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Re: Automotive cooling

To: Bob Hutton <BobHutton@fox.vut.edu.au>,
Subject: Re: Automotive cooling
From: Trevor Boicey <tboicey@brit.ca>
Date: Thu, 31 Jul 1997 03:00:27 -0400
Bob Hutton wrote:
> My experience is that there is about 5-10 degrees C
> difference, so if your thermostat is 82 degrees C, the
> exit temperature from the head may be at 92 to open the
> thermostat. That's no problem, is it?

  Well, I wouldn't call it a problem. But it would
require a different 'stat. Thermostats come in
different grades that are sometimes closer than 5
degrees celsuis, so it would imply that at least
somebody thinks it's a significant difference.

> It also cures overheating  since the radiator is not
> normally used.

  I have trouble with this as well. It seems reminiscent
of a perpetual motion machine or other impossible
situation. Right now my radiator is working, and the
car is at a good temperature. If my radiator in the
new config is NOT working, where is the heat going?

  Same with overheating. If my current car is overheating,
the radiator is trying as hard as it can, the thermostat
is wide open, and so on. Moving the thermostat doesn't
seem to have much effect.

> I think you need this top thermostat anyway because without
> it, the faster you drive the cooler it gets.

  Note that the temperature sensor is, on many cars, near
the "top" thermostat. So changing the flow around that
area might affect how the gauge reads the temperature. We
should consider that if we view the engine temperature
through the gauge, we have to consider how that gauge
sees the world.


-- 
Trevor Boicey
Ottawa, Canada
tboicey@brit.ca
http://www.brit.ca/~tboicey/

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