[C38] Blower

[tdtron at earthlink.net]

Wow, I had forgotten I had written that about cooling the alternator!  That goes to show you that nothing ever dies on the Internet so be careful about what you write.  LOL

I have tried to supply cooling air to my engines and alternators on every boat I have ever owned but I'm in the process of another experiment now with the cooling air hose directly connected to the alternator.

I bought my spoiled kids and grand kids a runabout ski boat (aka stinkpot)  last year and with me being a dedicated sailor, I'm building a sound enclosure around the engine to reduce that @#$%^ I/O engine sound as much as possible.  One of the things I'm doing to supply cooling and engine breathing air to the sound enclosure in the engine compartment is to connect a vinyl 4" flexible supply hose like our blowers use directly to the alternator.  The suction on the alternator should help bring cooling air into the engine enclosure killing two birds with one stone, cooling the alternator and supplying air to the sound enclosure for the engine.

My redneck kids and grand kids aren't exactly excited about quieting the engine and that really gets me all choked up. (NOT!)

I am a nut for sound deadening.  Even the already quiet Honda outboard on our Catalina 27 has a sound deadened cover added.  You can't tell if it's even running.

Connecting an air supply hose directly to the alternator is an experiment I have not done before and I will document all temperatures with and without the hose before I declare the experiment a success. If it is a success, this air supply hose idea may be a good addition to any boat with an alternator.  All alternators have a centrifugal fan to supply air flow through them and if that suction on the air supply side is strong enough it may be able to suck cool air from an outside vent like from a deck vent or, better yet, from a hidden vent in a cockpit winch pocket.

To be continued..........

Tom Troncalli



----- Original Message ----- 
From: Steve Smolinske 
To: Catalina 38 Listserve
Sent: 9/6/2011 12:35:08 AM 
Subject: [C38] Blower


Just writing a tech article on the voltmeter ampmeter upgrade and came across something Tom said in his email on the subject from 2002

"As a final note all alternator output ratings are based on an ambient temperature that is usually colder than the hostile temperatures of our engine compartments.  The cooler an alternator runs, the more output power produced.  If you vent cooling air directly to your alternator, it will prolong it's useful life as well as boost it's effective output power."
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