Is an electric fan worth doing?

[twitchee2]

I wouldn't mind knowing more. I am weighing the pros and cons.

So from the research I did, the flex a light isnlt worth the box it comes in. I used a Lincln mark VIII fan, its a monster pulls a lot of air and a lot of power.

A few down sides, its a pain in get mounted in a way that didnt interfere with the belt system of the engine. There just isnt very much space to work with.

They way i wired it up, i had auto high/low, and manual high/low/off. All worked well for a while. I had it over heat on me twice, both my fault, switch got hit by my knee and was in of mode.

I had a water temp sensor to turn it on. It turned on just fine but never shut off. It was very difficult to get setup. It had such a wide range that it didn't shut off on the freeway because it was always warmer then then shutoff temperature. I am a mechatronic engineer and I was going to setup a microcontroller to turn the fan on and off at certain temperatures but never got around to it. To get the a good controller is very expensive.

Other issue I had was a fuse backed out and let voltage through but not enough current to spin the motor. Easy fix but i ended up braking the fan blade itself and just said screw it and put the stock back in.

I never saw any efficiency benefits. The most annoying part was I ALWAYS had to have it in the back of my mind whether it was going to turn on or off today. Had me glancing at my scan gauge every 2 min while driving to make sure it actually had cooling etc. No one else could use my truck because i was the only one that knew how it worked.

All in all, its not worth the time or money. Stick with stock and don't deal the hassle.

I hope this helps.

 

[snow junky]

I have flex alite fans and love them. It's auto controlled by a control box. No real down side. Maybe got 3hp from it. But there is a lot more engine bay room. The biggest benefit is my ac works GREAT when I'm not moving. The fans come on with my ac clutch and blows air acrostic it. When I'm idling it makes a big difference

 

[snow junky]

I'm not even sure what fan you're talking about, but if you're talking about the cooling fan in the engine bay, then manual. Any time you convert energy from one form to another, there are inherent losses (usually to heat). So if you convert the engine's rotational energy into electricity to power a fan motor, then that'd be less efficient than driving a fan directly from the engine...

True but Efans don't run ALL the time

 

[tx4r3g]

another problem with efans is if you do any mudding the mud does and will build up in the fan motor and burn them up. i have seen this. you know mudd gets everywere and in everything.

 

[Singtoe]

FWIW, If I could run a manual fan, I would have. My electric fans are fine but they were costly and I don't like how they are attached to the radiator.

 

[4runner1983]

It is 100% worth doing.

EngineMasters (MTOD and YouTube) JUST proved that mechanical fans ROB as much as 30hp at high RPM!

to get 30 free HP for just changing a system is pretty damn good in my book

I'm doing mine in June.

 

[tvpierce]

Actually, with respect, there are a couple of things wrong with this. First, a 300 amp alternator and a 70 amp alternator DO require nearly the same amount of power to turn when providing up to 70 amps. The power required to turn an alternator is directly dependent (though not necessarily directly proportional) to the power the alternator is supplying, based on the load. Adding an electric fan that draws 20 amps will require the engine to supply roughly 1 HP to run the fan (roughly since estimates vary based on the efficency of the alternator), regardless of the size of the alternator (70 or 300 amp) - and the alternator is taking that 1 HP from the engine through it's belt. The larger alternator can supply more current, but the amount of power needed to turn the alternator is dependent on the load, not the size of the alternator.

+1

If a high-amp load is put on an alternator, it's going to have some major resistance.

As an example, Google "DIY DC Welder". The basic parts are a gas engine (Briggs/Kohler/etc.) and an automotive alternator. That's an extreme application that puts a huge intermittent load on an alternator. For a 120 amp alternator, you need a 12hp engine.

So no, the electricity isn't "free". But the clutched fan on our 4Runners doesn't exactly "free-wheel" when it's not engaged. So that's not "free" either.

 

[octanejunkie]

It's an interesting conversation and one I am very familiar with. I went almost all-electric on my '59 pickup to free-up as much horsepower as possible, including an electric cooling fan. I stopped short of an electric water pump due to reliability concerns, plus I wanted to be parts-store friendly if I broke down out of town and didn't have a spare electric water pump on hand.

I started off controlling my fan with a thermostatic relay and temp sensor and ultimately converted over to ECU controlled when I upgraded that truck to fuel injection. The computer now tells the fan when to run. I've never overheated.

It is super efficient, cooling-wise, but the draw on the alternator, and engine, is somewhat noticeable when the fan comes on standing in traffic - you can see the RPM gauge wobble when the fan kicks on or off. I am running a 100 AMP alt in that truck.

The key with upgrading to or adding electric accessories is matching your draw and supply; as has been said. This is a good article on high-amp alts for 4runners on yodatech, and the trick that is explained well there is getting the alt to kick out full juice on demand, not just at higher RPM.

I'm not in a hurry to go electric cooling on my T4R, the factory setup seems to run just fine for my needs, but I'll follow this convo opcorn:

 

[IBallEngineer]

It is 100% worth doing.

EngineMasters (MTOD and YouTube) JUST proved that mechanical fans ROB as much as 30hp at high RPM!

to get 30 free HP for just changing a system is pretty damn good in my book

I'm doing mine in June.

