Time to replace defective and potentially dangerous absorption fridge

[davidbrady]

The higher the Reynolds number the better the thermal conductivity the greater the heat transfer. The Reynolds number is directly proportional to fluid velocity. This is true for the air surrounding cooling fins and tubes of a heat exchanger and for the fluid inside the tubes. If the velocity is great enough then the flow becomes turbulent and the heat transfer is even higher.

Internal combustion engines operate within a very narrow delta of temperatures. For a given water pump flow rate and for a given radiator top tank and bottom tank temperature differential a cooling system needs to be spec-ed that will provide the performance necessary over a likely set of ambient temperatures and eventual radiator fouling. This means that a typical vehicle is engineered with excess cooling capacity. If flow rates are increased by removing tstat bodies then a restrictor may be necessary to restore the designed in cooling system specs.

If the engine's internal materials and tolerances were up to the task we'd run our engines even hotter and we'd increase the fluid flow inside the tubes for better heat transfer and better engine efficiency. Hotter engine, higher efficiency, faster fluid flows, and better thermal conductivity at the radiator.

With today's internal combustion engines, I'm sure we can agree that all things being equal, an increase in the air CFM (that is, air velocity) over the radiator's cooling fins by increasing fan RPMs or improving the fan and air flow properties will allow you to run max HP at higher ambient temps. Why? Because the increased velocity of the cooling air transfers more heat from the radiator tubes and fins. This is true even though the temperature delta, the difference between the radiator input coolant temp and the outside air temperature, is less.