Interesting
Jeff
Jeff
Video - Horsepower Loss To Fans.....
- Thread starter MrJLR
- Start date
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mopowers
Well-Known Member
It was more than I expected. I'm sure the electric fan guys are pretty stoked.
mopowers
Well-Known Member
You've gotta be careful basing decisions like that on one data point. For all we know, that video could've been sponsored by Spal, or another company that makes electric fans. i'm not saying the results aren't accurate; just that you've gotta be careful who/what you believe. How does the old adage go, "if it's on the internet, it's gotta be true..."
abodyjoe
Well-Known Member
had an electric fan fail on my dart 2 hours from home in the past.. never again.. i'll stick to my belt driven fans..
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Switching my 7 blade stainless steel flex fan to a 5 blade MP clutch fan with the new short Hayden clutch. I couldn't fit a stock clutch fan before so I went with the stainless one. I was actually after better cooling, but it looks like I may pick up some power as well.
Takes so much horsepower to move air, don't matter if engine belt, electric, steam, or horses going round and round..........
Penstarpurist
Well-Known Member
Watched that video twice yesterday with my sons. One son said no matter how much power it takes using a belt driven fan he won't give up the reliability of knowing if the engine is running the fan is spinning. He has the factory steel non clutch. My other son whose duster we just put the big block in said electric fans all the way. He will risk reliability for more power. After all, if you are putting a big block in an A-body the only thing you're going for is more power. And your right mopowers the show is sponsored, by amsoil. They say that right up front.
So what fails more often....a broken belt or an electric fan failure?
Jeff
Jeff
Sedanman
67-9 Valiant specialist
It makes me glad I switched from a factory steel fan back to a clutch
Interesting.... But even mother mopar had stated that the clutch "viscous" fan saved 16 hp (?) if I remember correctly.
On a side note, if you underdrive the pulleys, the loss wouldn't be as grand.
On a side note, if you underdrive the pulleys, the loss wouldn't be as grand.
mopowers
Well-Known Member
Did they mention what the drive ratio of the water pump pulley was?
abodyjoe
Well-Known Member
i've never broken a belt but have had an electric fan fail on me..
most new cars for years now only have electric fans so they must be pretty reliable.. if i were to do another electric fan it would be an OEM one for sure..
Penstarpurist
Well-Known Member
I don't recall them mentioning a drive ratio on the water pump, I think all they said water pump wise was to watch out for reverse rotation water pumps.
What will you do when someone does testing showing how much HP an alternator costs at full load.......chuck that too?
I was wondering the same thing....although I don't it's as much as the fan...
Jeff
and to add to RRR's quote, an electric fan loads the alternator more, causing more drag equaling a little hp loss.
I'm not at all saying electric fans won't give back hp, I'm just saying, if you under drive the mechanical fan, and choose the right fan, hp loss will not be 30. In fact, they got 8 of those loss horses back by just removing the shroud.
UDUST81
Well-Known Member
broken belt is gonna be a problem whether you have belt driven fan or electric
LOL..... nah, who needs a water pump and alternator.... and maybe power steering? Just keep the fan turning...
I'll say it. Electric fans don't GIVE anything. They just don't see the parasitic drag a belt driven fan does.
It's a personal choice. Run what you want to.
Correct. No fan "adds" horsepower. EVERY fan cost horsepower.
mopowers
Well-Known Member
How much power could an alternator take to spin at full load? 80 amps at 14v is about a kW. So, even if the alternator is only 25% efficient, it's still less than 5hp. Am I missing something?
I think the point was it's still a hp loss. You do NOT add hp to a motor by adding a fan. You just don't take as much hp away. In other words, you can get back some of the loss hp by different types of fans. And as I said, you usually get back more of the loss by going electric, but you can minimize this by under driving the fan and selecting the right type of fan and shroud.
How much more horsepower do you suppose a 180* engine makes than one that's boiling over? I think you could make an argument that fans give horsepower. It's a critical part of the power system.
Otherwise, you'd have to admit that only gasoline "gives" power.
But yeah, this is a measure of minimizing how much power they waste.
Otherwise, you'd have to admit that only gasoline "gives" power.
But yeah, this is a measure of minimizing how much power they waste.
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