Damper and Drag very different on new erg...

[danieldoiron]

Hi,

Just got my erg a couple weeks ago and have a question about the drag setting on a new model D.

I set it to four, I get 110-115ish.
I set it to one, I get as low as 82-85ish.

I know that is all depends on many factors, but are I have never seen an 82 before. This normal? Not complaining as I find this quite nice for me as I row most of my pieces at 115-120ish.

Thanks,
Dan

[Citroen]

How high up that mountain are you?

A new, clean ergo not too far above AMSL should range from about df 90 on damper 1 to df 220 on damper 10. For the folks who don't live in the flatlands their altitude can have a significant effect.

[Bob S.]

How high up that mountain are you?

A new, clean ergo not too far above AMSL should range from about df 90 on damper 1 to df 220 on damper 10. For the folks who don't live in the flatlands their altitude can have a significant effect.

Yeah. I just checked mine. At the open end (0? 1?) I get 74. Fully closed, i.e. on 10, I get 179. This is at 4,000' of altitude.

I haven't checked it recently for dust accumulation and it has been used in the garage for the last 3 1/2 months, so that might contribute a bit to the lowering, but by far the most of it is due to the altitude.

I might add that the drag will increase when winter comes. There is no heating in the garage and cold air is denser than warm air.

Bob S.

[danieldoiron]

I live on the Canadian East Coast, so ... at sea level.
My model D is new, out of the box and I currently row outside quite a bit.
The model C that is giving me higher readings for drag is in a gym. Air conditioned, and I think there is significant dust accumulation on the OUT screen. So the screen is actually letting air in, but dust is reducing the air on the way out. I just noticed that today. Could be the main reason. Aside from that, don't know.

[Citroen]

I live on the Canadian East Coast, so ... at sea level.
My model D is new, out of the box and I currently row outside quite a bit.
The model C that is giving me higher readings for drag is in a gym. Air conditioned, and I think there is significant dust accumulation on the OUT screen. So the screen is actually letting air in, but dust is reducing the air on the way out. I just noticed that today. Could be the main reason. Aside from that, don't know.

Dust reduces drag. The worst machine I've ever used was a dirty hotel machine that got drag factor 95 (a bit less than 200+ that I was expecting) with the damper fully open (10).

[sekitori]

At the open end (0? 1?) I get 74. Fully closed, i.e. on 10, I get 179. This is at 4,000' of altitude.

Bob S.

I get approximately the same results with my Model D and I'm at sea level. As long as I consistently reach 120-130 with the damper set around six, I don't worry about high and low extremes. My old Model C operated with high and low figures very close to those of my present rower. Since they both showed such similar readings and because I have no experience with any other machines, those numbers seem perfectly normal to me.

[johnlvs2run]

The erg in the gym is probably in the middle of a big room that has plenty of air flow to the fan.
Having the fan side of your home erg close to a wall will cause the drag factors to be significantly lower.

Facing the fan side of the erg to the middle of the room will cause the drag factors to be higher.

This is the same principle as covering the fan side of the erg to get significantly lower drag factors.