Electric Water Pumps

[Token]

So, a while back I was given an EWP80, made by Davies Craig, moves 80l / min and meant I could remove my water-pump, liberating most likely, about 1/2 a horsepower. So, as you do, I installed it, set it too run continuously, and drilling out my water-pump impeller in the process.

 

Now I don't currently have the electric pump controller, so I wired it up to run continuously, which is fine, except, its too bloody effective. The instructions said that when running continuously in a raod car, it was best to drill a 5mm hole in the thermostat, which I assume in to alleviate any pressure buildup (as it's a positive displacement pump?) but now, i can drive the old ke30 for a good 15 - 20minutes untill it even shows as warm (80 degrees). I have another thermo, but I've held off swapping it, because I mistakenly thought the temp sender was on the outlet side of the thermo housing. after looking tonight, I've realized its not, but I'f i swap to a non drilled thermo, do I risk burning out the pump, or bursting the rad lines due to pressure buildup? The standard pump is a non displacement, but... the electric I'm not so sure about. The temperature gauge is an aftermarket smiths unit, and pretty reliable from all accounts, but the corolla doesn't feel like its driving cold... which due to an encounter with perths 'carby' bloke, is pretty easy to determine due to him removing the choke.

 

anyone got any experience with electric water pumps on the old k engines? should I swap back to an undrilled thermo, and see if it heats up properly, or maybe drill a smaller bypass hole?

[ke70dave]

Now I don't currently have the electric pump controller, so I wired it up to run continuously, which is fine, except, its too bloody effective.

 

I think you answered your own question ;)

 

Id be getting one of these. they are a trick bit of gear, pulse width modulation based controller i belive.

 

http://www.ebay.com....=item20b7be6e77

 

also i doubt its a positive displacement pump? woudlnt it just be a normal centrifugal pump.

 

No real reason for them to use a positive displacement pump that i can see.

 

my experience with these is one we installed on a mates 12a (craig davies), they move an amazing amount of water. so on full blast 100% of the time the poor water hasnt got a chance of heating up!

Edited August 5, 2013 by ke70dave

[philbey]

80 degrees is normal operating temperature, you have nothing to really worry about. Your thermostat opens at 82 degrees , boiling point in your car is about 120 degrees.

 

Remember that the pump doesn't control your temperature, the thermostat does. Same applies to Fans.

 

Its a centrifugal pump, definitely not PD. When the thermo is closed and the pump is running, it just means that the pump is drawing power unnecessarily and 'dead heading' against the thermostat.

 

You don't want it running all the time because you will eventually kill the pump. The motor is rated for 2000 hours at 80 degrees. When the temp is normal, the controller will only run the pump intermittently (10 seconds out of every 40) to keep water moving through the engine, to increase pump life.

 

For a cheap and easy option, I would just drill a hole in the thermo and leave it running all the time. You could even whack a resistor in the motor circuit to bring it's speed down slightly if you wanted. then just replace the pump when it dies.

 

Otherwise, the controller is pretty cool if you've got a spare 200 bucks, looks like you can run a fan off it as well. You'll get more life out of it.

Edited August 6, 2013 by philbey