| Author |
Message |
Phil Curtis (152.163.252.163)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 8:56 pm: | |
Ok have to ask has anyone ever scraped out there squeral cages and put in high volume elc. fans on there MCI 8/71.Seems a good conversion with maybe a few extra HP to boot. |
RJ Long (Rjlong) (24.127.74.29)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 9:12 pm: | |
This has been kicked around on the message boards more than a dozen times, for various model buses.
The general consensus:
The alternator won't put out enough current to power the huge motors you'd need to equal the amount of air flow that the OEM squirrel cage blowers provide.
Sorry. . .
HTH,
RJ
PD4106-2784
Fresno CA |
Tony H. (Bluegrass) (216.207.2.93)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 9:41 pm: | |
I often wonder If anyone has tried It or Is It just an old wise tale that It takes a lot of electric, remember when the automobils come out with the electric fans, everone said it would not work, I dont believe that there is an auto built today that dont have them, annd they put out a lot of heat. |
RJ Long (Rjlong) (24.127.74.29)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 13, 2003 - 10:37 pm: | |
True, Tony, no one thought the electric fans would work on autos.
But where's the radiator on a car vs a bus?
There is NO ram air effect thru the radiator for any bus with it's engine in the rear. And diesels do not overheat when idling, unlike a gas engine. . .
Without the ram effect, you HAVE to have sufficient pulling power from the cooling fans to draw the air thru the radiator(s). IIRC, on the GMCs, the draw is about 30 hp when the hydraulic fan drive locks up to provide maximum cooling.
Ever seen a 30 hp electric motor???
Just for the record, in my 25 years in the bus industry, I never could feel the cooling fans cycling on and off in terms of additional drag on the engine. Hear them, yes, feel them, no. Too much mass involved. . .
RJ |
Doug (68.83.22.146)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 3:37 am: | |
hook up an ampmeter to your coach or watch the one on your dash and turn on your coach heater blower motor at idle and see what happens |
doughtebonifiedbusnut (136.217.0.198)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 11:58 am: | |
Hey Phil,
Soon as I get back from Bosnia Its the first project Im going to tackel will start with two elecrtic fans on my crown. will keep eveyone informed. |
Ross Carlisle (Ross) (66.238.216.244)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 3:22 pm: | |
Does anyone know what the CFM draw is on each squirrel cage fan on an MC8/9? That would be a good starting point for someone going fan shopping. No point in wasting your time with a fan that delivers less than the factory fan delivers. I kind of doubt that anything in the automotive world would deliver enough CFM. There is a lot of air coming through those squirrel cage fans even at idle.
FYI...Since I saw the price on a rebuilt fan gear box, I've been thinking about this.
Ross |
Gary Stadler (Boogiethecat) (68.7.217.217)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 14, 2003 - 3:33 pm: | |
It cracks me up how many times everyone goes over and over and over this. Doug, it ain't gonna work. My Crown still gets to the hairy heat edge (195) going up a LONG grade on a HOT day, and I just replaced my stock belt driven fan with an 8 bladed version to get more air. Everything in the system is operating perfectly... its just that the engine produces a LOT of heat that you HAVE to get rid of to not overheat. It takes 10-20HP to move the required amount of air, any way you look at it. An electric fan or a set of electric fans just is NOT going to provide enough air flow, period.
If all you do is drive around in the city or on flat ground in the winter, maybe. But if you're considering any kind of serious travel at all, you're wasting your time thinking about electric fans on the side of any bus. If you do your engineering, you'll immediately see that you're wasting your time and money...
Gary Stadler |
HondoJoe (66.74.50.62)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2003 - 1:48 am: | |
Heck, that electric fan cooling my radiators in my MC5 really works great......
After I stop on a hot summer nite when on the road, I turn it on, open the rear blower hatch and it exhausts all the built up latent heat.
The back bed gets too hot to sleep on sometime because of the heat transfer after we stop. So go ahead and install that electric fan. It'll work like a champ and maybe humm you to sleep!! Joe |