Why the obsession with electric fans?

[68-500]

What up with all these things electric fans? Maybe i just see the bad posts, but it seems every post about a car overheating has something about an electric fan. That or to much draw on the charging system because of an electric fan. What’s wrong with a thermo clutch, engine driven fan, and a good shroud? And the best part is its KISS. Maybe ill experience overheating someday and experiment with electric fan? But I seriously doubt that the engine driven fan would be insufficient. Please give me our opinions.

 

[6PK2GOBEE]

I really don’t get it either, but it seems to follow a change to an all aluminum radiator which, because they are made in China junk, don’t have the brackets or lugs to mount the stock shroud.
But the aluminum radiator even without the shroud should cool fine using an original thermo clutch fan.
Pointless IMO!

 

[dadsbee]

Cases of engine swaps where distance is an issue there's not much choice, but when it comes to stock(ish) set ups the problem starts when people think that "aftermarket" has to be better than the OE radiator or having their timing way off track.

I'm running 5 cars (Done 340, a 383, 2 x 440's and a 520 lift 426 Hemi). ALL have the factory correct radiator in them down to the part # and all have stock fans, some with clutches and some without. Hell my 383 x 4 gear Bee doesn't even have a radiator shroud. ALL 5 cars run RIGHT on the thermostat.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I see valid points on both sides.... But since the question is why electric I'll address that..

Electric fans aren't tied to engine RPM so when your stuck in traffic & idling for an extended period the electric fan can pull it's maximum airflow based on engine temperature when the engine driven fan is pulling its lowest airflow... And when your driving 60 MPH the engine driven fan while it is de-clutched it's still drawing power... An electric fans shuts down completely

 

[OH71RRunner]

A few extra horsepower is always nice. A proper setup causes little to no stress on the electrical system.

I was running an electric fan, but then got the right radiator (stock 26"). The aluminum 22" just wasn't cooling good enough. Still need to get a shroud though.

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

Not everyone has room for factory fan.

 

[bandit67]

Well the move to electric fans took off as we moved to fuel injected, front wheel drive econo boxes as Americas daily commuter auto. First, no drain on horsepower, good for low power engines. 2nd, engines can be mounted in sideways configurations. Several pounds weight reduced. Fan not needed at all on most cars when moving. Jacking up an alternators output costs very little. This change has been easily modified into working with our older cars and allows a builder to have more options for modifications as more 'space' is made available. Add on turbos, super chargers and your under hood real estate gets pricey. Now , most all we need is one belt, or two at the most. With the electric fans retrofits proven to be reliable , we now have options, stay with your old technology or move up.

 

[Hemirunner]

I see valid points on both sides.... But since the question is why electric I'll address that..

Electric fans aren't tied to engine RPM so when your stuck in traffic & idling for an extended period the electric fan can pull it's maximum airflow based on engine temperature when the engine driven fan is pulling its lowest airflow... And when your driving 60 MPH the engine driven fan while it is de-clutched it's still drawing power... An electric fans shuts down completely

True, and they’re nice for cool down after a dragstrip run, but most electric fans don’t move as much air as a HD factory mechanical. Because of that, most people add a second and I’ve seen a few with three electric fans. Most people couldn’t wouldn’t even notice the 6 extra horsepower a mechanical might consume.

 

[Hemirunner]

What up with all these things electric fans? Maybe i just see the bad posts, but it seems every post about a car overheating has something about an electric fan. That or to much draw on the charging system because of an electric fan. What’s wrong with a thermo clutch, engine driven fan, and a good shroud? And the best part is its KISS. Maybe ill experience overheating someday and experiment with electric fan? But I seriously doubt that the engine driven fan would be insufficient. Please give me our opinions.

All mechanical here... fan, water pump and fuel pump. I don’t miss the screaming noise of an electric fuel pump or electric fan noise.

 

[440 4 speed]

It is like beating a dead horse!! Chrysler developed these products. They worked in how many cars. If there was a major problem there should have been 1000’s of recalls.
If you keep the block and rad clean, should not have a problem.
Drive the car following the original needs, if you deviate very far from factory you could have a problem.
Example 67 383 auto, originally 2 core converted to 3 core. Sat in 104f Kansas City 1993 idling because of the flood. Straight water, no clutch or shroud didn’t overheat. Did not know our son had not added any anti boil freeze!
My opinion, take it or leave it, ridicule it, whatever.
If your water passages are clean overheating should not occur.
A Radiator shop owner who I know, said flush the system frequently.
Sometimes I see a car show attendee with electric fans, so I ask have you had the block flushed out well, they say no.
We have taken our different cars through the years to Aurora, Jefferson City Missouri, Rapid City, Bloomington Illinois, Farmington Minnesota, Detroit Michigan. Have never had a problem of overheating.
Now having said that, I expect that when if ever I get the car together it might over heat in 100 miles.
My rant!

 

[1 Wild R/T]

It is like beating a dead horse!! Chrysler developed these products. They worked in how many cars. If there was a major problem there should have been 1000’s of recalls.
If you keep the block and rad clean, should not have a problem.
Drive the car following the original needs, if you deviate very far from factory you could have a problem.
Example 67 383 auto, originally 2 core converted to 3 core. Sat in 104f Kansas City 1993 idling because of the flood. Straight water, no clutch or shroud didn’t overheat. Did not know our son had not added any anti boil freeze!
My opinion, take it or leave it, ridicule it, whatever.
If your water passages are clean overheating should not occur.
A Radiator shop owner who I know, said flush the system frequently.
Sometimes I see a car show attendee with electric fans, so I ask have you had the block flushed out well, they say no.
We have taken our different cars through the years to Aurora, Jefferson City Missouri, Rapid City, Bloomington Illinois, Farmington Minnesota, Detroit Michigan. Have never had a problem of overheating.
Now having said that, I expect that when if ever I get the car together it might over heat in 100 miles.
My rant!

