CFM in isn't = cfm out?

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kenc184

Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2024
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22
Location
SF Bay
I picked up an anemometer for fun. I wanted to check it was functional, so using one of my Royal uprights - an 886 - I unplugged the bag and measured cfm out. First,let me say this was not done with the utmost precision, the vane type sensor was simply placed over the orifice and the orifice area used as the multiplier. 0.025 I think. No "cone" was used to adapt one diameter to the other, this is simply a "does this work" exercise. The measured cfm was insane - around 200cfm. So now, I'm thinking "this thing is garbage".
Royals have a short steel tube adapter for the hose, so I fitted this and measured input cfm, again no real effort was made for accuracy, sensor simply placed over the metal tube orifice - this time around 100cfm. Much more believable.
How can cfm in not equal cfm out?
 
To calculate cfm, take the airspeed shown on your anemometer in feet per minute and multiply that by the area of the orifice the air is being drawn through or exhausted from in square feet. There are websites that will calculate surface area in square feet from the diameter of the orifice ( intake or exhaust ). Take that product and multiply it by 0.8. The reason for this is airspeed at the center of the opening is faster than airspeed at the sides of the opening due to the boundary layer of dead air that clings to the sides of a tube. Airspeed increases as you move towards the center of the airstream. The rough rule of thumb therefore is to take cfm you calculate using the highest airspeed value and reduce it by multiplying by 0.8.

See what you get using the correct values for the surface area of the suction inlet and exhaust. Then consider there will be some frictional losses along the way.
 
Thanks, yes I followed the cfm debate - the blunderbusses as dawn would be more accurate between tourself and another gentleman. LOL.

MY point is WHY when I place the anemometer on the intake I get about half the cfm that I get when I put it over the fan case output (bag removed). Both inlet and output are within 1/8" of each other. I was not looking for a precise number just trying to figure out why cfm in was half of cfm out? Certainly cfm out feels significantly more fierce than the suction at the input but how can this be?
 

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