I'm building my mister system right now in a parking lot. I've already removed our radiator shutters and foamed the remaining air gaps at the radiators to try and resolve a very minor heating issue. Coach was pushed to almost 500 hp and of course I'm having slightly elevated heat levels in the south (it's 91 in Georgia today). Had some pretty large gaps that weren't closed after the radiators were recored. Took care of those. Tightened fan belt. Cleaned the belt and pulleys of all the 40 weight that sprayed out of blower gearbox vent when I overfilled. And finally installing misters. Next summer I'll install a separate trans cooler and smaller fan pulley. Here's the question:
Where are you guys putting your mister water tank? And how are you running lines from it to your radiators?
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i would tap into my domestic supply. possibly thru a check valve...
hi Scott, I have a water manifold, I took a pex line, ran it back to the engine compartment, put a cordless 12v remote switch fob ( from frys or amazon) at the drivers seat, opend the manifold valve for the mister before the trip, approaching a mountain I turn it on, off going back down, lvmci...
Hi don. I think I'm going to use a separate tank so I can feed it distilled water.
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So how did you get a pex line from luggage bay to engine compartment? This is the difficulty. Are you getting under the bus and running it down near the driveline?
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You can buy a small tank @ Tractor Supply with the pump that you can mount in the engine compartment I forgot the cost but wasn't all that bad
I took a rear facing manifold hole ( my utilities are in the rear bay), brought it to the wall of the bay, went up thru the floor, turned directly back at a right angle into the engine compartment, covered it with water pipe foam, at the rear engine start box, a right angle, just below the left side radiator box, split the pipe in the box, to the right side, went under the surge tank to the other side, got the 1/2" heavy 2' pvc pipe and the same size, premade mister couplers from HD, drilled out the mister to 1/16", put 3 on each side and capped it off, there is a premade pex to pvc pipe, hardest part was drilling g out the brass misters, tom...
Wow. That was detailed. I'll read this ten times before I get what you're saying. Cliff, doesn't the water in the tank if located in engine bay compartment get too hot? Does the water temp matter?
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I don't how you guys deal with a bus that runs hot I couldn't, I would have to find the cause
Cliff, it didn't until we bumped the fuel :) 😎
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As you can see, it doesn't run hot, just a little warm on the longer grades :)
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Scott evaporation should cool it but they way I read it on the board is people flood the radiator with water using a low pressure pump.Our misters at the restaurants use a high pressure pump and you don't see the mist lol that would piss a lot people off trying to eat in a rain storm.I really never had a need for a mister system on my buses over the years but I can understand some using 1 though
I have spent a couple of weeks scouring the archives on our forum and BNO too. The general consensus from what I've read really promoted misting versus flooding because the misting acted as a system that cooled the incoming air versus trying to cool the rads by flooding them which is more of a thermal transfer thing and frankly that system could go through 100 gallons of water in a long hot day of driving and I'm not really for that. Just wanting an extra layer of protection just in case I'm in a jam and need a mister. We really really like this bus and would like to keep it cool and happy.
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Scott, I used a straight Mister system with the same misters from Home Depot, without drilling out the hole and that was on an 8 V 71 with good radiators and I still had heating problems, course living in Las Vegas and driving and every Direction having mountains to climb, it was hard on the engine, but when I went to build this with a 8V92 engine I decided to drill out the whole to use heat transference instead of misting the air and cooling the air down to the radiator and it's actually working pretty good, taking Clifford advice, I will rebuild my fan box and replace my older radiator, but till then this helps alot, lvmci...
If you have a demand water pump, why not tap into your water line and install a solenoid in the mister line. I wouldn't bother with a distilled water line. The volume of water you use on a trip is going to require a rather large tank and unless you can procure the d water free, it is going to be costly. I've been reading about mister systems for several years and mineral build up wasn't reported to be a major issue. You could treat the radiator occasionally with Like away if it is an issue for you.
just curious ... when it rains ... does it rain distilled water :) ??? ??? :o :o ;D
Good points. Is lime away safe for a radiator? I have bought a new pair of radiators and being 8 core these babies are well north of $3000 for the pair so I'm just being an overzealous radiator parent.
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Here's what I did Scott on a brand new 6 row dimple tubed radiator.
I typed a big response but when you attach too big a picture you get punished and all the text disappears and you have to retype everything. this is my third attempt :(
Wow. Do you have mister nozzles in that pex?
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I agree with chessie4905 for five year my 4106 with an automatic V 730 has 9 mister on the radiator connected to a solenoid that is taped into the house water supply, a relay to turn the water pump on when the solenoid open. When the Digi panel second yellow light come on, flip the mister switch, in about 3 minutes second idiot light goes off, if we are still climbing and the second light comes back, flip mister switch again. Also put an idiot light on the dash, forgot to turn misters off once, by the time I pulled into the rv park and the host tells me I have a water leak, dumped 60 gallons of water, sure glad I was not boon docking.
