If you wanted to add a cooling fan?

[jefndeb]

Hello,


I work for a company that does HALT testing (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) for aerospace products and we see so many devices fail due to high temps (despite what the OEM claims) .. I was just wondering if you could add a 12v high output cooling fan anywhere on your Mainship/Trawler where would it be?


Alternator?
Engine area?
Inverter/Battery Charger?

????


Thanks for your input.
Jeff

 

[Comodave]

Hello,


I work for a company that does HALT testing (Highly Accelerated Life Testing) for aerospace products and we see so many devices fail due to high temps (despite what the OEM claims) .. I was just wondering if you could add a 12v high output cooling fan anywhere on your Mainship/Trawler where would it be?


Alternator?
Engine area?
Inverter/Battery Charger?

????


Thanks for your input.
Jeff

There is a thread going on here now on fuel cooler removal that may benefit with forced air cooling. I just suggested that on that thread.

On our boat I added a small cooling fan (50mAmp draw) to blow cooling air onto the compressor of the refer.

 

[dhays]

There is a thread going on here now on fuel cooler removal that may benefit with forced air cooling. I just suggested that on that thread.

On our boat I added a small cooling fan (50mAmp draw) to blow cooling air onto the compressor of the refer.

I think that is a great use for a cooling fan. In the engine room, I think that for most of us the engine intake draws so much air into the engine that a cooling fan would be pointless. OTOH, I will turn on the ER blower after engine shut down to exhaust the hot air once the engine is shut off. I keep thinking of wiring in a timer for it.

 

[Bacchus]

On our boat I added a small cooling fan (50mAmp draw) to blow cooling air onto the compressor of the refer.

The Vitrigo fridges used on many MS have pre-wired 12V contacts for that purpose and fan was an option AFAIK. I have wanted to pull my fridge to see if the fan was present and add one if not. Would likely need more vent inlet area.

 

[rgano]

Fridge for sure, and next would be the alternator, a very strong one.

 

[Comodave]

On our last boat, the President, we had a Vitrifugo and I added a low and high vents along with a 50 mApm fan. What a difference it made. But you do need both vents. I actually put the fan on the low vent pushing air into the cabinet. With the high vent it helped push the hot air up and out of the box.

 

[danderer]

I will turn on the ER blower after engine shut down to exhaust the hot air once the engine is shut off.

I personally doubt that makes much difference. There is a lot of heat in the block and fuel tanks and ER structure and anything else contained in the ER. It'll take time for that to dissipate.

I've just added an N2K thermometer for the ER to see if I'm right about that or not.

 

[rgano]

I personally doubt that makes much difference. There is a lot of heat in the block and fuel tanks and ER structure and anything else contained in the ER. It'll take time for that to dissipate.

I've just added an N2K thermometer for the ER to see if I'm right about that or not.

It certainly does not do any good when anchoring in air conditioning weather when you are going to run the generator which simultaneously draw in a lot of air and yet add its own heat load.

When anchoring in finer, no-generator-required weather, a big enough exhaust fan, whether AC or DC will be drawing a lot of the battery power one might wish reserved for refrigeration or other domestic uses -depends on a lot of different variables.

When mooring to a pier with shore power, I'm ready to light any exhaust fan I have off or even leave the hatches open and blow a window fan for a short period to rid the boat of excessive heat from the ER.

 

[stubones99]

I think that is a great use for a cooling fan. In the engine room, I think that for most of us the engine intake draws so much air into the engine that a cooling fan would be pointless. OTOH, I will turn on the ER blower after engine shut down to exhaust the hot air once the engine is shut off. I keep thinking of wiring in a timer for it.

Rather than a timer, hook the fan circuit to a temperature controlled relay. There is no need to run it if the heat is removed quickly on a cold day, yet a warmer day would take more time. Better to simply set the cool-down temp on the sensor and when the engine room temp is above x, the blower would run.

 

[dhays]

Rather than a timer, hook the fan circuit to a temperature controlled relay. There is no need to run it if the heat is removed quickly on a cold day, yet a warmer day would take more time. Better to simply set the cool-down temp on the sensor and when the engine room temp is above x, the blower would run.

Good suggestion. I may do some research on that.

FWIW, No AC on my boat and the genset only gets run twice a day at most, usually for about an hour.

 

[danderer]

I personally doubt that makes much difference. There is a lot of heat in the block and fuel tanks and ER structure and anything else contained in the ER. It'll take time for that to dissipate.

I've just added an N2K thermometer for the ER to see if I'm right about that or not.

Did a little testing. I've got 2 250 CFM blowers (one blow and one suck).

Seems that running them underway reduces the ER temp about 5 degrees. Similar results running them after shutdown - though the temp rises again if they're turned off until the heat sinks in the ER have a chance to cool, which takes a number of hours.

Also found out the Jabsco blowers I have include the following caveat: "It should be noted that the maximum motor life is approximately 1000 hours. Therefore, the blower should only be used for applications if this length of service is acceptable."

 

[dhays]

Did a little testing. I've got 2 250 CFM blowers (one blow and one suck).



Seems that running them underway reduces the ER temp about 5 degrees. Similar results running them after shutdown - though the temp rises again if they're turned off until the heat sinks in the ER have a chance to cool, which takes a number of hours.



Also found out the Jabsco blowers I have include the following caveat: "It should be noted that the maximum motor life is approximately 1000 hours. Therefore, the blower should only be used for applications if this length of service is acceptable."

Thanks for the info. I have been concerned about fan motor life. The ER blowers in my boat were likely designed for evacuating an ER before starting a gas power engine. Not terribly useful on a diesel boat. I’d rather have a fan that was designed to run for long periods.

 

[DCDC]

Engine room heat and ventilation thread:

https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s31/engine-room-heat-ventilation-58355.html