Inline blower

I've been spending some time reading about blowers on these forums and thought to myself, "me too!" But alas I just got a new case and am unwilling to cut it in order to accomodate a blower with its intake and exhaust 90 degrees apart.

I remember from my days of hydroponic growing inline blowers from hurricane. But those blowers cost upwards of $140 for 4" versions pushing just 145 cfm. After doing some searching I found marine inline blowers that were small, cheap and performed reasonably well:

http://www.boatersland.com/rul240.html

Pushing 235 cfm at 13.6 vdc and costing about $25 seems pretty good to me.

My question to you experienced water coolers and case modders is: what do you think?

teamgreen said:

I've been spending some time reading about blowers on these forums and thought to myself, "me too!" But alas I just got a new case and am unwilling to cut it in order to accomodate a blower with its intake and exhaust 90 degrees apart.

I remember from my days of hydroponic growing inline blowers from hurricane. But those blowers cost upwards of $140 for 4" versions pushing just 145 cfm. After doing some searching I found marine inline blowers that were small, cheap and performed reasonably well:

http://www.boatersland.com/rul240.html

Pushing 235 cfm at 13.6 vdc and costing about $25 seems pretty good to me.

My question to you experienced water coolers and case modders is: what do you think?

Click to expand...

Are you going to put this on a single or dual 120mm rad?

huh, looks like something worth testing out...

my guess: their loud...anything that moves 235 cfm and is that small (or shall i say "looks small" ) HAS to be loud...

ps "my days of hydroponic growing" (JUST SAY NO!)

From the picture it looks like an axial fan mounted in a tube. The reason the cage blowers are popular is because they provide more pressure than an axial fan. The pressure helps in pushing air through a radiator. From the looks of it, that fan won't have the added pressure. That fan seems basically like a high power 120mm axial computer fan. I'm not saying it's a bad fan, it's just that a cage blower has more pressure.

I'm sure the cage blowers have more pressure, but I cannot accomodate one in my case.

These blowers are not simply axial fans. They are designed to be used with ducting and so should have at least decent pressure.

I don't know about these fans, but the hurricane inline blowers were nearly inaudible. I think I read somewhere that these fans will work with as little as 7 volts.

I think the width of the blower is less than 6 inches although they are about 8 inches long.

Joe Camel said:

ps "my days of hydroponic growing" (JUST SAY NO!)

Click to expand...

whaddya talking about? I grew tomatoes!

bummer, i hate tomatoes...teamGREEN...tomatoes....

Joe Camel said:

bummer, i hate tomatoes...teamGREEN...tomatoes....

Click to expand...

spinach?

seriously though, hydroponics is really fun

Joe Camel said:

bummer, i hate tomatoes...teamGREEN...tomatoes....

Click to expand...

LMAO! I didn't make the connection with the teamGREEN. Lol. *Picks up mind out of gutter*

I see what you mean about the fans made to be used wtih ducting and needing decent pressure because of it. Try them out and post some results.

hmmmm.... hydroponics.... are you sure he was growing veggies?

I have a marine blower, Jabco I think.
Great pressure, and blows like crazy. For only 100 cfm, it will twist around the blinds in the next room with ease. Nice mounting flange on the output, and a tube flange on the input.

Unfortunately, they have brushed motors, much like a car blower uses, and are loud (like a hairdryer) and prone to wear out. They also produce EMI which may or may not affect your computer.
Mine will run on 5 volts though it's rated for 13.5v, and is almost tollerable at that voltage...almost. Use an oversized power supply, as mine burnt up one of my nice 5 amp bench psu's after half an hour.

Make sure it's rated constant duty, as not all are created equal.

Joe Camel said:

bummer, i hate tomatoes...teamGREEN...tomatoes....

Click to expand...

well homegrown tomatoes and shop-bought tomatoes bear little relation to each other imho.....

Diggrr said:

I have a marine blower, Jabco I think.
Great pressure, and blows like crazy. For only 100 cfm, it will twist around the blinds in the next room with ease. Nice mounting flange on the output, and a tube flange on the input.

Unfortunately, they have brushed motors, much like a car blower uses, and are loud (like a hairdryer) and prone to wear out. They also produce EMI which may or may not affect your computer.
Mine will run on 5 volts though it's rated for 13.5v, and is almost tollerable at that voltage...almost. Use an oversized power supply, as mine burnt up one of my nice 5 amp bench psu's after half an hour.

Make sure it's rated constant duty, as not all are created equal.

Click to expand...

a whole lotta not so good for these marine blowers. Do you have one of the inline ones or is it one of the regular squirrel cage ones/

I'm going to call up the distributer about noise, motor type, and whether or not these are designed for continuous use.

Like I stated before, I have used blowers in the past and am aware of the pressure these monstrosities produce. I used a fan dimmer from a hardware store to control the speed/noise and it almost completely eliminated the noise while still producing usable pressure.

I used to LOVE spinach. Five/six times a day.

My tomatos are just starting to rippen the early girls are getting yellow...um i mean...I'm not thread jacking..... Go comair rotron!

teamgreen said:

a whole lotta not so good for these marine blowers. Do you have one of the inline ones or is it one of the regular squirrel cage ones?

Click to expand...

It's a squirrel cage blower that's built for inline type use (though at 90°). The tube flange on the inlet is made for attaching the ducting from the engine bay on a boat, and the outlet flange matches the bolt pattern of the chrome vent on deck.
Never tried the axial type...the pic doesn't work in the link you posted.

Update:

I've emailed a few retailers and got a few responses:

shipstore.com:

Hi,

Your questions probably should be directed to the individual
manufacturers as they are mostly about engineering specs.

I'm not aware of any brushes on any blower motors. When the motor dies,
the unit is replaced. Beyond that, I can't be more specific.

Many wooden boat owners will leave a blower on for the entire season to
keep fresh air in the bilge. The general use pattern is to cycle the
unit, but there is no reason not to leave it on all the time.

I have never heard of a db rating on a blower and can't really answer
your question. The motor generates some vibration, which you can hear
when it is running. The mounting surface, type and tightness of the
fasteners all play a role in the noise level. No one ever complains
about the noise, but I don't know what is acceptable for you.

With regard to air movement noise, it would depend upon your hose
installation. A sharp turn or change in diameter will make a
difference. It isn't anything I've been aware of when on a boat. You
hear the motor running and that is it on most boats.

I hope this helps.

Regards,

Jim
Customer Service


and
San Diego Marine Exchange

> I have a few questions about the inline bilge blowers
> you have on your website.
>
> I am interested in the 4" models.
>
> My questions are:
>
> 1. What motor type do these blowers employ? are they
> brushless designs? No. Conventional electrical motors.>
> 2. Are these blowers meant for continuous use or only
> for intermittent? Intermittent.
>
> 3. How much noise do they produce? Do they produce
> engine noise, air movement noise, or turbulent airflow
> noise? A little noise, but not much.


Looks like these blowers aren't intended for continuous use (although some have used them that way) and do not use brushless motor (= more motor noise).