As others have said 1HP equals 1HP, however as we all know all horses aren't created equal, so to speak. Think about it this way, it might take one Clydsdale 1 minute to drag a 1000 lb weight 10 feet, but it will also take a dozen minature ponies to move the same weight the same distance in a minute. The difference is the power or torque created by the Clydsdale vs the ponies.
That said, what your concerned about will be the torque, and the torque characteristics are completely different between gas and electric power. In that respect a 5HP gasoline engine isn't going to work to replace a 5 HP electric motor. I know that when converting an air compressor from an electric motor to an engine you need to go with an engine of at least double the electric HP. Now most compressors typically turn in the 1800 RPM range and many engines typically reach their Peak HP in the same RPM range so you've got that working against you. In your case your wanting to turn at 3450 RPM or nearly double the RPM where the engine is gonna reach it's peak torque so if you went with a pulley stup to increase the speed you in effect will be decreasing the torque with the increase in speed. If it was me doing the conversion I'd go with a minimum of a 18 HP engine and prefferably a 20 plus HP engine and direct drive everyting through some sort of coupling. I say this because knowing it's a planer the speed of the blades is important to the finish and that speed is going to rely directly on the torque output of the engine being high enough to prevent the engine from bogging when the blades hit a hard spot and slowing everything down. Too going with anything other than direct drive you lose a certain amount of HP through the 'drive device' so close coupled is the best way to tget the greatest amount of torque transmission to the machine.
Short of getting into a lot of math that 'only and engineer' could understand,((((((((see the link))))))) that's about it in a nutshell. Over the years I've converted several compressors from electric to gas and rule of thumb has always been 1 HP electric is equal to 2 HP gasoline or diesel, and I know of at least one conversion that has been worked hard and is going strong on Dad's service truck since 1986 so the rule must work. In your case though it would be better to be safe than sorry, especially if your buying a new engine, and know that you'll have enough UMPH to do what your wanting, and not wind up with an engine that's too small and has to be pulled off and replaced with a second, larger engine. The price difference between say a 18 HP and a 24HP plus isn't that great, especially when you compare it to the cost of two engines....... Hope this helps, and Good luck.
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Today's Featured Article - Madison's County - by Anthony West. Philip Madison has been a good friend of mine for quite some time. He has patiently suffered my incessant chit chat on the subject of tractors for longer than I care to remember, and on many occasions he has put himself out, dropped what ever it was he was doing, to come and lend a hand cranking handles, or loading a find onto a trailer. Although he himself has never actually owned or restored a tractor, he was always enthusiastic and always around helping with other peoples projects.
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