Ok. Well, it will make my life a ton easier to do it this way. My pump is a house flojet so it has an automatic pressure switch. So I will tap into a main line off my pex manifold for now. I guess I have a pump I can return to TSC now. I have half the system installed now. Will do the other side tomorrow. I'm using adjustable nozzles that can go from zero to 31 gallons per m
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Scott
I have mine set up similar to Tom, same size pipe and all. It is plumbed thru the main water tank and it has its own dedicated pump (ShureFlo) and a switch on the dash. Word of caution, I only use it to cool it down in short bursts, usually will mentally count out a 8-10 count and then shut it off. I do not turn it on approaching a mountain or mountain pass. I instead watch the gauge and when it moves up, I give it a splash and dash, and then shut it down. It has proved to be a valuable tool in my road travels.
While you are at it?
It would also be a good idea to install a spring loaded switch if you are planning on using it in this fashion. Mine is straight on and off, and I need to do away with that. I set mine going up the big hill at Laughlin over to Kingman, and the grandkids distracted me, I then actually pumped my main water tank dry. Which did not help me when I went to use it again on the road south to Phoenix. Long grades and no cooling water, not a nice day.
If you have a spring loaded switch, then it is no big deal, when you let go of it, the water and the pump stop. Temp's go down and you are once again a Happy Camper.
Jus sayin,
BCO
Has anyone here made a mister (not a soaker) system powered by compressed air? Mister nozzles work best at high pressure, so my thinking is that it's better to force water through them by 100 PSI air instead of by an electric pump at half that pressure. It would be simple to have an electric air valve (maybe like a Skinner valve?) controlled from the front, and it pressurizes a tank (maybe an old propane cylinder?) full of distilled water. At that pressure PEX won't work too well near a hot radiator, but it would be easy to use some copper or stainless tubing instead.
Just an idea.
John
Since I've had misters now for almost 10 years, I'll tell you what works for me. I initially started with a 15 mister patio kit from Home Depot, plumbed into my domestic water supply with a electric water valve operated through a switch in the dash. It worked OK, but on the hottest of days, still needed to stop to let cool off-albeit it cooled off very quickly. What really made the difference is drilling two of the misters out with 1/16" drill. Now I'm getting some water soaking-through the air to air intercooler then to the radiator. To get the proper cooling effect, you need to dump quite a bit of water on the radiator-water by itself doesn't have much cooling capability compared to the coolant in your radiator. So having a separate tank, just won't work with me, since I use so much water. Also, the tap water does make some calcium build up-once a year (when I remember) I spray CLR on the radiator and then hose off.
When my temp gets over 185 (fully open thermostat) and continues upward, I turn on the misters when the temp gauge creeps over 190. It takes about 2 minutes of continuous running to bring the temp back down. I don't quite understand not running the misters but for 8-10 seconds at a time-if it works though. I can pull a hill in 100 degree weather without slowing down with the misters running. Good Luck, TomC
Quote from: TomC on September 20, 2016, 11:15:34 PM
I don't quite understand not running the misters but for 8-10 seconds at a time-if it works though. I can pull a hill in 100 degree weather without slowing down with the misters running. Good Luck, TomC
I would say I do that 80% of the time (run them intermittently), longer grades and higher temp's, will quickly move me over to running them for longer periods of time. Having run out of cooling fluid once, I take care to ensure that I am going to have it when I need it.
BCO
Scott I drilled 1/16th holes around the outside edges of the Pex pipes spraying inward, about every 2 inches.
I also draw from my house water tank, as it is larger than we typically need.
Your particular pump system (on demand ) will more than work as I have the same pump at the cabin.
I used a spare sure flow pump and a 12 volt solenoid tied together on a momentary switch as said above.
Trip the switch it opens the valve and starts the booster pump.
Lower corner of Pex has a ball valve for draining.
31 gallons per minute??? Wow now you can up the injectors to n110's.😉
On my new radiator set up I used 1/4 inch copper tubing and drilled 40 thousands inch holes ever two inches course I curved it back in forth over the radiators, a large pop bottle works great for the bends. This has been the best system yet works for me. I have the 8v92 with Allison 740 trans in a MCI 7 have fought the cooling for 15 years and I can finally run with it staying cool except on long hills. Every way I go when I leave home I have a 7 to 17 mile 6% or 7% grade. Now from the back my MCI 7 looks like a freight liner. Is working for me
Chess, haha. 31 gph that should have said. My install is mostly done. The misters definitely lean more toward "soakers" than misters. I have a 24 volt solenoid from Home Depot that I'll wire up tomorrow to a dash switch. Will test how well this works on Sunday. (https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fuploads.tapatalk-cdn.com%2F20160922%2F9ce81b4f84a6aab17e9a9b75e5d2adfe.jpg&hash=34ec535ef36070b88517741459e0f549232d9258)
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Some have used washer fluid for the spray which helps keep the radiator cleaner, and solves freezing concerns.
I have to admit that when I first saw this thread, my first thought was "oh, right over behind mister artillery"!
^ lol
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