Electric fans

[Bengy88]

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.

[SquareOne]

Man I dont know.... that clutch fan moves some serious air when it's engaged. I would also be concerned with the max amp draw when all 4 fans are running at max load (assuming you are using a variable speed set up).

[Bengy88]

Yea I see where your coming from and I agree with you 100% but we got 3000$ in the truck, guy sold it because of this issue and in the end It’s a learning experience either way and I figured I would give it a shot before I pull the front head to get the bolts out. I will definitely update whether it works or not though and exactly how it effects the charging system. Might have to run a bigger alternator and at least I’m in the southern US so I can run 650cca batteries so I’ll have more storage

[Rawze]

(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.

ease-out or drill them out and heli-coil the bolt holes.


My theory/// only a simple guess, based on what is typically seen (the beer is talkin') ...
A large diesel engine can consume up to about 18-22 Horsepower driving the main fan to cool the engine off properly. This is up to about 16,000 watts of work energy, all depends on conditions, engine rpm, and load

A 13.6 volt electric fan that could move as much air as the engine can, would therefore also have to be about 15,000 watts and draw about 1,100 amps of current from the batteries to do it... so the guesstimated answer according to the beer, would be a solid NO!!!>>>

Even if you cut the energy requirements in half.. that is still about 8,000 watts of energy to drive a fan for the engine under load to keep up ... even with only half the capacity.. an electric fan will not keep up if the engine is under full power load for any length of time trying to climb a hill if it were not at least a 500+ amp +12volts fan... and that would require one seriously h#ell of an alternator (700-AMPS+) just to keep it running, engine at full steam up a mountian.. and a whole lot of efficiency losses too.

STOP trying to re-invent the wheel.. FIX THE ISSUE instead!.

[tree98]

It's probably less work to drill and heli-coil like Rawze said than it is to do all that wiring and fabricate mounts, etc. Just to end up overheating it in the end.

[Bengy88]

The front head really isn’t what I would call easy to pull off an n14, the head has to come off to get a drill straight on the bolts. I completely agree with rawze and what he said though. This is more so an I wanna see what happens deal. I’m anticipating it won’t work properly I was really just curious to see if anyone has tried it and what happened. They actually make kits to order to do this to trucks

[Yauchout]

from experience with a electric fan conversion on my dodge which is obviously smaller and not a n14 but two 15 inch and two 10 inch electric fans cant keep up with a light 3000 pound trailer on a hill. I am with rawze on this one it will never keep up

[Wildcard]

Prevost has done it...but I see 3 alternators in this picture

[Rawze]

(07-06-2022 )Wildcard Wrote:  Prevost has done it...but I see 3 alternators in this picture

That looks quite restrictive to me. What a dm$anned mess!.