Electric fans

[JMBT]

That is a really interesting concept. But I would stick with the old school belt driven clutch fan as well.

I do wonder though: 1. How long would the electric fans operate at the required capacity before they burnt up?

2. What in the heck does Prevost charge their customers for that option?

[Bengy88]

I’m gonna say the fans burning up shouldn’t really be a concern, if installed correctly that should be fine. I mean they run on cars and pickups for years with no issues. I’ve got a 2006 Silverado with 320,000 miles on it and the factory electric fan. My problem is…… that’s a cluster f***. And as for the dodge having issues with an electric fan I’m gonna say it’s not the fact of the electric fan can’t do the job but it’s the wrong fan for the job. Unless that truck is pushing BIG horsepower the right electric fan will run a 5.9 or 6.7 with no issues. What I’m doing is just to see what happens. This truck has a 400hp engine that is pulling maybe 8000 lbs of tissue 35 miles on flat ground so it’s not working at all. We just want to see how it effects and what it effects. It’s all just a learning experience. I would never try this on the typical truck nor would I suggest anyone else to try it at all.

[tree98]

Let us know how it turns out.

[Daved91709]

Just my opinion, but that looks like a RV install. Much less demand, combined with not having the airflow over a radiator in the hood.

[Bengy88]

Yessir that’s a prevost bus.

[Nostalgic]

From Cummins:



Been following along here and thought Rawze was being a little generous in HP requirements. Not sure about everyone else's habits, but usually I only need my fan in long, hard pulls. Usually 17-1900 rpm, so even best case, under Rawze's hypothetical, you'd still be fighting overheating.

[Mikanic]

There is a local customer at my shop with a W900L glider runs a 6NZ and he installed 4 12in electric fans if I remember correctly and had to remove them because they didn't keep up and truck would overheat often. He kept the electric fan concept tho and went with 1 big 36in with only 3 blades and it seems to be working fine, he is still working with it today. The motor powering the fan is the size of a alternator and I should probably say also he is a bit of a cowboy running high hp in his engine.

[Bengy88]

Yessir. I know it will work. We have an international with a 12.7 running around here with 2 fans off of chevy trucks and it does great. I just wanted to see what people had to say about it

[fast69mopar]

(07-06-2022 )Bengy88 Wrote:  Has anyone here tried electric fans on their truck yet? I’ve got an n14 and the bolts for the fan hub broke off in the top of the block so I’m installing 2 20 inch and 2 14 inch fans on the radiator. Im assuming that will be plenty of air flow and should keep everyone running correctly and I’m hoping it helps with fuel mileage. If anyone has ever done this please let me know how it turned out so I know what to expect l. And yes I am wiring them up properly.

I saw your post the day you put it up and I thought I type out a reply but I never hit the post button dangit.

I tried this exact setup but on a 14.0L in a 2005 Freightliner Columbia pulling a flatbed on a daily basis. I also tried this idea on my 2011 RAM 3500 with a 6.7-ISB set at the stock 325HP/650FT-LBS and at 425HP/1000FT-LBS and it pulled a 4-car wedge at 37,000lbs.

For the 2005 Columbia I used a pair of SPAL 18" fans in a shroud that flowed 5700CFM each and a pair of Derale 16" fans that flowed 4500CFM each inside their own smaller shrouds. The stock alternator was unable to handle the amperage draw so I had to switch to a 340A alternator. When I was empty the engine stayed super cool. When I was loaded the coolant temps would rise by 6°-8° which was just fine and this was on flat ground. If I hit anything more than a 3% grade the temps would start climbing and if it was in the mountains things got out of hand. I was having to stop multiple times to cool it down to the point where I was losing hours of my day. When I did the install for both trucks I had the SPAL 18" fans wired to come on together. They were provided power through a relay setup with a circuit breaker and they were thermostatically controlled by a probe in the radiator. The other Derale 16" fans were wired independent of each other and they were thermostatically controlled to come on a different coolant temps.

The RAM 3500 was fine with the electric fans on any terrain except for the mountains. I did everything I could do to get each one to run cooler but I was unsuccessful and ended up switching back to the clutch fan.