Snow Equipment Owning/Operating Buhler snow blower fan replacement

[Amvcane]

To the OP, Rustywreck just curious why you are replacing the 3 blade fan. Not satisfied with the performance? Rotted out and since a 4 blade was an option went with it?
I have a 62" Schulte 3pt with a 22" 3 blade fan. Just picked it up this summer and have not used yet. Wondering what type of performance to expect. I am running it with a Kioti ck35 hst with 26.5 hp at the pto.

 

[doxford jim]

A lot has to do with the clearance between the fan blade tip and the fan housing. Too big a clearance gives a much reduced performance. My experience is confined to the use of my used 73" Allied/Farm King/Buhler blower.

My blower has a three blade fan which I would like to replace if not too expensive (dreaming I know). I can tell you the blower works very well if I use 720 rpm instead of 540 rpm. To improve the clearance issue I would have to line the inside of the fan hosing with material (probably 1/8" thick) as the housing has been repaired previously leaving an excessive clearance. I don't think my blower would be cost effective (1989 vintage) as it has had a few repairs and would need to be professionally restored (professional welder) which is beyond my capabilities. I did fit adjustable replaceable metal tips to the fan, but that is not enough to fix my clearance issue.

I understand that the closer the clearance, the better the results.

Cheers

 

[Jay4200]

A lot has to do with the clearance between the fan blade tip and the fan housing. Too big a clearance gives a much reduced performance.

I don't believe this theory, and would love to see an experiment proving or disproving it. Reason being that any fan/housing space gets packed full of snow almost immediately, so the end result is virtually perfect effective clearances regardless of original dimensions.

 

[Al 2]

Well, I don't care if anyone believes me or not but this is my story. Years ago I had a blower that would work great when going thru a lot of snow but when trying to clear just a few inches , it clogged all the time. Apparently either by poor design or a mistake there was too much space between the impeller and the drum. I just welded heavy flat bar to the end of the blades and as close as possible to the drum . It worked perfect from then on and I didn't even remove the blades to do it.

Al

 

[smfcpacfp]

I am just curious why you are replacing the 3 blade fan with a 4 blade fan. I would think it would make enough difference to justify the expenditure of time and money, and apparently aggravation.

 

[rbargeron]

Centrifugal pumps for water have some things in common with snow blower impellers. It's routine to trim water pump impellers to reduce pressure pulses (vibrations) caused by the vanes passing close by the housing - but the trade-off is that efficiency drops as clearance increases (see attached). But snow blower impellers go enough slower that vibration isn't a concern - so clearance can and should be reduced to limit "slip".

Jay's comment about the housing packing up with snow can be true if the temperature is just right, but often there's enough violence in there (pea gravel, dirt, ice) to keep it scoured out so clearances do count.

On the subject of 3 vs 4 blades, performance depends on fan size, speed, vane shape, clearance, auger delivery pattern and what kind of snow is being pumped. Enough variables for a Federal test project. A flat statement that 4 is better than 3 is a non-starter without nailing down the other factors.

 

[Harvey9]

I don't believe this theory, and would love to see an experiment proving or disproving it. Reason being that any fan/housing space gets packed full of snow almost immediately, so the end result is virtually perfect effective clearances regardless of original dimensions.

If you have a minute go on You Tube and search for this, toro 524 snowblower impeller mod , he modified a walk behind blower by adding a piece of rubber to the impeller blades. Made a big difference in how far he could blow snow. There's other videos there also showing the same thing.

Harvey