Generator cooling

luvrbus · June 02, 2012, 10:56:59 AM

You are right John does not have a fan shroud he is wasting his time no way can his setup pull a steady vacuum

boxcarOkie · June 02, 2012, 11:12:25 AM

John, I took some shots of my setup for you today while I was out in the shop. Mine is similar to yours, albeit certainly not that clean.

I vent mine with some diamond plate air scoops (okie technical term) and I also have another on the inside of the door to direct some of the air towards the radiator. There are two schools of thought on this, some say it works and some say it doesn't.

I have an exhaust fan that runs whenever the genset is on, it directs the flow of air out of the compartment straight down to the ground.

Finally, the generator is plumbed through the radiator in the bus itself and has a feed line and return back to the bus. If the bus overheats, the genset will too, but so far, it has not been a problem. Over the road heating is not an issue. It has been out in Clifford's neck of the woods, down south to Phoenix and Tucson in extreme heat of summer (August) and worked just fine.

If I run it an extended amount of time parked, I will open the doors and let it air out. We just finished 8 days in a parking lot in Houston because of the unavailability of campsites, running it 24/7 and everything worked well, even when the day time temp's went past 80*.

BCO

gus · June 02, 2012, 02:12:38 PM

In general, you will have positive air pressure in front of an air dam and negative behind it.

This all depends on the air flow around the bus bottom or side, depending on which you are using.

This is not a cut and dried thing and requires trial and error unless you happen to have a bus size wind tunnel!! The air flow around buses is different for each type of bus.

thomasinnv · June 02, 2012, 10:02:15 PM

I had them bat wing air scoop thingy's on my MC8 but I never noticed any difference. I finally took them off and to be honest I think it actually stayed cooler without them. And I like the looks of the bus better without them.

boxcarOkie · June 03, 2012, 04:42:54 AM

Quote from: thomasinnv on June 02, 2012, 10:02:15 PM
I had them bat wing air scoop thingy's on my MC8 but I never noticed any difference. I finally took them off and to be honest I think it actually stayed cooler without them. And I like the looks of the bus better without them.

The appearance of them doesn't bother me, polishing the diamond plate and the maint. on the items, that leaves a lot to be desired on most days.

As for functionality?

Like I said, "there are two schools of thought on them."

To each his own.

BCO

john9861 · June 03, 2012, 07:30:00 AM

Thanks guys. Building a fan shroud is next on the list.
Don, I like your added fan shroud piece & the way it encases the fan even more.
Clifford, That's interesting about the loinger exhaust pipe & no need for a muffler.
I'm sure the fan shroud will help a bunch.

luvrbus · June 03, 2012, 07:38:55 AM

John, you are doing the right thing the box shrouds just don't work the fan you have I believe is a reversible type some are some are not most of those type are the for Kubota's

good luck

chev49 · June 03, 2012, 08:01:53 AM

i have a small sliding door with a screen behind it that i leave open most of the time. unless i need to actually be really quiet..just a bit noisier, and way cooler.

thomasinnv · June 03, 2012, 08:08:20 AM

Don, yours are a bit inconspicuous compared to mine. Yours may serve more of a function than mine did. I was referring to the scoops you see on the upper radiators of the MCI's. They kinda stuck out like a sore thumb on my bus. I think your diamond plate deflectors look kinda cool.

Oonrahnjay · June 03, 2012, 08:25:28 AM

Quote from: gus on June 02, 2012, 02:12:38 PM(snip) This is not a cut and dried thing and requires trial and error unless you happen to have a bus size wind tunnel!! The air flow around buses is different for each type of bus.

It's possible to make a simple tool that may help. What we're looking for is positive pressure and lower pressure. Take a piece of 1/4" ID plastic tube (cheap aquarium tube is fine). Drill about 4 3/16" holes at right angles to each other within the first 6" of one end. Run the tube out a window (or another easy way to get to your desired location and clip or tape it at the point you're trying to measure. Tape the other end to a piece of cardboard, thin plywood, scrap sheet, etc. Draw a horizontal line across the backboard and fill the tube with water until the water level sits right at your line. Drive the bus and make a mark where the water moves to. If it's higher towards the open end, you have pressure; if it's lower, you have vacuum at the point where the other end is. Really simple, pretty quick, and sometimes it can tell you a lot.

luvrbus · June 03, 2012, 08:54:08 AM

Take a piece of every day yarn and drive the bus it will show all the positive and low pressures on the bus it doesn't get any easier than that lol not quite as technical as Bruce's idea but it works we call it a poor man wind tunnel.

The Eagle has been in a wind tunnel for testing Norris had the test reports he told me before he retired but he never sent any too me

good luck

boxcarOkie · June 03, 2012, 03:57:11 PM

Quote from: john9861 on June 03, 2012, 07:30:00 AM
Thanks guys. Building a fan shroud is next on the list.
Don, I like your added fan shroud piece & the way it encases the fan even more.
Clifford, That's interesting about the loinger exhaust pipe & no need for a muffler.
I'm sure the fan shroud will help a bunch.

Thanks, hope the info and the pictures did you some good.

BCO

boxcarOkie · June 03, 2012, 03:59:22 PM

Quote from: thomasinnv on June 03, 2012, 08:08:20 AM
Don, yours are a bit inconspicuous compared to mine. Yours may serve more of a function than mine did. I was referring to the scoops you see on the upper radiators of the MCI's. They kinda stuck out like a sore thumb on my bus. I think your diamond plate deflectors look kinda cool.

All in all, I think I have about ten scoops all total. They are okay until it comes time to polish them, then it is kind of a drag. My trailer has a diamond plate tool box and diamond plate trim, so as you can readily see, it keeps me out of the beer joints.

BCO