KUMMINZ1983

I WAS WANDERING IF I HAD DUAL ELECTRIC FANS, WOULD THIS HELP IT WARM UP FASTER IN THE WINTER? MY THOUGHTS ARE THAT ELECTRIC FANS ONLY KICK ON WHEN IT GETS A CERTAIN TEMP TO WHERE THE FAN THATS ON THERE NOW IS ALWAYS RUNNING WITH THE MOTOR. DOES THIS SOUND RIGHT?

CarlJensen

Take your machine out of caps lock. That is like yelling at someone. The stock fan is on a clutch and is at idle, very little HP draw, when it's cold. Clutch engages at a preset temp. I have seen past threads where people have tried electrics and it did not work out well. Do a search on the subject.

infidel

Even when the stock fan's clutch isn't locked up it still moves quite a bit of air though the coolers. I remove my fan totally for the cool time of year, works excellent for faster heater and warm up.
Quite a few folks have had good luck with electric fans but don't think they'll work if you tow in hot weather though.

Shovelhead

I slip a piece of cardboard between the intercooler and the radiator in the cooler weather.
Cut it to fit side to side (Remember to leave it tall enough to be able to grab it to pull it out) and cut a 5 inch hole in the center to let the cold air hit the fan cluch to keep it disengaged.

perkins

I have been running electric fans for years.When I,m loaded I gross 24.000lb don,t have any cooling problems.They do help in the winter for warming up the motor.I don,t need to block off the rad.Just buy a good adjustable thermastat.
Dale

CarlJensen

I have wodered if anyone has any experience towing in hot weather with electrics. I go to the desert at times and it gets up to the century mark sometimes outside and I have been leery of electrics in that temp range.

perkins

It gets that hot some times in Missouri when we go to tractor pulls they work just fine temp. stays at 195.Running at 70mph loaded.
Dale

tool

I'm curious about your setup perkins.

What Perkins do you have in your truck and where did it come from???

caper

I cant see why ,as some say that the fan slows down engine warm up, the way I see it the coolant is circulating in engine untill the thermostat opens, only then will the fan affect the temp a little but by that time its already at full temp anyways.Please correct me if I am mistaken.

KATOOM

I dont care what anyone says about running electric fans. I wouldnt run them. My brother tried running dual fans on his motorhome to get more HP and had nothing but trouble. They just cant pull the CFM's. Oh yea, he also lost the AC compressor because he forgot to hook the fans up to the AC switch. Last I read on this subject, the most CFM's that was available from electric fans was around 5000 CFM or so. The stock clutch fan on the Cummins will pull 20,000 CFM at full RPM! That is quite a difference. I also dont know how it would affect EGT's without that air rushing past the intercooler. And if HP is an issue then dont forget to calculate the HP it will take to generate enough electricity to run the fans. I could see cold weather warm ups being faster but unless your in some seriously frigid temps it wont matter anyway because just sitting and idling is very bad in cold cold weather. Reason is the cylinders arent building enough temps to heat anything up and you get fuel wash and carbon build up and you could possibly bend some push rods.

CTD NUT

You can certainly get electric fans that WILL provide more than enough flow to cool just about any motor you like but be prepared to pay.........just look at class 8 and trophy truck off road race trucks that are running around 800hp @6000+rpm in 120* desert temperatures hour after hour - these guys do not mess around when it comes to cooling systems and they all run electric fans!..........I have experimented with many different types of electric fans over the years in my Jeep and have found that your typical over-the-counter parts store electric fans do not flow anywhere near enough air for heavy duty cooling applications but you can get the fans to do the job but I do not think the cost can be justified...........how does $1400 for fans and a 2nd alternator sound?.........As Katoom mentioned, the hp gain may not exist or be too small when you have to figure on driving 2 high powered alternators.........1 200 amp alternator can easily suck back 7 hp at full power and the longevity on these alternators hasn't been known to be too good..............

BigBlue

I believe it's horton that sells an electric fan clutch for our trucks. It replaces the factory mechanical clutch and reuses the stock fan so it will still pull plenty of CFM. Cost, $600.

RustyJC

I can't comment on the Cummins application, but I tried a $500 set of Flex-a-Lite dual puller fans (the 350-series, IIRC) on my previous V-10/47RE 3500 that we used to tow a 5th wheel. These fans replaced the stock engine-driven fan. They couldn't cool the V-10 in heavy towing applications, although they worked fine just cruising around unloaded. I guess that's not surprising when you figure that they drew 50 amps. 50 amps x 12 volts = 600 watts = 0.8 BHP. Regardless of how efficient the airfoils might have been, 0.8 BHP just couldn't move enough air to cool the V-10. An expensive lesson learned.....

Rusty

BigBlue

We put a single electric fan on my buddies truck with a 180* t-stat and his temp never goes above 180*. No matter how hot it is outside and how hard he is on it. It's an 18" fan.

popeyesides

Howdy,electric fans will not work.they do not pull enough air,I installed a Horton fan clutch back in 2000,this thing still is awsome,they come with 8 blades instead of factory 6 blades.It has 3 switches,when temp.reaches 190,has a A.C. switch and has a manual switch that installs in the cab.The fan is either on or off because it uses a magnetic electric clutch.So when its cold it does not come on.It comes on in the summer periodically when the A.C. is on when it senses the pressure change.It sounds just like a semi fan when its on,because it is a semi fan.When it engages you know it,the whole truckjerks when it comes on.Took a little getting used to but its cool.Dodge dealers use to sell them,I found the last one in AZ.I think it was about $800 for the whole kit including factory wiring harness.