Sheer Massive Vacuum Power

tomtucson

tomtucson

New member
Got a roots style blower, its a beast! I don't know if I'll need all she's got but its got reserve power to spare. Now to engineer the system...

Sutorbilt mp5, 500 + cfm, 15" mercury, 4" in/out

If anyone has any tips or advice it's appreciated.

I tried to take pictures with other objects for scale.

Wife was thrilled.
 

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So is there a heavy duty model of 55 gal drum?

Good ol ebay.
 
You will need to manufacture a vacuum tank. You can also adapt another type of tank to use, but you will need to have something that is much thicker than typical 55 gal drums.
 
On that system pictured, they have thicker tanks than what you would normally buy from a supplier and they have an internal baffle that helps against the suction.

When you think about regular 55 gallon drums, they are designed to hold from bursting, not collapsing so what you are going to use needs to be designed for vacuum, not pressure.

That company, Steel Eagle, and a few others might sell you something, if not, find out the specs or have a specialist make something but have a vacuum breaker just in case.





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You are right Chris, Jerry says it is a sight to see a standard 55 gallon drum collapse under that kind of vacuum, its like a bear can being crushed. Silver Eagle also makes SS vac tanks.
 
I used Dot rated drums I picked up for free from my local cultured marble fabricator. They are thicker than the normal ones for sure, and have held up fine to 15" hg. If you can, put in a baffle/regulator tank. Envision a giant bulb that acts like an air tank on a compressor and also has an exhaust trap door. The flaps open and close with the pulses from the blower and result in a more constant flow instead of pulsation.
 
Nigel, I wan't to recover 10+ gallons a minute and I dont wan't to mess around or slow down. Thanks for the link

Do you use a regular sump pump with a check valve?

Brandon,Is that baffle/regulator tank something you buy standard? How much lift do you think you need? I was thinking less than 15.
 
What do you guys think about this set up for the vaccum,

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200351986_200351986

and this for the pump out system?
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_23062_23062

I know that I would have to drill out a hole in the top of the can for the pump out and I would need a much longer hose than what is supplied, but I was thinkin' that this just might work for light to medium commercial work. After going through the vaccum system then it would be pumped to a 44 or a 66 gallon oil/water seperator.
What do you guys think ?????
 
tomtucson said:
Nigel, I wan't to recover 10+ gallons a minute and I dont wan't to mess around or slow down. Thanks for the link

Do you use a regular sump pump with a check valve?
Click to expand...

You would not have a problem with that size or blower (at its max specs), 10gpm is a walk in the park for that blower at 200-300 feet.

Here is the internals of the vacuum tanks, up to 3 suction lines can be put on a tank. With an installed 15 gallon sand trap to catch the big stuff.
 

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Big E said:
What do you guys think about this set up for the vaccum,

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200351986_200351986

and this for the pump out system?
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_23062_23062

I know that I would have to drill out a hole in the top of the can for the pump out and I would need a much longer hose than what is supplied, but I was thinkin' that this just might work for light to medium commercial work. After going through the vaccum system then it would be pumped to a 44 or a 66 gallon oil/water seperator.
What do you guys think ?????
Click to expand...

Not to sure about the vac, depends on your duty and gpm's you want to recover, the pump looks good.

What kind of Oil Water Separator you had in mine?
 
Christopher said:
Those are nice tanks, what kind of vacuum are they rated for?

Do they have internal baffles?
Click to expand...

Not sure of the internals Chris, but his big vac system runs a Roots Blower at 500CFM and 15Hg, not sure what the tanks are rated for, you could ask him at 1-800-324-2822

His biggest system is a 800CFM Roots Blower same tanks so I am guessing it has a high rating
 
Last edited:
Sorry about that, the oil/water seperator is:
http://sunbrite.stores.yahoo.net/oise.html I was thinking of the 44 or the 66 gallon seperator. I was also thinking of adding a sand trap to the system also, do you guys have any suggestions for that.

I also forgot to mention in my prior post that this would only be for a PP 5.5 gal/min machine. If I went to another machine that produced more volume or added another maching I know that I would probably have to buy a bigger system.
 
tomtucson said:
Nigel, I wan't to recover 10+ gallons a minute and I dont wan't to mess around or slow down. Thanks for the link

Do you use a regular sump pump with a check valve?

Brandon,Is that baffle/regulator tank something you buy standard? How much lift do you think you need? I was thinking less than 15.
Click to expand...

I don't think you'll need 15 at all. I can't really advise you on the wet stuff yet, though. Other then sucking an elevator shaft full of water dry, I don't have any wet experience with it yet. For the tanks, I'd advise getting one fabbed up, but Northwind Air Systems out of Canada makes them as they made my whole setup. It probably is not even necessary as others on the market get by without it and the collection tank will serve much the same purpose. I just think with a blower that big (it's bigger than mine) you will notice pulsing.
 
Found out that the sump pump that I described above will not work in a negative pressure environment. Does anybody know of one that will work??
 
It should work ok you just need to install a check valve on the outlet to prevent the water being sucked back in when the pump stops running. Otherwise Gould pumps work good, that is what I have on my vacuboom system.
 
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