[encantotom]

i dont think you would get anywhere the airflow required. remember, in a car, you are moving most of the time. that squirrel cage blower puts out alot of cfm

tom

[HoosierDaddy]

I've considered the same thing. A squirrel cage blower moves a LOT of air and is much quieter than a fan type blower. One method of noise reduction is to require the cooling air to follow a circuitous path to the engine and through the radiator. This minimizes the engine sound from emanating from the "engine room". It also requires much more air flow/pressure. 120V is readily available for this need and allows for a much higher fan torque load.

[Dmatz]

That motor is available in a dc driven ECM motor. It is a common motor in high efficient residential HVAC systems today. You have to ask yourself us the juice worth the squeeze and the availability if that 120 volt or 220 volt motor is widely available in local supply houses. It can be done with however it is not so available fir replacement.

[encantotom]

the real question is....why bother.

tom

[Mxfarm]

Guess in my mind - having never owned a coach or a mobile genset (prior to this Newell), & coming out of a industrial background w/all the ducting and seals - it's the squirrelleyest set up on the coach.

[77newell]

Why bother? It seems to me that it would be a simpler system, only one moving part (motor and fan combined) instead of three parts (motor, belt, and fan).

The air flow path would not change but may require a sound baffle at the inlet where the current fan sits to force the sound to make another turn.

The airflow would certainly need to be carefully calculated. What I don't currently know is if there is a reason for airflow beyond that needed just for the radiator cooling load and does the current airflow direction contribute to that due to the air getting warmed by engine prior to passing through the radiator.

I'm just considering options that use the best current technology in case by blower goes squirrelly.

[HoosierDaddy]

My 1978 Newell had the fan mounted on the engine in the conventional manner. I was not happy with the noise...Especially around the front of the coach. As you can see in the pic the air inlet was throught a grill in the front of the coach. I made a "surround" for the front of the genset that sealed the area between the edges of the radiator and the "box" , totally closed off the radiator opening in the front cover with sheet metal and sound deadener foam, and cut a new air opening into the front cover below the old opening and in line with the chrome bumper. I then sealed the bumper to the body along the top edge with aluminum panels so air would be drawn in from below the bumper, up and making a 90 degree turn into the radiator. It exhausted out the bottom of the genset box. It made a huge reduction in noise and ran cool.

[folivier]

Where is bestgenman? Hopefully he'll jump into this discussion since generators are his profession.

[arcticdude]

There are several birds out there with PowerTech 17's running 12v pancake fans as a pusher application. The radiators are remote mounted and horizontal. To my knowledge, they have not yet had overheating problems. It does get rid of the squirrel cage set up. While I like the idea of an easily obtainable fan, I kind of like the ability to know that I'm getting 120v out of the genny by the squirrel fan running.

[bestgenman]

Sorry to be away so long and VERY sorry to have missed the Rally.

The squirrel cage fan cfm is calculated to move enough air to pick up heat radiated from: exhaust components, engine radiated heat, generator winding contributed heat plus the heat rejected to coolant. Additionally the squirrel cage fan is the quietest mover of air (subject to conjecture) and is preferred by most builders. I agree with Tom, replace the bearings with ball vs sleeve and you'll be quite satisfied. Team Rahal has over 10,000 hours on their ball bearing fan .

The fan motor is fed directly from the generator terminal box in most cases and runs whenever the set produces an output. The newer Newell's use a belt-less squirrel cage. On 785, I have replaced the fan twice, not impressed with with belt-less but they do save space.