Electric Motor Fan

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valenburg
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Location: Maine

Electric Motor Fan

Postby valenburg » Sun Nov 15, 2009 10:18 am

I was thinking about this the other day when looking under the hood of the Pathfinder. Do you guys think removing the belt driven fan and mounting up like a 12+inch electric (2200cfm) fan as a replacement would yield any type of gains or even any negative effects? My grandma had an 85 crown vic and that was a mod that some did on it and my 81 toyota corolla as well. It might help to run a bit cooler too since at idle the fan would still be at a good speed. Just a thought.


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disallow
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Re: Electric Motor Fan

Postby disallow » Sun Nov 15, 2009 12:45 pm

valenburg wrote:I was thinking about this the other day when looking under the hood of the Pathfinder. Do you guys think removing the belt driven fan and mounting up like a 12+inch electric (2200cfm) fan as a replacement would yield any type of gains or even any negative effects? My grandma had an 85 crown vic and that was a mod that some did on it and my 81 toyota corolla as well. It might help to run a bit cooler too since at idle the fan would still be at a good speed. Just a thought.
Whats the CFM of the current belt driven fan?

Based on my experience, belt drives are very efficient. Also, the belt driven fan is attached to a viscous clutch, making it even more efficient. (Clutch engages only when fan is required, the rest of the time the fan is in slip mode using next to no HP)

Not saying your idea doesn't have merit, but some seriously complicated calculations need to be done, with much of the data being unknown. You don't want to overcool or undercool the engine, and having a 12" fan going all the time will probably only satisfy some of the cooling requirements (over or under).

You need to know:
1. Clutch on/off engine temp.
2. CFM of current fan.
3. HP draw of current fan.
4. Amp requirement of 12" fan.
5. Alternator available amps.
6. How much higher HP draw alternator would be with 12" electic fan, provided there is capacity.
7. Top Tank temp limits.

Just to name a few.

So, without a tonne of instrumentation and info from Nissan, I would say no.

t

valenburg
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Location: Maine

Postby valenburg » Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:43 pm

I guess there's more to it than I thought. Forgot to take into account current draw especially with all this new integrated technology already pulling on the alternator. a 2200 cfm fan has a 18amp draw with the smaller cfm's utilizing a less incrementally. Didn't know about the the engaging belt fan either, just figured it was always on since I checked mine after I just started the car and it was engaged. Maybe ill try and get into some research. Thanks for the input. Plus being in Maine, it's a lot cooler than the Miami temps my cars were used to.

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08Datsun
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Postby 08Datsun » Sun Nov 15, 2009 9:25 pm

I'm not sure about the older models, but my '08 has a mechanical and an electric fan. The electric one is a two speed and seems to do most of the work. The mechanical fan has only engaged a couple of times, and that was 1 mph crawling in low range 1st gear in maybe 90 degree heat. It never has engaged otherwise, even in 120 degree heat or pulling our tent trailer. It will likely never engage for you up in Maine.

The fan of choice for electric fan swaps is a two speed fan used on the 3.8L Taurus. High speed is 4,000 cfm and I'm told it takes a 70 amp relay for the high speed.

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bigmankz
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Postby bigmankz » Sun Nov 15, 2009 11:25 pm

I would think of something like that in hotter areas. I personnaly did not have that installed on Pathy but done that with my 200SX. It worked very well. My reasons for installation was that in summer it gets really hot. The car is turbochrgaed and so its even hotter under the hood. it helped big time in summer when I was barely moving in traffic jams on low rpm when oem clutch type fan was barely pulling freash air underneath the hood. it also helped in winter because the engine would warm up a lot faster. oem clutch even when it is not locked in cold it still runs the fan a bit and in winter it is too much and in summer even when the clutch is locked it is not enough as the rpm is low. in the pathy the oem fan is works well and I never had any problems with overheating or overcooling the engine.

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disallow
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Postby disallow » Mon Nov 16, 2009 8:07 am

08Datsun wrote:I'm not sure about the older models, but my '08 has a mechanical and an electric fan. The electric one is a two speed and seems to do most of the work. The mechanical fan has only engaged a couple of times, and that was 1 mph crawling in low range 1st gear in maybe 90 degree heat. It never has engaged otherwise, even in 120 degree heat or pulling our tent trailer. It will likely never engage for you up in Maine.

The fan of choice for electric fan swaps is a two speed fan used on the 3.8L Taurus. High speed is 4,000 cfm and I'm told it takes a 70 amp relay for the high speed.
You are correct, however I've never seen the electric kick in on my 05. I've heard it sounds like a jet taking off when they do though...

Pretty sure the primary cooling fan is the belt driven one. But lets face it, for day to day driving, probably not much cooling is needed except in situations where there is little or no ram air coming in the grill.

t

coom1986
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Postby coom1986 » Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:49 pm

In this part of the world we got temperatures well over 40 degrees celcius for over 75% of the year,and the traffic can get pretty jammed packed and ive actually recored a high of 51 degrees celcius on one particular day,,and so far never had a problem with cooling.

Im nt sure on this but the GCC spec pathys might have some extra cooling to tackle the extra heat but my point is if its nt over heating why change it at all??


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