Hi Guy's
Well it's all installed, full of coolant & happily pumping away as I type &
has been for the last 15 min. To purge the system you must wire direct to
the battery and run it. So I decided to leave it run for awhile to see how
long the battery lasts.
It seems to be working fine. I don't have a flow meter, but my coolant
header tank is made of an opaque plastic. The heater return line passes
through this bottle, while the main flow is "Y'd" off the bottom so doesn't
flow through. When I open the heater valve a portion of this flow passes
through this bottle. From what I can see, it is a shitload of flow, far more
than I expected through the heater. I know this isn't a very scientific
measurement, but it's late & I've got to get to bed.
When the heater valve is opened you can hear a definite change in the load
as more flow paths open. (I hope this isn't an indication of restricted flow
through the rads) Doesn't seem to be though as when purging the air
initially the bubbles flowing up into the "Y" into the coolant bottle were
coming fast & furious.
I was seriously pondering Perry's idea of mounting directly to the adapter
and really kicking myself for not already doing this as it would really make
for a nice installation, when something else occurred to me as I filled the
system. With my pump mounted as it is, it is the lowest point in the cooling
system so the pump immediately began to move coolant as I filled the system,
automatically purging all air with no fuss whatsoever. It occurred to me
that if it was mounted on the adapter it wouldn't have pumped anything until
the system was full and purged of air. Any leaks in the system would quickly
reduce the level below the pump as there really is no room for a header
bottle of any useful size above this. A partial loss of coolant would
quickly render the pump useless. With it mounted low it will continue to
circulate any available coolant until it is totally empty. Could make a
difference in a really bad situation.
Well it's been pumping for more than 30 minutes now (now you know how slow
I type) and showing no signs of weakening. Battery is a new (3 months old)
33AH RG wheelchair battery. Was charged when bought and never been charged
since. I've been using it for bench tests - no high amp loads - except a 1
sec burst cranking the engine, testing the starter circuit.
Ok, I just checked it again. 40 minutes now. Still not slowing down.
Voltmeter says 12.4 volts. It's 12:20 am, I've got to work in the morning,
so I'm calling this portion of the test a success and going to bed.

G'night Guys

S. Todd Bartrim
Turbo 13B rotary powered
RV-9endurance (FWF)
C-FSTB
http://www3.telus.net/haywire/RV-9/C-FSTB.htm