Misters for Radiator

[TomC]

I took my bus out Saturday since it was 92 degrees and 30% humidity from L.A. over to I-15 up the Cajon pass (to see how the turbo runs in heat-performed great-especially with the new cruise control!).  Well, it overheated-pulled over when the buzzer came on at 215 degrees (nice to know it works!), let it cool and came back down (turned around at the Silverwood Lake offramp just past the scales).  I have had the radiator recored to the biggest I can fit, the 8 blade fan is direct drive, replaced the muffler with a high flow turbo muff, increased the air cleaner from 6" to 7", so now have to do other.  Our service manager comes from bus background and is still running a few of his own buses mainly to Las Vegas.  I asked about misters, and he said most buses that run Las Vegas have them.  Also asked about putting vents in the back door to get more heat out-he said it didn't do much; asked about additional radiator to cool the Allison-he said it didn't do much; but did say that misters will do the trick.  My question-for those that have done it-how much water do you need to flow into it?  I found a sprinkler head that would flow 3/4 liter per minute.  Would this be too much?  What do you run?  I will just plumb it into my existing plumbing with a 12v water solenoid.  Thanks ahead for the responses.

[Utahclaimjumper]

Tom, I dissagree with your guy. I had a simular problem with my 06, I installed two boat type stainless louver assys. across the back above the tailgate hinge line and allowed the excess heat out of that compartment, makes a huge difference, I never see over 195-198 any longer.>>>Dan

[JackConrad]

asked about additional radiator to cool the Allison-he said it didn't do much

Might be different on your bus, but on our MC-8 with an 8V71 and Allison 740 transmission, when we added the auxillary transmission cooler, all temperatures ( oil, water, & transmission) dropped about 10 degrees.  Jack

[gg04]

When repowered with 671ta ddec had same style problems..cured with just better shroud and an off road fan from flexalite cured overheating completely...fan flows more air than anything else on the market...gg04

[edvanland]

I have a MCI7 with 8V92 and Allison 740 trans.  I also have put in larger radiators, resealed the fans, smaller pulley and added a extra large radiator as well as run misters on long climbs.  When I am going to climb a long hill in Arizona or anywhere else it is hot I will get out and open the rear doors that will make a 10 degree difference in the temp.  Maby looks funny, however I don't care it helps cool the engine.  On other MH and when I first got the bus have had to many overheating problems.  Like to climb the hills with the engine cool, don't care at what speed.
ED
MCI 7 in Arizona

[belfert]

I've considered putting louvers in the engine door on my Dina to see if that helps my overheating problems.  First I need to replace the the thermostats and clean out the radiator to see of that helps before rengineering the bus.

Dina decided that all of the hot air from the radiator has to somehow go down and out the bottom of the engine compartment, but nothing directs the air down.  The air is actually directed towards the engine door that has no louvers.

[DrivingMissLazy]

Tom, I used six of the lowest flow misters I could find at the garden supply store for misting plants.
On the same grade that you had trouble on (Cajon Pass) I would use the misters for a few minutes (maybe five) and then off for a long time. I turned them on when the temperature approached 200 and turned them off when it dropped to 180. The amount of water used was so minuscule that I never noticed it gone. The pass from Death Valley into Vegas was worse, but again it was on for a few minutes and then off for a much longer time.
My belief is that the finer the mist, the better, and it proved out while transversing all of the western passes many times.
Richard

[H3Jim]

with the misters, is scale buildup an issue?  San Diego water is famous for it, and if it does build up, the scale on the radiator would further insulate it and render it less effective at heat transfer. Comments?

[DrivingMissLazy]

Scale build up was never a problem on mine over a period of many years and 150,000 miles or more.
It is extremely important to keep the mist as fine as possible and point them outwards to cool the air before it reaches the radiator. The radiator should never get wet and that is how you avoid build up on it.
Richard

with the misters, is scale buildup an issue?  San Diego water is famous for it, and if it does build up, the scale on the radiator would further insulate it and render it less effective at heat transfer. Comments?

[Hobe]

Open the rear doors to let air out. If you had seen the damage misters have done on radeators in MCI that I have replaced. You would only use them with distilled water. But most water has a lot of calceam in it and when it dries it leaves a scall. If it is cleaned off before it builds up . You may be ok. Misters are a bandade. Does not fix the problem. Air cools More air better cooling. Just my two cents worth. Fred North Florida Bus Conversion