HF blower selection

[Ingjr]

Hi Phil, just joined and read the entire forum.  Thanks for the effort you have put in on this subject.  Now the question.  Appears you've had experience with both the HF motor/blowers.  The universal motor powered 1hp, and the 2hp induction.  I'll be going down to the local HF tomorrow to purchase one or the other and while I think the smaller one will suit my needs, as most everything I own has 2 1/2" dust ports, I'm a bit concerned with the apparent excessive noise level.  A. Is it really that loud?  B. Will the 2hp unit work OK with a primarily 2 1/2" system.  I already have the chip collector built that I have been using with a shopvac that works pretty darn good, but will install your baffle set-up when I'm switching blower/motor units.  Again, thanks for all your time and effort on this project.  I'll post pics when it's done.  Don Inghram.

[phil (admin)]

(A) Yes, it really is that noisy.  It is about as loud as any universal-motor device you may have (shop vac, router, etc.).  I think a muffler on the output would help a lot, but that universal motor and gearing is still quite noisy.

(B) No, the unit with the induction motor doesn't pull very well through a network of 2.5" pipe.

If you're using 2.5" ports, I think I'd probably just suggest staying with a shop vac.