Realistic Difference between Black Box and Regenerative blower

[Mark Farris]

Hello all,
I have been operating effectively for 6+ years on my shop made 4 motor "Black Box" vac system. For what I have in it it has been great. I use it weekly for sheet goods and various items. For the most part it has been adequate except for smaller parts. I have the opportunity to buy a 10hp regenerative blower fairly cheap, and now have the 3 phase to run it. Do any of you smarter-than-me people know if I could expect a noticeable increase in holding power, considering all things equal, from the 10hp regenerative vs the 4 - 220v lighthouse motors? If you add up all the CFM from the 4 lighthouse motors its more than the specs for the blower, but is that real apples to apples? Its just hard for me to believe that this massive blower can't beat out the 4 vac motors in some way. Opinions and fact would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark

[Brian Harnett]

I am no expert but another factor is how many inches of mercury does each system pull?

[tomhartnett]

Here is a writeup that was done by one of our engineers at ShopBot on the differences between different vacuums as well as some info on how to think about them and their efficiencies, this may help.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jvtic7rwi6xbg22/Comparing%20Regenerative%20Blower%20and%20Rotary%2 0Vane%20Vacuums%20.docx?dl=0