The high speed Turbo Blowers are here! Originally design /engineered in Korea many years ago, there are now half a dozen different "manufacturer's" of a variation of this original high speed, air bearing, or magnetic bearing design, air blower. I think 3 of the companies are still in Korea, where at least one of them ships blower components to the USA to be "made in America". These high speed Turbos have been replacing cast iron centrifugals and PD's for maybe 5 years now.

Centrifugal blowers have been around for over 100 years! PD's maybe even longer! Obviously, they are doing the job. In general, they don't have annual design improvements (like a car would have) but they do have improvements. The blowers made in the 1960's do not compare in improved performance and efficiency manufactured today. Are they enough to justify buying a new centrifugal? It depends not only on the age of your blower, but the Model, design, and your system requirements.

As you know, each aeration system is designed for a particular job. The chance of your Model blower being suitable for use in somebody else's installation is slim. Can your old centrifugal be upgraded with a new and improved design to then save you money via lower operational costs and increased performance? Maybe!

The performance of your 30 year old blowers would most likely improve with new replacements. Your 10 year old blowers, not so much. Sometimes your 30 HP blower can be replaced with a similar blower that only uses 25 HP. You save. Engineering needs to review your current and future needs to better determine whether you can benefit from the new, improved blowers.

You can almost always replace the blower drive motors from the old 86% efficiency to the newer 95% efficiency motors to save $$. Or you can often install soft starts, or VFD's to lower power costs. But with centrifugals, some manufacturers' have improved say their 8" machines, but not their 5" or 6" machines. One manufacturer could have a more efficient 12" blower than your 5 year old blower from another manufacturer.

But it looks like the high speed turbos are proving to be more efficient than any other air blowers in almost all blower sizes. I know one WWTP that calculates it saves $100 a day in electrical costs!! However, the Turbos are very expensive, and can be tough to justify. Some installations have calculated 5 year payback(ROI). Others cannot.

For now, high speed Turbos cannot be used in landfill applications. The harsh environment(water, condensate, dirt) is too much for the blower internal components. But I am sure it won't stay that way for long. If the Turbos currently in operation prove to be reliable, and not suffer catastrophic failures, there will be a lot more pressure on centrifugal manufacturer's to improve their blower design & performance. Impossible? I don't think so.

The best way to keep your equipment healthy and in good operation is still with preventative maintenance. Invest in PM, it will save you money!

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                                  --- Bill Snyder