Kenlowe elcetric fans

Am thinking of fitting one to my 1989 T/D90

Anyone any views or experiences ?

Reply to
Julian Pollard
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Reply to
Ken Harmes

On the subject of elestric fans...at the mo I have twin fans from (I think) a Peugeot car on my V8 90 with a kenlowe thermostat (and a manual overide switch on the dash). The fans are mounted between the rad and grill, I had to move the rad back 1 1/2 inches to fit and they have been great for a couple of years including a lot of deep water and mud. Now one turns slowly tho. I have another twin fan here (I think from a Escort Cosworth) and was thinking of putting the rad back to its origonal position and mounting the fans between the rad and engine. Question: Is there any advantage or not to mount them that way or better between rad and grill? Thanks Richard

Reply to
Richard

Between the rad and engine is the preferred position, on must cars they are fitted here. I think the fans are better at pulling air through the rad than pushing, also when infront of the rad they can restrict the natural flow of air through the rad. But what really makes a difference is how close the fans are to the rad, the closer the better and if they are sealed by a cowling to the rad even better so all the air from the fan is directed only through the rad and not blown out to the sides.

Regards

Liam

Reply to
Liam

I sell and more importantly use Kenlowe products myself..... What is most important if you are fitting one is to fit the right one!! I know this sounds obvious but I also know of some of the 'big names' in LR retailing who keep there advertised price very competitive by supplying cheaper, under rated fans that are simply not up to the job!! Go by the Kenlowe application guide and not the sales patter of " you can use these hust as well, it is only a Land Rover after all...' sort of crap!

Woth your specific request relating to a 2.5TD I would err on the side of caution and stick to a viscous fan - and make sure the viscous unit is working. These engines are prone to running too hot at every opportunity! If you are the lucky one with a 2.5 Turbo D that runs at a sensible temperature then you will need the biggest Kenlowe that fits the rad - about £150 including delivery.....

David LLAMA 4x4

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Reply to
David_LLAMA4x4

Just to throw something else into the mix, I've had a Famous Four fan installed for the last 4 months. I was impressed with it when I got it, the fan is made by Spal. The temp sensor looks like a pretty well made piece of kit. It is an in-line pipe, necessitating cutting the lower rad pipe to fit it. This was the clincher when I was considering which brand to go with. Cooling performance on my 200tdi was fine.

Looks though, seem to have been deceiving as this week, the sensor has packed in, and the fan runs all the time.

I've mailed FF so we'll see what they say.

Gromit

Reply to
Gromit

Not on a Landy but I'm on my second Kenlowe on the Rickman Ranger (kit car) in 15 years.

Mine is fitted in the 'push' position (in front of the rad) and I turned and welded a temp switch collar into the top of the thermostat housing to take a std temp switch (that in turn drives a relay to activate the fan).

I took the car out for a shakedown run yesterday (just fitted new road springs, damper inserts, poly bushes etc) and noticed the temp was building up. Stopped for a quick check and found the fan was 'stuck'. I gave it a little push and away it went ;-)

It seems this is something they 'can do' if unused for a while ..?

Apart from that they seem pretty good ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m

Yes, when a fan is set infront of the rad it get all the damp and salt chucked up from the road... doesn't to there reliability much good! Also blocks flow thought the rad under normal driving conditions. Takes me back to my comuting to Uni days in a Mini - aux. rads over the clutch housing, overheating in trafic, heater on full for extra cooling,dogey electric fans and thermostats.... ahhh it was fun :D Toby

Reply to
TVS

Em, I thought the rad was nearly 'transparent' as far as air / water was concerned so therefore it wouldn't matter if the fan was in front or behind it?

Also

Again, I see how it might look that way but the blades / body of the fan would offer the same air resistance whatever side they were on? eg, the air can only pass *through* the rad if there is nothing on the other side?

Also, I would of thought it's much easier to blow air 'at' something than to suck it away from it ...aka a houselold fan? ? (It's probably different if it is 'cowelled' )

Takes me back

Exactly .. it's all too easy and 'remote' these days .. lulls one into a false sense of security ..

