the only way we can do it in Venezuel do to the economical situation we have now (no more comments, you´ll understand) …we use recicleded computer fans. Reversing the current, they blow the other way, very simple. Hope this information can help.
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Handcrancking an electric blower…
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Great idea Koen l am inpressed! Might borrow your idea someday if you dont mind 
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I’ve made a few myself from shop vacs, old vacuum cleaners, furnace blowers, and even homemade 100% from scratch using a corded drill to spin the axle the fan was on. Here are some vids of my
shop vac blower build: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H44U-Iag1mI
FREE vacuum cleaner blower build:
I wired them both to be variable speed with an 8$ dimmer switch, both worked great! The one I currently use is from a furnace and it works best of all. Also free.
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be careful with this one… look for the original air outlet… its passing by the motor… now you just opened a vent hole in the side but not sealed the original opening…
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I sealed all the leaks with silicone after making this video, forgot to mention that
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Amazing primitive blower video
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Is that cool or what?? looks like he eaven smelted (iron?) with it!
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The evolution of man , its a great way of showing how we as humans strive to find better ways to do our daily tasks , no wonder in the past 150 years we have changed the face of the planet so much .
Dave .
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If my vidio worked that is looking like a uneqe build of a forge fan.really neat. And back too the fan king kirby, i am going with Tom Collins Idea kirby.because they seem too last long if put in system after cool down in the rails’Ect. And they have been regularly used with wood gas by Mr.Tom Collins himself.If you cut the braket off the removable brush assembly.you can atatch flange hose coupler too it,and the you have no modification too the switches that the braket push on.
and a shop vac.is most likely the easy’est wood gas warm up fan.
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I just subscribed to his channel, have watched his amazing videos before. 6.7 Million views in four days…also has one on charcoal making!
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Ok i watched the vidio,that is a jungle jim diy spechial.I like them kind of shows too. It sounds like florida in spring time.1984 hotest year for spring time in a while 105 f in late aprill.
Hello Kevin Yes I have been using my Kirby for along time. Mine is mounted solid to the hay filter and I have a shutoff valve to block it off when not pulling a vacuum. I might suggest you set yours up so that “neither” the inlet or the exhaust of the Kirby is fasten solid to the gasifier. Make it so you can put a hose in the inlet of the kirby and suck on the hay filter ( or where ever it is going to be connected) Then you can put the hose in the exhaust of the Kirby, and “blow” air back through the system. I think with mine only pulling a vacuum on the system, it takes a little while to get the grate up to 900 degrees where I want it before starting the truck. With the WK style pulling and pushing I think they get up to temperature much faster. TomC
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I wasent aware that your vac was mounted statinary. My thought was like you said, leave it removable to move around for pushing and pulling, and only carry one vacuem around for back up charbed conditioning.i got those three kirbys for about 50 bucks toltal,good quallity machines.thanks.
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Here is another home-made blower. It looks simple, and crude, but watch carefully and see how good the result is. Note that the motor is not in the “gas” stream. Note that it is running on a 12 volt battery. Note the materials cost!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFf10wdYW70
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Allthough that could be an important fan in the event of a grid down. I think the fans after the hay filter last the longest for vacuem mode gasifier warm up.Neat fan build.those old kirbys seem too be reasonbly priced,i got one just before it got turned in for aluminum for 5 bucks,any one looking for kirbys,just keep eyes peeled, and check with scrapers.second hand stores, i got the other one 12 bucks at weekly aution a mile away.The nice thing about the old kirbys is they have the aluminum fan blades and real high grade bearings that seem too last forever.
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I have a usefull questian of has any of you wood gas persons ever had any luck or tried useing a gas or electric leaf blower/ vacuem for gasifier heat up/charco ?
??
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I used a battery operated leaf blower for a while, just had to make the inlet and outlet pipe fit my pipe work , worked ok but was kinda noisy so put a speed controller on it , now days I use a small mattress pump as it is nice and small and the fittings are already around the 1 inch size on it .
Dave
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