when considering pressure drop...

[beliardm]

I know that certain pumps (positive displacement for example) deal with restrictions and piping losses MUCH better on the high pressure side of the pump than on the low pressure side.  I do not know which side of the pump is more immune to losses with these centrifugal pumps used for dust collection.  does anyone know?

The reason I ask is because the thien separator is a source of loss in the system - limiting CFM - and I was wondering if I was to place the pump BEFORE the separator, contrary to most designs, if it would minimize the effect the loss because it would be on the pressure, rather than suction side of the pump? 

I understand there are other problems associated with the impeller handling the woodchips and potential sparks.. but all that stuff aside...  Thoughts?

[phil (admin)]

I believe most (all?) of the DC blowers handle restrictions on the positive side better than the negative side.  Not sure how much of a difference, though.  I have not done any testing in that regard.

You might want to head over to www.sawmillcreek.org and ask Michael Clark in this thread (or a new one):
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?183403-Cyclone-dust-collector-blower-position

He might have some good data in terms of what kind of advantage one would expect to gain changing a cyclone from pull to push.