ELectric Fans on a Cummins ?

The electric fan is better than clutch fan debate is a bogus. Clutch fans take little to no energy to turn unless the clutch senses enough heat to need the fan. And on certain engines like the Cummins diesel pulling many thousands of pounds behind it in triple digit weather, the gobs of CFM the stock engine fan pulls is far more than any electric fan could reach. The Cummins engine fan pulls approximately 10,000 CFM at 2000 RPM.

There is no fuel efficiency to be gained from electric fans either. You Rams fan is free wheeling unless the ECM needs extra cooling and engages the clutch.
The one last point is that you CEL will always be on if you remove or disable the stock fan clutch - even if you left it plugged in somehow, it will fail for "rationality".

I tow a 14K 5vr with my 07 Dodge with 5.9L CTD..........never had a cooling issue.

Why 'fix' what ain't broke :H

hertfordnc wrote:
I'm not necessary planning to do it and my cooling works fine. But I've watched the debate over electric fans evolve over the years and lots of people are doing it on big blocks even though armies of people say it's a horrible idea.

Over on the Cummins Forum it seems to be about performance but here I figure I'd find people who can answer the towing and MPG question.

I have a 5.9 and see no need for changing the cooling fan. Our 01 with 3.55 tows an 11,000# 5er just fine and never get above 205 degrees on a 6% grade in 90+ degree heat.

Spend the $600 on something better.

hertfordnc wrote:
Notice i did not ask "will it work?"

But seriously, it draws 28 amps at full power so I think the 136 amp alt should be up to the task.

Flexalite says it's good up to around 18K which is less than I plan on pulling with this truck (prbably not more than 14K GCW)

So if anybody has one, and is not afraid to admit it here, i'd love to hear from you.

thanks

28A at 13.8V is 386 watts of power or about 1/2 HP, plus you will need to find out the CFM ratings of the electric fan.

So to really find out if you are saving anything you would need to find out how much HP and CFM the OEM fan on the vehicle will use.

Then there is inefficiencies in multiple conversions of energy.. Alternator has to convert rotational energy into electricity, then that is stored in an inefficient battery. That in turn is transmitted via wire (resistance) to the electric motor which loses some energy as heat in the windings and bearings.

Honestly, you are not going to save any "mileage" changing to an electric fan unless you plan to put the fan on a separate battery which gets charged by a solar panel..

Many racers use electric fans but keep in mind they do not have an alternator on the engine and the battery is sized large enough to run the whole car for the race..

C Schomer wrote:
A lot of guys were trying elec. fans 15 yrs ago and they weren't enough for heavy towing. I added 2 - 12" fan for my AC and they really helped that but not the engine cooling. A Horton fan clutch would probably be better. Craig

Not planning to do any heavy towing. i fell into a DOdge 3500, it's more truck than i need and i think i'll never pull more than 10K - but more likely 7K.

A lot of guys were trying elec. fans 15 yrs ago and they weren't enough for heavy towing. I added 2 - 12" fan for my AC and they really helped that but not the engine cooling. A Horton fan clutch would probably be better. Craig

Notice i did not ask "will it work?"

But seriously, it draws 28 amps at full power so I think the 136 amp alt should be up to the task.

Flexalite says it's good up to around 18K which is less than I plan on pulling with this truck (prbably not more than 14K GCW)

So if anybody has one, and is not afraid to admit it here, i'd love to hear from you.

thanks

There's no way an electric motor is going to push as much air and the Cummins fan which takes several times more power than an alt will put out.

Remember...all things are sized/rated for the worst case....while marketing usually references the best case...

How much does a 100% duty cycle alternator cost? The one I'd get is over $600.00 bucks

I'd do this for my two seat sports rocket, but not my TV. The 'ex' got the two sedans that has electrics...but they don't need the duty cycle TV's require

Figure out how many HP's your current serpentine belt driven fan requires at full on and that is the mark for an electric fan system for your TV