This is fantasy, we aren't drag racing!

Check the CFM on most electric fans, 2-3K at most, engine driven fans give you twice that!

Hot rods run electric fans because they don't always have room for a clutch and fan, or even a fan.

OEM electric set ups are highly dependent on properly ducted air flow.

In the end, you can't fix what ain't broken!

 

[alumarine]

I installed a thermostatically controlled electric fan with shroud on my 2cnd gen V6 after the original fan grenaded.

I noticed zero increase in performance and zero improvement in fuel mileage.
I keep track of my mileage after every fill.

I did notice that towing a 2500lb trailer caused the motor to run about 10 degrees hotter.

After 2 years I switched back to the original fan.

 

[nevada]

It is 100% worth doing.

EngineMasters (MTOD and YouTube) JUST proved that mechanical fans ROB as much as 30hp at high RPM!

to get 30 free HP for just changing a system is pretty damn good in my book

I'm doing mine in June.

This is fantasy, we aren't drag racing!

Check the CFM on most electric fans, 2-3K at most, engine driven fans give you twice that!

Hot rods run electric fans because they don't always have room for a clutch and fan, or even a fan.

OEM electric set ups are highly dependent on properly ducted air flow.

In the end, you can't fix what ain't broken!

now, this doesn't talk about an E fan, but you can definitely see the loss from the engine driven fans.

the question wasn't whether it was better, but if it would free up HP. and the answer is YES.

 

[Scramble]

It is 100% worth doing.

EngineMasters (MTOD and YouTube) JUST proved that mechanical fans ROB as much as 30hp at high RPM!

to get 30 free HP for just changing a system is pretty damn good in my book

I'm doing mine in June.

If I could gain 30hp by switching to an efan I would have done it already...and so would more than half of this forum.
Sheeet, why bother with headers & a 3" exhaust, just get an efan!

 

[octanejunkie]

If I could gain 30hp by switching to an efan I would have done it already...and so would more than half of this forum.
Sheeet, why bother with headers & a 3" exhaust, just get an efan!

Put a ferrite core on your fuel line to align the fuel ions while you're at it [emoji23] [emoji56]

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[Scramble]

Put a ferrite core on your fuel line to align the fuel ions while you're at it [emoji23] [emoji56]

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

I was actually looking at the Dilithium Crystal Mod to stabilize my warp field. ound:

 

[JZiggy]

I'm not an expert in fan clutches, but I seem to recall that one of their functions is to limit the upper speed of the fan. So if the clutch is warm and the fan is engaged, but you rev the engine up to 5000rpm, the fan will top out at 2-3000rpm. If they did not work this way I would expect the plastic fan to blow up at engine redline.

Now that I watch the video... I see that must be the case since the HP reduction is a lot less with with the clutched fan and is consistent over a long rpm range.

Also need to compare the size of the fan they are using to one sized for our trucks. I'm going to guess a clutched mechanical fan "robs" no more than 10hp. Given alternator inefficiencies I'm guessing an equivalent efan would still take at least 2hp to run. I'd trade 8hp for simplicity, reliability, and greater cooling power.

 

[IBallEngineer]

now, this doesn't talk about an E fan, but you can definitely see the loss from the engine driven fans.

the question wasn't whether it was better, but if it would free up HP. and the answer is YES.

Actually the thread title asks, "is it worth doing", and like so many of the mods done on our rigs, the answer can be subjective.

Dyno testing is fantasy land anyway. Real world experience answers it for me, and I have plenty of that. NOT worth doing.

 

[SnowLizard]

I'm on both sides of this...

for the max HP to the tires, yeah no doubt e-fan is the only way to go. there is less load.


but for max efficiency, I'd say the clutch fan has it hands down. the load it produces is next to nothing when the car is cold, and it can really grab the air when off-road. it puts mechanical strain on parts that are meant to take it. and it costs much less to maintain.

an e-fan CAN be more efficient IF... the alt is upgraded, the wiring is upgraded, the fan can pull as much air as the c-fan, and be as variable as the c-fan. Only then would it be worth it but to get the e-fan to be close to that would be an expensive endeavor.

not say'n it can't be done, but for max efficiency, the c-fan is the way to go for our trucks, unless $ is poured into the engine bay.

but cool topic anyways, and opinions will vary.

 

[Renegade_Medic]

Been there done, that. went back to stock, not worth it. Way more headache then its worth. No noticeable power increases, no noticeable mpg gains. My electric fan caused me to over heat twice because of wiring issues.

If anyone needs more info let me know and ill explain more.

This. I swapped to an E fan in 2 previous vehicles and went back to mechanical both times. I also overheated both motors. Both times due to wiring failure. So, no not worth it to swap, i know this is an old thread, but just saw it.

You actually will get a little increase in power, but your alternator will be working harder, not enough for you to notice the extra load on the alt. You should feel a boost in power though. You could always add an extra fan to push more air if desired. But honestly, the clutch fan is the way to go.

 

[BERAD1]

This just in

As of recent "engine masters"(hot rod mag) dyno a clutch fan will rob 28hp at 6200 rpm but the electrical draw conversion was not done. As of spring 2017

 

[DJDV1]

I would definitely do it

quieter and less pull on the engine