Cooling Drum

[cowboy]

Does the 55 gallon drum need to be sealed or vented?    Do you use anti-freeze in it, or just drain it in case of freeze?   Where can I get an operators  manual/service manual that will cover this Lovson 6/1 engine?    I'm like a kid at Christmas that got an electric train, and can't really play with it because he doesn't have the instructions and doesn't want to damage it!

[lowspeedlife]

Hi Cowboy & welcome,
Your cooling drum should never be sealed by any thing. most are just a drum with the top cut out. the reason being, you will need to add water to it as the evaporation is what does the cooling, secondly if it boils & is sealed too well it could rupture (think bomb) unless it has some kind of relief valve.  some will use plain water, i would use anti-freeze, since i'd like mine to be ready to run in cold weather, plus it will keep the corrosion down inside the engine & drum. I'm sure someone has posted a copy of a manual on the site some where. i'll see if i can find it.


 Scott R

[lowspeedlife]

For installation, repair & maitenance check here http://www.poweranand.com/instruction.htm
Lovson & anand used to be in "cahoots" with each other but they broke up thier relationship sometime in the recent past i beleieve.
Never the less, all the listeroids except the GM-90 versions are about all the same. there are very few parts interchange ability problems.
It seems the reason for this is that most of the parts "suppliers" over there are just people with a small foundry in thier yard & they will sell whatever parts they may make to any & all of the "manufacturers" who are really more "assemblers".
  Scott R

[ronmar]

Open top drum, Evaporation from that open water surface is where most of the cooling comes from. I did the math on this once, I will search back thru the forum and see if I can find you a link.

If you are going to use a drum, a drum with a removable top would be ideal IMO, you can close it up when not in use to keep the system sealed, and open it up when you need to run...  But given a choice, i would not use a drum if I didn't have to, the main reason being that it takes a lot of chemical to treat 57-58 gallons of water.  I would use a small radiator, setup(vented to atmosphere) to thermosiphon, as many here do.  Only about 4 gallons or so of coolant to treat, and a much smaller and cleaner installation...

Goodluck

[t19]

I use the rad off a Dodge Caravan... sealed, works like a charm... turn fan on it only on the hotest of days for a 10/1

[cowboy]

If you're using a Dodge Caravan radiator are you using a belt driven water pump or something?   Electric fan?   Radiators are plentiful in junkyards, but compatible pumps?

[t19]

why would i use a pump?  I hooked it up and use hyposyhon (?) and the hot water rises up, the cooled water comes out the bottom... on hot days I run an electric fan to pull cooler air through the fins... very simple and  easy set up.  no need for pumps, the rad is really oversize for this engine, so it works just great.  been using this for about 4 years from -20C to 90C






fan from princess auto

[ronmar]

If you're using a Dodge Caravan radiator are you using a belt driven water pump or something?   Electric fan?   Radiators are plentiful in junkyards, but compatible pumps?

No pump needed, thermosiphon powers the waterflow, just like cooling with a drum.  Basic rules for thermosiphon:
1.  Keep all the flows as vertical as possible.  Gravity and fluid density change powers the process, and just like a car will roll down a hill, pulled by gravity, it will not roll on a flat surface because gravity cannot work on it horizontally...  The most important vertical is that the line out of the head needs to get pointing upward as soon as possible.

2. Use as large a pipe/hose as possible.  Not a lot of energy input in this process, so less drag is important, and larger hoses have less drag for a given volume of water.

3.  There must be 2 heat/energy transfers.  The first is the engine putting heat into the water.  Like a hot air baloon, this warm water will rise compared to cooler water.  The second transfer is the radiator transfering the heat to the air.  Cold water falls compared to warmer water.

4.  The two energy transfers must be separated by the high point in the system.  So the engine heats the water which flows up to the top of the radiator, where it is cooled and falls thru the radiator and returns to the base of the engine cylinder to start the process again.  The top of the radiator must be above the cylinder head, but the bottom port on the radiator should not be below the bottom coolant inlet port on the cylinder.

5.  And just like in drum cooling, the top port on the radiator must remain completely submerged.

Think of it like a water wheel.  Water is poured into buckets on one side of the wheel, which throws the wheel out of balance and it starts to rotate.  the water falls out of the buckets at the bottom, so the rising side only has empty buckets which keeps the wheel out of balance and rotating as long as water continues to flow into the downward side...  As long as you heat the engine side of the loop, and cool the radiator side of the loop, the coolant flows... Add an electric fan to move some air thru the radiator and you are motoring...
 

[cowboy]

So the 55 gallon drum is an "open" system, and the radiator is a sealed "pressurized" system?   Overflow bottle?   Is there a thermostat in the system?    I'm going to set a system up like this for mine.    It is so much more compact and somewhat mobile.   I have as much space as I need,   but smaller is better.

[ronmar]

Not sealed typically.  The jury is out as to how much pressure the two "O" rings that seal the bottom of the roid cylinder liner can take.  Although this is a fairly common sealing scheme on other sleeved engines.  Most remove the little sealing disk on the radiator pressure cap so it allows fluid to flow unrestricted to/from the expansion tank.  I mounted the expansion tank above my highest point in my system and am using a tank with the port on the bottom. This insures that the radiator is always topped off

Most run a thermostat fit into the flange fiting right at the cylinder head coolant port.  It is easy to modify the thick flange to accept a thermostat.  I run 195F one.  The engine runs better/cleaner and is more efficient at a stable near 200F temp...  IMO, a cold diesel will suffer from excessive carbon buildup.

[t19]

Yes I use a pressure cap just like on the car... no reason other than it fits.  Yes I have an overflow just like a car... you can see it in the pictures, $5.00 at Walmart.  Use it for a number of very practical reasons.
1.  Allows me to effectively plug the overflow pipe under the pressure cap - See pictures
2.  The overflow reserve allows me to see what the level of coolant is in the Rad, and is a safe place to add more coolant..

I use the rad because it takes less space, and uses less antifreeze.. which is pretty expensive.  Its also a simple system and I like KISS

[overbore]

For installation, repair & maitenance check here http://www.poweranand.com/instruction.htm
Lovson & anand used to be in "cahoots" with each other but they broke up thier relationship sometime in the recent past i beleieve.
Never the less, all the listeroids except the GM-90 versions are about all the same. there are very few parts interchange ability problems.
It seems the reason for this is that most of the parts "suppliers" over there are just people with a small foundry in thier yard & they will sell whatever parts they may make to any & all of the "manufacturers" who are really more "assemblers".
  Scott R

Lowspeedlife: Sir: I am in big need of the manual as I have a new 10/1 ( JKson) and am unable to get a full screen view of the Armand manual. Can you give me, please, a link to the printable  manual so I am not in the business of numbering parts as they fly by my ducking head???