Since I've replaced the front springs and polybushes on the 1300 Ranger it sits a bit higher (till I get the 2L Pinto in there ) and is quite a bit firmer .. before it used to 'float' (like a 2CV) and now must be more like driving a 2 1/4 Series Landrover .. stiff choppy ride, feel everything through the wheel, yer back and backside and with an underpowered engine .. fun aint it ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m

A fan is far more efficient at drawing air through the radiater from behind than blowing it from the front by some margin - the airflow through the rad will be considerably greater if the fan is placed as close to the rad as poss on the engine side.

David LLAMA4x4

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Reply to
David_LLAMA4x4

On or around Wed, 20 Oct 2004 00:09:58 +0100, "David_LLAMA4x4" enlightened us thusly:

and ducted TAAW - that ducting on the original fitment is not only there to stop you getting yer hand in the blades. some of the electric ones have a kind of ring around the periphery - I dunno if that does the same job, or if so, whether it does it as well.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Hi David,

Whilst I believe you are probably right, do you have any links to the theory behind this please David?

the airflow through the rad

My Kenlowe is about 2mm from the front of the rad and the same diameter as the rad is wide. It was actually easier for me to fit it in front of the rad at the time and is about 6" behind the front grille so has a fairly clean input airflow (another reason why I'm not convinced about the 'pull' idea .. put your hand near the top of an PC CPU fan and hear it rev up as it cavitates .. and why are all the CPU fans in 'push' mode when it would be so easy to turn them over ..?)

I can see how fans would *be* behind the rad as a hangover of the mechanical driven fan days ('that's where the old one was so that's where we will put the electric one' sorta thing).

The viscous coupled fan on the Sierra still seems to work after 22 years .(therefore not sure why folk don't like them), never had it overheat even when towing heavy things in the height of the summer ..

Just thinking out loud .. ;-)

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m

On or around Wed, 20 Oct 2004 08:03:59 GMT, T i m enlightened us thusly:

so they don't suck crud into the PSU. Mind, they suck crud into the rest of the case instead...

Reply to
Austin Shackles

Also so that if they're the only cooling in the case they create a slight negative pressure, which due to the the laws of physics gives a slight cooling effect (make a gas less dense, it cools - compress it and it heats)

Another reason to have the fan mounted behind the radiator sucking perhaps?

P.

Reply to
Paul S. Brown

I take it you are thinking of the PSU fan whereas I was talking about the CPU fan (the one that normally sits on top of the heatsink and

*blows* air through it)?

I'm still confused .. If I burn my finger I don't put my mouth near it and try to suck the air past it to cool it ..?

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m

Again I take it you are talking about the PSU fan? The CPU fan would only circulate air round *inside* the case after it had been blown over the CPU heatsink. I was saying if 'sucking' was as easy / efficient they would supply those fans fitted the other way up (same 4 screws, same four holes etc)?

Or prehaps not! ;-)

Experiment ... stand 20m in front of a running jet engine then stand

20m behind .... if you can ...?

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m

On or around Thu, 21 Oct 2004 00:14:59 GMT, T i m enlightened us thusly:

yes, I was thinking PSU.

but the thing about fingers and also about jet engines isn't a fair analogy.

in the former case you alter your mouth shape to produce a small directed stream of air, while in the latter case, there's the small matter of several lbs per second of jet fuel being burnt in between the input and the output.

Reply to
Austin Shackles

A very flawed analogy - the whole point of a jet engine is to accelerate the air between inlet and outlet by burning fuel. No one is suggesting a radiator fan that burns fuel....

Reply to
Tim Hobbs

Well that's a sorta 'ducted' system isn't it so I don't think it matters much if it's push or pull? On some of the early ATX cases they had the PSU fan extracting air from the PSU and also blowing over the CPU (sometimes the only form of cooling for the CPU). The problem was if the user turned the case on it's edge (to make ot a 'tower' case) the fan was working against the natural thermal convection within the case.

Doh! ;-)

Ah, but apart from *that* ...

Reply to
T i m

Indeed .. I can see I can't get anything past you guys (worth a go though) ;-)

Still, fuel or otherwise does the jet engine suck or blow it's self forward ... ?

All the best ..

T i m

Reply to
T i m

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