Rant all you want, some want stock, some like change... And, yeah, you just jinxed yourself... LOL

 

[440 4 speed]

Rant all you want, some want stock, some like change... And, yeah, you just jinxed yourself... LOL

Thanks for the confirmation! Challenge is to get the car finished, so I can still drive it.

 

[440 4 speed]

All mechanical here... fan, water pump and fuel pump. I don’t miss the screaming noise of an electric fuel pump or electric fan noise.

View attachment 1362697

How can you post this, this is not rational in some peoples minds. Congratulations to you for posting to doubters. Thanks.

 

[Canadian1968]

True, and they’re nice for cool down after a dragstrip run, but most electric fans don’t move as much air as a HD factory mechanical. Because of that, most people add a second and I’ve seen a few with three electric fans. Most people couldn’t wouldn’t even notice the 6 extra horsepower a mechanical might consume.

This is one of those situations that can really open " a box of worms" . I think most electric fans will move more air than an HD fan ......... AT IDLE. Mechanical fans move A TON of air no doubt about it, but they need that engine RPM to get them moving. MOST over heating problem are at idle and no vehicle speed. SO the only thing cooling that engine is that mechanical fan spinning at what ever your idle is. So what is your idle at? Well that depends on the ENTIRE setup, everything from ignition timing, camshaft, Torque Converter, carb tuning ect. Let face it , just about everyone changes one of those things on their car, but still want the car to idle at 800 RPM maybe even lower. A 100% factory car, not a problem. But lets face it their are not many of those around. You start changing things and you start changing how that motor makes heat. Some people can get the fan to work with their setup , others can't. I think some setups need the idle cooling of a electric setup, that your just not going to get with a mechanical .

I went threw it, and ended up with electric.... Same rad, I had a shroud with the mechanical fan, and properly spaced. It just wouldn't keep it cool .

 

[MoparLeo]

The problem with cooling systems start when they aren't maintained properly and something on/in the engine gets changed. Everything under the hood was designed to work together. Just like a factory engine is.
The problem starts when you start to "upgrade" parts . Soon you are chasing your tail trying to "fix" this or that new problem.
Modify your car, expect some things not to perform as well since they are trying to do a job they were not originally designed/tuned to do with the changes you make.
And post # 9 "all mechanical", really, even with fuel injection?
All modern cars have electric pumps in the tank and you can't hear them.
The problem is not with the parts, but with proper part selection. Like choosing the wrong cam. Not the cams fault you picked the wrong one...

 

[Hemirunner]

The problem with cooling systems start when they aren't maintained properly and something on/in the engine gets changed. Everything under the hood was designed to work together. Just like a factory engine is.
The problem starts when you start to "upgrade" parts . Soon you are chasing your tail trying to "fix" this or that new problem.
Modify your car, expect some things not to perform as well since they are trying to do a job they were not originally designed/tuned to do with the changes you make.
And post # 9 "all mechanical", really, even with fuel injection?
All modern cars have electric pumps in the tank and you can't hear them.
The problem is not with the parts, but with proper part selection. Like choosing the wrong cam. Not the cams fault you picked the wrong one...

Yes, even with fuel injection. The oil pump is a missle dry sump pump and we machined an adapter for it to drive a cable drive fuel pump. Fuel pump is a MagnaFuel Pro-Outlaw 1000. Car runs mid 5s in the 1/8 mile and drives all around the Midwest. Even has air conditioning.

 

[747mopar]

Why electric fans, that's easy. #1 at idle (traffic) you still get max cfm. #2 can be fit in tighter spaces and #3 they sure make tuning an engine much safer not having that blade spinning. I've also noticed all the threads related to overheating when using electric fans and this one is easy to answer as well, people are cheap and don't do their research. As far as the electrical draw on the car, again... people not knowing what they're doing. It's not hard to wire in relays and supply the voltage directly from the battery resulting in zero additional draw to anything other than the battery and alternator.

I originally put my car together with a thermal clutch fan and shroud, it did pretty good but definitely didn't like sitting in traffic for long periods of time plus was a nightmare to work on (1/4" from the rad). I asked the crew here at FBBO what cfm was necessary and followed their advice which was WAY more cfm then what almost all of the "cheap" options would have produced. That's been several years ago and you won't find a thread by me about overheating because I have zero issues.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

I can speak from all sides.

I had a 68 dodge pickup, putting a 383 in I couldn’t get a mechanical fan to fit, so aluminum radiator and electric fans. Dang thing would get hotter then a women told she’s wrong in traffic. I have a 78 lil red all original, copper radiator, mechanical fan and shroud, unless you’re going 80 when it’s over 100 degrees, that’s temp gauge needle doesn’t move. I had a 68 satellite I put a 383 in, cheaper to put an aluminum radiator in, and no fan shroud, it would never get hotter then 180 degrees. I have a 68 GTX, needed a radiator, aluminum was cheaper, and it has a fan shroud, it’ll get to 190, but that’s it.

Why electric fans? Why mechanical fans? Why any fan? Well because it’s America and people can choose how they build their car!

 

[68-500]

Not everyone has room for factory fan.

View attachment 1362688

Clearly not a street car. But i get it.

 

[Cheapsunglasses]

Clearly not a street car. But i get it.

oh you’d be wrong