looking for a squirrel cage blower

[Tony]

I'm looking for a CHEAP squirrel cage type blower. When I didn't need one it seems they were everywhere in all my surplus catalogs, now no cheap ones to be found. Wish I could give a size and CFM but I don't know exactly, it's a hit and miss operation for a home made waste oil heater. I'm guessing from seeing others that it's about 250 to 400 CFM. A little over sized so I can adjust the air sort of like a normal oil heater. I know this isn't much to go on, but maybe some of you have different surplus catalogs with blowers? Appreciate all leads.

[gfretwell]

It might be worth calling around to the HVAC installers. They could have an old air handler laying around they would let you have cheap.

[Stormin Mormon]

400 CFM sounds like you'd want something off a furnace. Might be a bit larger than you need. I've bought stuff from American Science and Surplus, and been pleased with them.

[Tony]

Somehow I changed 200 into 400 walking from the kitchen to the pc. I was looking at my oven hood exhaust fan label, not that it's a squirrel cage just for the CFM. It's 200 CFM and I think that would be plenty for my project. Better a little oversized then I can add a motor speed controller to fine tune it.

[Tony]

Oops....... I think 200 CFM would be plenty, and maybe have extra so I can fine tune it with a motor speed controller.

[Jon Danniken]

I'm guessing what you actually want is a tangential fan/blower with an squirrel cage motor (a step up from a shaded pole motor).

The term "squirrel cage" refers to the type of rotor used in an induction motor, as shown in the following diagram:

If you are looking for a CHEAP version, many (older) microwaves used a tangential fan to cool the transformer and tube, and you can often get the ovens for free or nearly free if they are broken/too large/too old.

This picture shows a typical uwave blower of that type:

Note: if you do acquire an old uwave with the intention of taking it apart, be DAMNED SURE you discharge the internal capacitor, as it can store a lethal 2400 VDC charge. For more on safely disassembling a uwave, go here: Good luck, and please keep us up to date on your progress.

Jon

[Tony]

Well I learned something new today! I always thought the tangential fan was the squirrel cage. I'm guessing a lot of people have that wrong (I hope I'm not the only one). But I have to know, what is that thing in the picture? Sort of looks like part of what I hope to build.

[Jon Danniken]

Yes, it is not only a common mistake, it seems to be so common as to nearly warrant calling such a fan by it's mistaken name.

As to the picture, I don't know what it is, I found it by doing a GIS for "microwave blower." The actual album can be seen here:

Jon

[ransley]

My heater guy always has junk units in back, for a few bucks you should be able to get one/

[Stormin Mormon]

No worries. Obama changed the health care plan from 1 trillion to 5 trillion by walking from the Congress to the White House.

[clare]

Check around the scrappies or HVAC guys for a blower from a forced vent furnace or water heater. Should be close in size. Maby use 2, with one adjustable??

[clare]

No, squirrel cage is the common name for the blower assembly itself.

[clare]

A "squirrel cage blower" can be operated by ANY kind of motor, or even a bicycle chain and pedals.

[Rudy]

I ordered mine from the Northern Tool catalog

[SMS]

How CHEAP? There's the Blue Blower which is around $80.

There's a lot of surplus squirrel cage blowers but most are around 25-30 cfm, and were used for cooling electronic equipment.

Look at eBay and search for FASCO MOTOR BLOWER A071, but it's smaller than you're looking for if your guess about CFM is correct.

Also "

" but I guess that's too small.

[Stormin Mormon]

I was in a Harbor freight, today, and saw a dust collector. Which is essentially a blower. I'm not sure the CFM, probably too much. Worth a look.

[Steve B]

I have seen some killer ones at local thrift shops. A few bucks. Try freecycle.

Steve

[notbob]

Graingers has some for $50-60. If that's not cheap enough, hack a hair drier.

nb

[Phisherman]

That's where I bought mine, its a 1/4 HP, 2 speed. Built a downdraft roll-around cabinet table that uses three furnace filters. The slower speed is very quiet with a strong pull.

Try discarded appliances, auto junkyard, furnace parts, etc depending on your application.

[pocketrocket]

Go to any local heating company. They replace furnaces all the time. Most of the blowers are still good, and they are probably happy to get a few bucks to get rid of one.

I needed a few of them last summer when we had an extreme heat spell, and my livestock were suffering in the barn. Commercial barn fans are expensive, I got 3 used squirrel cage fans from old furnaces, at a local heating company, for $10 each. They work just as well as commercial fans, but I always encase them in hardware cloth, just so none of my cats get chopped up, or a neighbors kid comes around.