Is a 4.2hp air blower sifficient enough to dry a car ?

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Hi guys

Looking to invest in a blower and just curious whether a 4.2-hp is sufficient?

Been looking at dedicated car blowers and the powerful ones are 8-hp obviously this is going to be very powerful compared to 4.2-hp and under but the prices start from like £250 and onwards for used ones.
Too much for me.

I can pick up dog dryers which I assume the car ones are designed from originally,
£50 for the small ones and £120 for the 4.2-hp powered ones.

Will I be wasting my money if i purchased a 4.2-hp dryer ?

Thanks guys
 
I have a 36v Gtech leaf blower which I store in sealed in a bag (to avoid dust and debris getting in) for this purpose. It's a sledgehammer to crack a nut, especially because I don't wash my cars, but it's powerful enough to dry panels, not just gaps.
 
With these you drive the water off, rather than dry the car. 4hp is plenty. The better the finish on the paint, the easier it’ll be. Good wax, sealant or the like will help.

Having more power means you really blast the water off. However, it creates a lot more noise and increases the risk of stirring up any dust where you are working.
 
The issue with leaf blowers is the air is not ‘filtered’ or ‘heated’ as it is with most purpose build car driers.
 
Been looking at dedicated car blowers and the powerful ones are 8-hp obviously this is going to be very powerful compared to 4.2-hp and under

I suspect there's some poetic licence going on with the power ratings quoted for these. 8 bhp is 6 kilowatts ... that would need 25 amps from a 240V mains supply, so you couldn't run it from a standard 13A socket.

With these you drive the water off, rather than dry the car. 4hp is plenty. The better the finish on the paint, the easier it’ll be. Good wax, sealant or the like will help.

Having more power means you really blast the water off. However, it creates a lot more noise and increases the risk of stirring up any dust where you are working.

I have a dog blaster that I've used on the SL in the past. IIRC that's 1600W (approx. 2 bhp) and already loud enough to need ear defenders!
 
Just get a petrol powered leaf blower. It will work just fine and cost under $200
I have this one and I have used it to dry a car, although I prefer a drying cloth

Sorry its not an option for me,
I live in a terrace house Street cars parked on the main road
So don't want to make all the neighbours aware that I'm drying the car (too loud)
 
With these you drive the water off, rather than dry the car. 4hp is plenty. The better the finish on the paint, the easier it’ll be. Good wax, sealant or the like will help.

Having more power means you really blast the water off. However, it creates a lot more noise and increases the risk of stirring up any dust where you are working.

Thats my thought that its going to be even louder using a leaf blower
 
The issue with leaf blowers is the air is not ‘filtered’ or ‘heated’ as it is with most purpose build car driers.
Blowing cold / humid air has its benefits too, less potential of getting water marks and to be honest I was thinking of drying with cold / humid air for this reason
 
I suspect there's some poetic licence going on with the power ratings quoted for these. 8 bhp is 6 kilowatts ... that would need 25 amps from a 240V mains supply, so you couldn't run it from a standard 13A socket.

Just to name a few that are saying 8-hp

* BLO AIR-GT Car Dryer
* Metro Vac MB-3CD
*Master Blaster Revolution

Way over priced for me

I guess with blow dryer it's not just about drive the water of or actual drying, but to hit it with as much force as you can to blast the water off

Just like these drive through car wash that has dryer built in them, they don't exactly blow out warm / hot air
 
Just to name a few that are saying 8-hp

* BLO AIR-GT Car Dryer
* Metro Vac MB-3CD
*Master Blaster Revolution

Way over priced for me

From a quick Google the first one is 2400 Watts (3.2 HP) and the other two are 2280 Watts (3.1 HP). Nowhere near 8 HP but that does explain how you can run them from a normal power socket. There are quite a few dog blasters with similar power ratings ... I think these are basically the same products. E.g.

 
From a quick Google the first one is 2400 Watts (3.2 HP) and the other two are 2280 Watts (3.1 HP). Nowhere near 8 HP but that does explain how you can run them from a normal power socket. There are quite a few dog blasters with similar power ratings ... I think these are basically the same products. E.g.

Hi pal

Not sure what models / spec you have been looking at but its certainly not the specs I've come across see the specs links below
Unless you know something that I don't?
Please educate me ☺

AIR-GT



They all say 8hp ?
 
It’s because they quote ‘peak power’. Just like the old car radio trick.

Oh ok so basically a load of poo then.
No trick here just basically a figure which it can achieve before it blows up!!

So to get the actual figures that we would be interested in will be what to look for ?
Wattage ??
 
Hi pal

Not sure what models / spec you have been looking at but its certainly not the specs I've come across see the specs links below
Unless you know something that I don't?
Please educate me ☺

AIR-GT



They all say 8hp ?

The specs say it has an 8 HP motor i.e. one capable of handling that amount of power. But if the dryer only has 2280 Watts (3.057 HP) going in then that's the maximum power the motor can produce here:

cap1.JPG
 
It’s because they quote ‘peak power’. Just like the old car radio trick.

Not quite. As above it's a 3.1 hp dryer, that happens to be fitted with an 8 hp motor. It could have a 100 hp motor in it, but it would still only run at 3.1 hp as that's all the power that's going in.
 
Oh ok so basically a load of poo then.
No trick here just basically a figure which it can achieve before it blows up!!

So to get the actual figures that we would be interested in will be what to look for ?
Wattage ??

Yes ... 8 hp is the power level that the motor could theoretically handle, not what it's actually being run at in this piece of equipment.

And yes, look at the wattage if you want to compare different models.
 

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