Electric fans - Diesel Forum

TimMiller · 10-01-2006, 05:53 PM

For those of you who are running electric fans, what size fans are you running. I'd perfer to run one big electric fan and get rid of the stock fan.

Briansshop · 10-01-2006, 06:07 PM

Tim, If I remember right,I think mine are 15".There's a couple pics in my album.

Brian

rockets10510 · 10-01-2006, 07:22 PM

where did you buy the fans from and im guessing they work damn good???

Briansshop · 10-01-2006, 08:27 PM

The fans are made by Flex-a-lite,I got 'em from Summit.Yea,they work fine,no probs.I don't do any heavy towing but work it pretty hard in the sand a few times a year,so far so good.

Brian

TimMiller · 10-01-2006, 09:24 PM

About how much am i lookin at spending? And does flex a lite make them for the fords. I've seen a lot of them for the GMC's. Which i'm thinking the dual fan setup for the D-max's (I've seen them for around 200 i don't know if thats a good price or not) Would work.

Briansshop · 10-01-2006, 10:58 PM

I dug up some more info: 13.5 in.dia,4600 cfm,$299.00 from summit.Not the cheapest option out there for sure.The ones that I got are universal I just had to make up the mounts.I'm using a Derale adj. stat that cost about 30 bucks and works great.Got the same stat on my trans fan.

Brian

Nit · 10-01-2006, 11:47 PM

after havign a dual setup for a year, two 16", with one contoller. I would change it up a bit now, one 16" and one 14" with teh 14" on the pass side with the tranny cooler. Then have one contoller that puts both on with the rad temp, and a second that puts JUST teh 14" with teh air and manually for slow hard 4x4ing to cool the tranny.

milner351 · 10-02-2006, 12:09 PM

I'm still just running one single fan out of an older Honda, crude, but it works.
Taurus or Windstar dual fans fit nicely as well, mid to late '90's if you want to get some from a salvage yard.
Last I checked the '95 Windstar fans were available on ebay new for about $120

genie144 · 10-02-2006, 12:56 PM

What type of fuse are you running for the power? I have two fans, that I have installed, just haven't finished wiring them up to a switch...

Sam

milner351 · 10-02-2006, 02:24 PM

The best set up is to use a relay. You can run off the battery through a fuse or circuit breaker, then to the relay & to the fan.
Use a manual switch in the cab and / or a thermal switch under hood to power the relay and turn the fan/s on. There are temp controlled switch kits on ebay, as well as thermostatically adjustable units from folks like Hayden. You can spend a lot of money to make this happen, or you can do it on the cheap with some time.

TimMiller · 10-02-2006, 02:28 PM

Over at DI we got some 200A relays from an autoparts store to use with electric fans.

genie144 · 10-02-2006, 03:14 PM

Does it really take 200A to run a fan? I have a circuitbreaker that I was planning on throwing on. I was thinking power from battery to circuitbreaker breaker to a fuse panel and then run the individual items from the fuse panel... What do you think?

Sam

TimMiller · 10-02-2006, 03:59 PM

David guessed about 60A on high and about 40A on low. I know a 200A relay will handle it well enough.

Nit · 10-02-2006, 10:12 PM

my two 16"'s run off one 30 amp relay, just the small ones, but I'll split that load soon. I used an open spot in the fuse box and added the wire for it. There are a few open spots to use.

markccalhoun · 10-03-2006, 09:56 AM

Tim;

On my '93 I tried two 16" fans I bought from rodpartsdealer on e-bay. Do NOT buy these cheap fans like I did. Get the Flexilites (or other proven, name brand fans) like someone else suggested. One of the fans I got from rodpartsdealer burnt up the first day due to "made in China" poor internal wiring and the brushes/leads shorting out. The other is still working, but only because I took it apart and rebuilt/re-insulated the brush wiring/mountings. Rodpartsdealer wouldn't even answer me and I got stuck with a $55 hunk-of-junk burnt up fan. Caveat emptor.

I used the $51 Hayden adjustable thermostatic electric fan controller, with the screw-in sensor and a/c override, that I got from O'Reilly's. It is part number 3651 and you can see it at this web page.

There is another BAD ASS electric fan controller at this company: web page They also have fans with built in integral controllers.

The first thing I noticed was that my stock alternator did not put out enough juice to run these two huge fans (and a/c, radio, ect...) and charge my battery. I measured the current and each fan drew 19 amps. Even after fixing the one fan, it still drew 19 amps. So that is something to consider.

Next, while out looking at alternator rewinding shops, I noticed that they didn't cool my truck very well. I now know that this was because I didn't have them properly shrouded around/to my radiator. It is very important that your shrouding completely seals the fans to the radiator so that they only draw air thru the radiator.

I never could find what I thought was a reasonably priced alternator and due to the lack of cooling (and one fan burning up while I was out alternator shopping) I went back to my engine driven fan and made the remaining fan as a blower to push air over my a/c condenser. It is still working now 3-4 years later.

I still have the fan controller in a box in my garage. Been there for years, and if your interested in it, PM me.

These are just my experiences and I hope they help you out in your quest.

Mark