Using blower over heater core

Muku · Nov 24, 2003

Has anyone tried rigging up a blower (squirrel cage) fan in either a push or pull type scenario on their radiator with a shroud to see how they perform? I know they generate higher pressures than axial fans, even though they are relatively even on cfm's.
Any thoughts/experience?

Stedeman · Nov 24, 2003

I haven't heard of anyone doing this in water cooling, I think the reason is that a squirrel cage big enough to cover the heater core would be way to big to fit in the case (reasonably). But it could be a real good option for an external cooler box

Korndog · Nov 24, 2003

thought about it
all the ones that come in that size are expensive, damn damn loud and 120v and take up too much space

Korndog · Nov 24, 2003

also, if u think about it
cage fans are good for evenly putting out air, and not leaving the center w/o air flow or little air flow which would be the cpu area on a heatsink. but for a radiator that doesn't matter much..

Muku · Nov 24, 2003

yeah, I have one of those 120v ones kickin around at work, they haul major air, but yes they are quite noisy. One thing I noticed is that the noise reduces significantly when there is ducting over both the intake and out. Perhaps I could rig up a loop from another room, the intake is about 6" across, so dryer ducting may fit well. or better yet, outside!
edit: i believe on a radiator you should take advantage of the even air flow coverage...after all thats the whole idea of a rad..

Soja · Nov 24, 2003

I believe Cathar uses blowers on his rads. Don't have a link but I specifically remember pics :-/

Cathar · Nov 24, 2003

Yes, I've done it, and am still using mine. I rigged up a radiator box though.

The blower sits on the back panel of the radiator box.

The blower is a heater-core blower from a car. Not sure of the exact car that it came out of, but it is 12V, 3-speed, and at 12V/full-speed pushes 650CFM at 4.0inH2O, or about 12x the pressure of a typical 100-110CFM 12cm fan.

I run it at 7V/low-speed setting full-time. It draws about 20W of power in this mode, and pushes about as much air through the radiators as a ~80CFM fan in free-flow mode (that's just a rough guess - I have no real way of measuring it) and is near-silent when doing so.

Basically if you want to go the blower route, then look seriously at car heater-core blowers, since this is exactly what they were designed to do, and they come with adjustable speed, and they are designed to run at 12V.

Short of the space requirement to use them, they are about the most ideal things to use.

I.M.O.G. · Nov 24, 2003

If you check out Hoot's article on good air/bad air he has an example of an inexpensive blower... You can get similar on Ebay if you are vigilant. I bought Hoot's (goes for $45 or so new from www.granger.com) off of him and I would think it would be GREAT for blowing against the back pressure created by a rad/heatercore. Even turned down low, it creates a good amount of pressure.

How did you aquire yours cathar? Cost?

Soja · Nov 24, 2003

Cathar, do you have spider sense? I swear everytime your name is mentioned (in various forums) in a question or whatnot you appear

Ven0m · Nov 24, 2003

Hehe

go go search button

Cathar · Nov 24, 2003

Ven0m said:
Hehe
go go search button

Google actually works pretty well too. Helps me to track down those places that I would not have otherwise been aware of.

Muku · Nov 24, 2003

Cathar, is there a noticable difference in temps and noise compared to axial fans?
Some of those car air systems can be kinda noisy...although thats with them blowing right in your face

perhaps a trip to the scrap yard is in order....hmm its winter with 4 inches of snow. oh well,

Thanks for your input, it would be interesting to see if they do work more efficiently

I.M.O.G. · Nov 24, 2003

Ya, you'd find them to be far more efficient.

Blowers don't nearly have the problems with backflow that axial fans do. In terms of efficiency of air flow relatively compared between the two types of fans, axial fans should NEVER be used for anything other than free flow air movement. They are pitiful.

Ven0m · Nov 24, 2003

It would be cool to see an airplane with blower

But more serious - due to construction, blower offer better pressure and there's less noise as blades cut air with less speed difference.

Korndog · Nov 24, 2003

Cathar said:
The blower is a heater-core blower from a car. Not sure of the exact car that it came out of, but it is 12V, 3-speed, and at 12V/full-speed pushes 650CFM at 4.0inH2O, or about 12x the pressure of a typical 100-110CFM 12cm fan.

..

damn cathar, i'm impressed *claps*
the lowest thing i could find on ebay was 24v @800cfm

Muku · Nov 24, 2003

yeah, i searched ebay and found nothing similar to what you've aquired cathar. All I found were those bulky metal hunks, with smaller exhausts. any codes on those blowers, perhaps a cross reference could be done to find the vehicle, or at least something similar. In reality i would only need one, but a plastic body instead of metal would be a bonus...maybe, depends on design i guess

Cathar · Nov 24, 2003

It's manufactured by Fasco if that's of any help.

Go to a car yard and pull one out of a wreck. Try to make it a recent wreck though.

Alternately go to a car radiator repair work-shop and have a chat to them about it. They are available, just pricey, but a repair workshop will have all the models and ratings on catalogue (it's their job), and you can go to a wrecker's with a mission and find the car you want to pull one out of.

They are in pretty much every single car that drives around. They are everywhere - just that it can be a little hard to get hold of one retail. Be resourceful.

Muku · Nov 25, 2003

Now this is what I call a blower

anyways, a search for fasco brought up their product line, including the one you have cathar. I see they tend to run upwards of $200+...ouch It's a start, thanks for the info.
Maybe I can find an indoor wreckyard...possible, but unlikely.

Korndog · Nov 25, 2003

Muku said:
Now this is what I call a blower

um.. that'll need some custom shrouding for your radiator

LOL

vonkaar · Nov 25, 2003

I'm using a pair of blowers that were designed for rack-mount cooling... they sit at the bottom of a 19" rack and blow around a thousand CFM up through the backs of bench-test racks. From what I've seen, you really can't beat blowers for radiator applications. They produce a *lot* more pressure than I've seen from axial fans.

I *think* these are the same as Cathar's. If not, they are similar. They *do* run on 115v, however.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2575953600&category=36324

Using blower over heater core

Member

The Half Asleep Member

Member

Member

Member

Member

Senior Member

Glorious Leader

Member

Member

Senior Member

Member

Glorious Leader

Member

Member

Member

Senior Member

Member

Member

Member

Similar threads