Leaf blower CFM vs MPH is something that is debated a lot when discussing leaf blower specifications. When purchasing a leaf blower it can be difficult to understand the difference and how to apply it in your purchase decisions.
However, in this article, we shall clear the air by discussing the following:
- Leaf blower MPH
- Leaf blower CFM
- Which one is more important between leaf blower CFM vs MPH
- Understanding the power of a leaf blower
Leaf blower miles per hour (MPH)
Simply put, it’s the speed of the air coming out of the leaf blower in miles per every hour. It tells us how many miles the air will travel if it went at the same speed for an entire hour.
It’s like measuring the speed of most moving objects. In terms of the speed of a car, we all talk about the same measurement or its equivalent in kilometers per hour (KPH).
If the speed of a leaf blower is 100mph that means if you keep the speed of the blower the same for an hour the air will travel 100 miles.
Leaf blower Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM)
When we discuss leaf blower CFM it comes down to volumes. CFM is how many cubic feet of air, the blower will force out every minute.
For example, if you have a leaf blower that is rated 90cfm, then all that it means is that 90 cubic feet of air is leaving the blower’s nozzle per minute.
Though it may seem a little complicated than MPH, it is also fairly easy to understand. In MPH, we’re talking about the speed of air. But in CFM, we’re talking about the movement of air. That’s a key difference to know and it makes your decision of what leaf blower is better than what a whole lot easier.
Which one is more important between leaf blower CFM vs MPH
To understand which one of the two is important between leaf blower cfm vs mph, the illustration below should help really quick.
And for a leaf blower, if you have an extremely fine nozzle, whereas the very tiny opening may fire air at an incredible speed, say 100 mph, it may not provide power to sweep a pile of leaves away. Why? One reason is, because of the small size of nozzle (think straw size) it doesn’t create very much air displacement to blow leaves away. In this case we have a very high mph but very low cfm.
The second example is a 30mph leaf blower with a very large nozzle, about the size of a big car door. Given such a huge nozzle and that the speed of air is only 30mph, my doing a lot of air displacement, it is not good enough to help blow away anything. What we have here is low MPH and high CFM.
The last scenario is a leaf blower capable of 150mph of speed with a 4inch (10cm) or wider in diameter nozzle.
It would definitely blow lots of leaves away. Since the air displacement is so great at the high speed of 150mph coming out of the blower’s exit.
These illustrations show there has to be a good balance between leaf blower CFM and MPH. A great leaf blower has both of these.
Understanding the power of a leaf blower
Knowing the difference in leaf blower CFM vs MPH, it is time to know how the power of a leaf blower is visualized when you see something like this in the purchase descriptions, both the CFM and MPH. This is also very simple, ideally. As a rule of thumb, neither the MPH nor the CFM should seem like very little.
If you have a blower said to have 100mph and 30cfm, that doesn’t make any sense, 100mph ideally needs to be somewhere or more than 100cfm. In no way we are saying that CFM and mph should be equal. In some leaf blowers, you will come to find specifications such as 150mph and 250cfm. Some will have 600cfm and 180mph. Great power is indicative here. In the first example of 30cfm you can bet there is no useful power in that leaf blower, even if it has so much airspeed.
Now that you know leaf blower CFM vs MPH, it should now get much easier to understand whether the MPH and CFM are on point before paying for that leaf blower. We’ve found the best cordless and lightweight leaf blowers.
