[rowens]

What's better for cooling?

 

[novaderrik]

a good electric fan on a good radiator with a good water pump will cool as good as a mechanical fan.
but an HD clutch fan can move a LOT of air, while using a LOT of power to do it...

 

[Chris R]

There is also the issue of making sure your alternator is enough to supply an electric fan. They do require a lot of current.

 

[vrooom3440]

For ultimate cooling you cannot beat a good OEM mechanical fan setup. These have the largest area and most available power and flow of any fan out there.

But then there is the drawback of the power consumed to drive the fan and the noise generated by the fan. The mechanical fan also requires a good shroud and is dependent on radiator/shroud and fan/engine alignment or movement. These are the things that drive newer solutions to electric fans.

 

[ALUMITECH REPRODUCTIONS]

In my book nothing beats a electric set up ...not because I sell them
a few things to think about here

sensor operated ...hence ...knows when to do its job

a mechanical wont pull 2800 cfm at idle in traffic ... thats why some people over heat sitting at lights or in the parade .

run time aprox 2 min ... not enough to drain a battery .. yes you should have a 100 amp altenator .

running A/C ...nothing is more efficitive to make that a/c work like it should sitting at lights ...hence 2800 cfm trough the A/C Coil.

no loss to horse power ...you should save 5 to 15 hp depending on what mechanical fan you replace .
just my 2 cent
Don

 

[novaderrik]

i have to disagree- an HD mechanical fan will move a LOT of air at idle when the fan clutch is engaged. that's why they were used in HD applications like pickups until a couple of years ago- and might even still be used today in the bigger trucks. even 94-96 Caprice's with the HD cooling option got a mechanical clutch fan bolted to the front of the LT1.
the fan in my 92 Caprice cop car would kick up a hell of a lot of dust under the car at idle when it sensed that it needed to lock up. i've never seen an electric fan move as much air as that thing did. but it did draw a LOT of power to do that. when i had that same fan in my Monte, it would cool the radiator down almost instantly when it kicked on. when i got rid of that fan and went electric, i gained quite a bit of low end throttle response and power, along with a couple of miles per gallon. the electric fan on the car now cools it effectively- and it's just a fan out of an 86 Celebrity with a 4 cylinder. it does the job, but it moves nowhere near as much air as the cop car mechanical fan did. come spring, the aluminum radiator and dual electric fan setup out of my 94 Caprice is going in- even tho i don't need that much cooling.