ice in intercooler reservoir

R

rarebit

New member
i just installed a 4 gallon jaz fuel cell in the bed of the truck. the cell is fed to the intercooler pump and then to an atr intercooler. from the intercooler it goes to a griffen lower radiator and the finally back to the fuel cell. the whole system is circulating the water pretty good.

now for some testing- the inlet temp was around 80F. i did a low boost run(<10psi) and i saw the inlet rise from 84F to about 95F over a period of about 5 seconds. i then placed 8lbs of ice into the cell and did another run. i was suprised to find that the ice lasted about 1 minute before completely melting. this was after a very short boost run. the inlet temperature started off at about 75F and ended up at about 95F.

the intercooler system is obviously working but im wondering how all that ice melted so quickly. i expected to see 45F inlet temps that would last at least 12 seconds. is something wrong or do i simply need more ice? do i need 25lbs of ice or something?
 
SyTyJedi

SyTyJedi

Jedi Council
The ice is really only a drag strip mod. You have to start with a cool IC to really freeze it good. What pump are you using? The faster you flow the water thru the IC, the less time it will have to heat up. The faster it moves, the cooler it will stay as well.

I've read about freezing not only an intercooler, but nearly a whole motor from moving water thru it so fast.

Put a bag of ice on the IC as well to help.
 
Will_in_China

Will_in_China

Truckless Wonder
SyTyJedi said:
The ice is really only a drag strip mod. You have to start with a cool IC to really freeze it good. What pump are you using? The faster you flow the water thru the IC, the less time it will have to heat up. The faster it moves, the cooler it will stay as well.

I've read about freezing not only an intercooler, but nearly a whole motor from moving water thru it so fast.

Put a bag of ice on the IC as well to help.
Click to expand...

Don't you have to be concerned with exchanger efficiency?
Any experiences with stock exchanger not being able to dissipate heat fast enough to keep up with a faster pump?
What kind of gpm can the stock exchanger keep up with?
I'm sure it has a threshold...
Just some thoughts.

-Will
 
BigAl...

BigAl...

Member
If you're gonna use ice you shouldn't circulate it through the cche, just circulate it through the IC, remember the cche is collecting heat from the engine and radiator and when you run your nice cold water through it your not only cooling the IC your also cooling the cche, lines etc...

just my .02 worth...

BigAl...
 
S

Sy769

Donating Member
You would want it to go through the heat exchanger first to remove as much heat as possible then to the ice and straight to the IC
 
leroy

leroy

Donating Member
BigAl... said:
If you're gonna use ice you shouldn't circulate it through the cche, just circulate it through the IC, remember the cche is collecting heat from the engine and radiator and when you run your nice cold water through it your not only cooling the IC your also cooling the cche, lines etc...

BigAl...
Click to expand...

You are right. This is how Lee Howie and Dean Ollar have had the best results.

Jim
 
R

rarebit

New member
thanks for all the tips. one other thing i noticed is that the water in the reservoir can be cool to the touch and yet the inlet air temps still reach 130 degrees. this tells me maybe the intercooler isnt working like it should. on the data logs the inlet air temp rises about 5 degress a second. this is at 14psi boost. im wondering if the heat could be coming from somewhere else. there is a metal rod from one of the primary tubes that connects underneath the intercooler to the intercooler mounting tab. i didnt really think that it was much of a heat conduction path but now im not so sure. any suggestions?
 
B

Blake

Guest
I went through this with my Sy that HuRyde has now. If I put a probe in the intercooler, the temp was equal with ambient. My manifold temps were 35 to 45 degrees higher than ambient yet the intercooler fluid temp was still ambient. The best I could figure is that there just isn't enough surface area in the stock IC for adequate heat exchange to take place as the incoming air just doesn't make contact with the tubes in the cooler that long. That was why I wanted to go with the ATR or Conley upsized unit eventually due to the increase air to tube/fin contact area.
FWIW,
Blake
 
rockvillespeed

rockvillespeed

Member
hi all
i run a 25 gallon cooler in the rear, with my pump also rear mounted.
all lines are rubber to and from everything, all the way into the bed.
i have a digital h20 temp gage hooked up to the OUTLET - hottest point - of the intercooler.
i run the stock lower heat exchgr and atr (bigass trans cooler) upper.
water flows from cooler into lower cche into upper cche into intercooler and back to resovoir in bed.
this has worked out great for me.
oh - intercooler wrapped in thermotec heat wrap.
i have yet to see this year water temps above 100 degrees coiming out.
the reason, as mentioned above, your ice melts so fast is you are simply lacking thermal capacity, and that youre running thru the heat exchangers up front.
the only time ice works is clsed system - no heat exchangers, with shitloads of ice and water.
 
