Electric fan direction of operation

[CJBergquist]

Can the electric fan supplied in the "complete" Coupe kit be operated as a pusher as well as a puller?

[Jason Lavigne]

Hi Chris,

I only know that fan as being a pull-type, but I guess that if you were to make a shroud for it, you could mount it ahead of the radiator and push the air through. Just haven't really heard of it being done.

Jason @ FFR

[CJBergquist]

Thanks Jason. I've been having cooling issues with my Coupe so I'm in the process of swapping in a higher CFM fan with a built in shroud. I'm hoping I can salvage the old fan by using it on my 57 T-Bird. It tends to overheat in summer traffic.

[frankeeski]

It's possible. All DC voltage motors can be reversed in direction by swapping the poles of wiring. Neg-Pos and Pos-Neg. It may not be as efficient as the blades may be formed to work better as a puller.

[edwardb]

I don't know if this helps -- because I don't know which fan comes with the Coupe kit -- but here is some info about the fan included with the Roadster kit.

With some quick research I was able to determine the fan provided with my Mk4 Roadster kit was a DCM part number TA14R2002. The various models available are here: http://www.dcm-mfg.com/pages/product.php?cat=axial&model=10. This particular fan data is here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcm-mfg.com%2Fpdf%2Faxial%2F14%2Fdcm_axial_14in_TA14R2 002_TB14R2002.pdf. Note this fan is listed as "Reversible." In the main DCM catalog, in the section for axial fans, for reversible fans it says "FLOW DETERMINED BY BLADE ORIENTATION."

So this would suggest the answer to your question might be "yes" if it is a reversible model, e.g. has the proper blade. And that it is reversed by turning the blade around, not only by reversing the motor direction. Not sure if this applies to you, but offered FWIW.

[rich grsc]

If it has the proper blades, turning the blades over would still require the motor direction reversed.

[edwardb]

If it has the proper blades, turning the blades over would still require the motor direction reversed.

Likely true. I have my Mk4 build fan mounted on the shroud and on the radiator, so not going to take it apart to test. But if the Coupe is the same fan as the Roadster (described in my post #5) the "S" shaped fan cannot be reversed without also turning it over. I'm not going to disassemble my setup, but just for grins, tonight I ran the fan backwards by reversing the leads. Of course the motor direction changes, but the "S" fan does basically nothing turning the other direction. No pulling or pushing of much air to speak of.

[CJBergquist]

Thanks for the information. It photo of the fan looks like mine...I'll give it a try flipping the blade and polarity of the wiring.