Air Flow around Genny

[Dot]

G has asked me to ask you lot for suggestions. We have a 6.5 kva Honda air cooled genny under the bus, to increase air flow G installed 2 x 240v domestic extractor fans but for ?? reasons these stopped working. Now he wants to know would a vehicle's 12 v radiator fan be a suitable & more reliable alternative ? Any thoughts on types etc

[BruceS]

Using 12v fans will mean running them off of a battery?
I'd be more inclined to find out why they stopped working.
Can they be removed & tested? Air cooled engines need the air to enter the end of engine cowling so it can be distributed by the engine fan in the right places. Some needs to also flow through the actual generator.
As long as there is a decent opening on the engine end and an escape route away from the genny end it should be OK.
Shouldn't need a great amount of FORCED cooling Dot.
Sorry! A Commodore has a bracket that has two fans attached. I'm sure that would shift ample air.
Any wreckers in Strath?

[supersparky]

Dot, Can you get some pics of these fans while they are still mounted. Most 240v fans will run for years without a problem.

[Dot]

Using 12v fans will mean running them off of a battery?
I'd be more inclined to find out why they stopped working.
Can they be removed & tested? Air cooled engines need the air to enter the end of engine cowling so it can be distributed by the engine fan in the right places. Some needs to also flow through the actual generator.
As long as there is a decent opening on the engine end and an escape route away from the genny end it should be OK.
Shouldn't need a great amount of FORCED cooling Dot.
Sorry! A Commodore has a bracket that has two fans attached. I'm sure that would shift ample air.
Any wreckers in Strath?

My theory is to run one or two 12v fans off an inverter plugged into the 240v geny outlet so that the fans start up when the geny does and should be more robust than the domestic fans, this theory needs work.

[Dot]

Dot, Can you get some pics of these fans while they are still mounted. Most 240v fans will run for years without a problem.

Fans are history, no visual clues why they stopped working, have a theoretical plan which needs work to use the more reliable 12v radiator fans. (written by G )

[BruceS]

Dot an inverter runs off 12 or 24v DC & converts it to 240V AC power. Not the other way around.
You could run a battery charger off the genny that charges a battery that runs the fans.
Is the Honda genny electric start? I wonder how much it puts into it's start battery? Might be enough to run a fan?

[Dot]

Dot an inverter runs off 12 or 24v DC & converts it to 240V AC power. Not the other way around.
You could run a battery charger off the genny that charges a battery that runs the fans.
Is the Honda genny electric start? I wonder how much it puts into it's start battery? Might be enough to run a fan?

G said thanks and he is looking into it more. Yes genny is elect start and the 2 fans were on the left of the pic.

genny002.jpg

[jon_d]

George Have you checked the fans using the mains power?

It might be a power factor issue. Using an inverter is another source of wasted power and failure point. If you were going down the 12 path, maybe look at the unregulated 12volt output???

[Busman]

Were the fans powered by 240 v output from the generator ? If so that is probably why they died, even the better ones do not put out perfectly clean power all the time, would be better to run them off an inverter, if that were the case.

[Dot]

Jon, yes G tested them in his workshop
Bill, yes they were powered by the gen's 240v outlet