[SEL] Thermo-syphon Question

[Skip Cleveland]

I have been trying to find a diagram of cooling system of an engine that 
showed the direction fo the flow of coolant from the engine through the 
radiator and back to the engine (heat source). Which way did that show the 
water to be flowing, from the bottom of the engine into the radiator or, 
from the top of the engine into the radiator? My then new 1950 Farmall "C" 
accidently developed a small radiator leak but still cooled ok as long as it 
didn't loose  all it's water.. It didn't have a water pump but I could see 
the water flowing into the top tank when I refilled it periodically.
One issue thought to be a problem on car engines was the coolant flow 
cooling the block before the heads. The LT-1 Chevy engine (among others) 
reversed that flow pattern but the design didn't last long and is now back 
the way it was before as in the LS engines and others except, NASCAR 
engines.
Anyway a flow chart would help nicely.
Skip
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Culp" <johnculp at chartertn.net>
To: "The SEL email discussion list" <sel at lists.stationary-engine.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 20, 2007 1:31 PM
Subject: Re: [SEL] Thermo-syphon Question


>> I found this on google. Doesn't say anything about the water having to be 
>> above either radiator or tank opening. Could this be wrong?
>
> Of course it could. It's not, though, just incomplete. What they're not 
> mentioning, taking it as a given, is that there must be a complete circuit 
> for the flow to occur, just as with a DC electrical circuit.
>
> Let a large enough air bubble into the system to open the liquid circuit, 
> and thermosiphoning can't occur. Percolation driven by rising steam 
> bubbles still can. Remember the old fashioned coffee percolators?
>
> The heat input to a thermosiphoning system doesn't have to be at the 
> bottom, or the cooling at the top, for convection to occur. It just needs 
> to be asymmetrical so that one side of the system contains warmer liquid 
> than the other. That liquid's less dense than the cool liquid in the other 
> line, so it will rise and be displaced by the cooler liquid, that then is 
> heated.
>
> John Culp
> Bristol, Tennessee, USA
>
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