Shopvac Cooling

[mnrite]

I run my vacumn hold down with two shopvac's and I turm them off while unloading & loading sheets. Today I thought maybe I should put in a valve so I could let them run and suck cooling air while I change sheets. What do you guys think?

Thanks
Mike

[paco]

Yes, that would help... until you can get something that can handle such hard/hot work.

[patricktoomey]

Mike, Thermal issues are always tricky since scientific testing is tough and often gives you counter-intuitive results. I have done some measurements and this is what I've come up with...

I use two vacs in my system as well and I turn them off during sheet changes. I do have an extra crossover valve that I can use to open the whole system and let the vacs breathe. I used that at first since I though it would let them cool down. Using the IR thermometer however, I came to the conclusion that they get cooler faster buy shutting them off completely. They heat up a good bit even running with the hose disconnected. Also, brush wear is a pretty big factor and the brushes will only get rest with the vac off. Just for comparison's sake, my vacs are a Fein and a 6.5Hp ShopVac. The Fein definitely has the second cooling fan to prevent burnups and I believe my ShopVac does too but I've never been 100% sure of that.

As I said, that's not a very scientific answer but it's all I have at the moment.