24-04-2020, 11:47 AM
(This post was last modified: 24-04-2020, 03:59 PM by Colin Wilks.)
I am not going to pretend I have a clue about the science of thermodynamics beyond knowing heat rises and a hot liquid is less dense than a cold liquid and so the hot floats above the cold. In my simple way I think of gravity helping the colder water in the radiator to push the hot upwards through the engine block.
I suspect there is a critical point around where the rising hot water meets the apex of the system (i.e. where the top hose enters the radiator) and recall Nick Turley showing me a radiator from I think an Austin 20 which had been expensively rebuilt without a baffle in this area. This caused the car to overheat until this omission was identified and the radiator was taken apart again and the baffle reinstalled. Nick may have further and better particulars.
Ps. Nick has reminded me it was an Austin 12, and the purpose of the baffle was to ensure the turbulent hot water entering from the top hose did not cause a good portion of it to disappear down the overflow pipe, which begs the question why they didn't stick the overflow at the other end of the top chamber in the first place?
I suspect there is a critical point around where the rising hot water meets the apex of the system (i.e. where the top hose enters the radiator) and recall Nick Turley showing me a radiator from I think an Austin 20 which had been expensively rebuilt without a baffle in this area. This caused the car to overheat until this omission was identified and the radiator was taken apart again and the baffle reinstalled. Nick may have further and better particulars.
Ps. Nick has reminded me it was an Austin 12, and the purpose of the baffle was to ensure the turbulent hot water entering from the top hose did not cause a good portion of it to disappear down the overflow pipe, which begs the question why they didn't stick the overflow at the other end of the top chamber in the first place?