rockvillespeed

rockvillespeed

Member
hey brian
hope u had a nice vacation
assuming u are actaully referring to weight (!), h20 weighs bout 7.5 lb/gallon...i only keep about 10 gallons total cap onpoard typically, as i dont want water sloshing out the top o cooler on hard accell, turns, etc...so, overall, the weight penalty is WELL worth it, i think - the truck rubs far more consistently, stronger, with less knocking.
btw, 200k miles!
 
D

Duner

New member
Dodge Different?

Dodge Different?

I built an air/water intercooler for my rig a while ago, but I did something a little different....

I live in Phoenix, AZ - so I run the AC about 80% of the year. I am using the cold air generated by my AC system to cool water circulated thru my stock heater core. I turn the heater control to full hot so that all of the cold air generated by the AC system blows thru the heater core and cools the water for the intercooler. My heater core is only connected to my IC system and has no contact with the engine coolant system. Since the water is being pumped thru the core at 2.8 gallons per minute (ShurFlo pump), it's less than 100% efficient. The air is chilled to about 30 degrees but the water only gets down to about 45 degrees before being pumped into the intercooler. The air coming out of the AC ducts is at about 40 degrees after the system stabilizes. During normal driving, the water leaving the IC is at 54 degrees and returns to the reservoir to be recirculated back thru the heater core and IC system again. I have a 2 gallon reservoir mounted under the truck. By stabilized I mean that after the reservoir water has reached it's coolest point - which is after about 10 minutes of non-boosted driving. The system sufficiently cools the IC to the point that water condenses on it's surfaces during morning times (cooler temps).

When I go to WOT, the AC compressor turns off and the system relies on the reservoir for it's cooling potential. Once you back out of the throttle, the AC compressor turns back on and it again goes back to the task of cooling the air and water. The temps at the track after a full pass tell me that the IC is being very effective. I haven't taken any IAT temp readings with the IC, but the throttle body is cooled to approx. 90-100 degrees judging by feel(cool to the touch compared to everything else under the hood except the IC). That would indicate to me that the IC is actually getting the air slightly cooler than that!

I'm running a single T04B on my truck and only make about 10 lbs of boost - so I probably don't heat the air as badly as you guys do at higher boost levels. I checked the IAT temps when I wasn't running the IC and my temps were betwen 250 and 280 degrees! I feel much better about stabbing the throttle now! hahaha
 
D

Duner

New member
The hoses leading to and from the heater core come thru the firewall on my Dakota.... not exactly sure where they are on your rigs.

You would need to disconnect and either plug or loop around your heater lines from the engine. That would leave the heater core disconnected from the engine coolant system and all of that heat.

I'm not exactly sure of the layout or locations for everything on your rigs, but instead of running the water thru a small radiator on the front of the truck, you would bypass that and use the heater core as your radiator instead. You want the water flow to come directly from the heater core to the intercooler and then to the pump to recirculate it again. That way the coldest water hits the IC first.

As for your AC controls, you would dial it up for max heat while still running the AC compressor. Adjusting the controls for max heat means that all of the AC chilled air goes thru the heater core before it comes to you. Be warned that it does take an additional 10 minutes or so after you fire the truck up before you actually feel cold air..... the system must cool the water in your IC system before you feel cool air. BTW, whatever temp the air coming out of the vents is - is a good indication of the IC water temp also.

Clear as mud? hahaha
 
Mephisto

Mephisto

These trucks are cursed
ok... so lemme see if i got this right... so you hook the IC into the heater core... then crank the AC when youre in the staging lanes to cool the IC temps... then once the temps have cooled... shut off the AC and turn on the heater during the track run? or do you leave the AC on? wouldnt having the AC on during a run, rob volts from the ignition as well as slow it down? i know my truck doesnt build as much boost when i have the AC on.
 
Typhoon #1133

Typhoon #1133

New member
i just got done hooking mine up like that and it takes about 10 min to get the coolant to about 50 deg. that is on a 95 deg day. at the track or when racing in town i think i would turn the system of, then back on afterwards the run. i see about a .2-3 drop in voltage when ac is on. if i was at the track i would just turn the ac of about 1 min. before racing. after about 1-2 min it does not drip water anymore. even after you shut it of it only dripped a max of about 2 oz.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top