Air filter for external radiator/heater core

D

DarkenReaper57

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 2, 2003
Messages
2,173
Does anyone filter their external radiator/heater core's intake? I constantly need to clean the dust particles off my intake, which is quite annoying. I do have a mesh at the in-take of my external system, although the mesh holes are too large to filter anything out.

Here is a picture of my system:

DSC02374.jpg


Sorry for the dark image, I couldn't find a better one and I lack a digital camera. As you can see, the mesh is rather large. The heater cores sit behind the reservoir and pump.

I'm thinking of replacing the current wire mesh with something like a patio screen, but I'm not sure how good that would look or perform. A pinhole-type wire mesh would do the job, but I haven't come across anything like that in the size that I need.

Any ideas? Thanks.
 
reverse fan direction so it's pushing air out through screen, and have air filters on the fan?

and if you don't mind, I'd like to obtain permission from you to create a clone-ish version of your waterbox. I think it's much more effective than having everything stuck in a case, when it's not pulling heated computer air through its rad or pushing heat into the case...
 
n00btard said:
reverse fan direction so it's pushing air out through screen, and have air filters on the fan?

and if you don't mind, I'd like to obtain permission from you to create a clone-ish version of your waterbox. I think it's much more effective than having everything stuck in a case, when it's not pulling heated computer air through its rad or pushing heat into the case...
Click to expand...

I don't mind at all if you want to make a clone. My only condition is show me your work when you are done :cool: .

There are a few reasons why I do not want to reverse the fans:
1. Heater cores work better when air is pulled through them rather than pushed, from what I understand.
2. Putting a filter right in front of the intake will add a lot of restriction. At least if I keep my fans in a pull setup now, there is more surface area for air to go through the filter (less restriction simply because the heater core side has a larger surface area. That might be somewhat confusing, so let me explain a bit further.

The radiator is a funnel setup with the shroud. The air enters the side without the fan on it, which has more surface area than that of the fan. Common sense dictates that there would be less restriction if the filter is placed on the larger side. If I put the filter on the entire side (where the current wire mesh is) then it would filter the entire enclosure, and have the least restriction. See where I am going here?

The other main reason I am somewhat worrying about restriction is I want to replace the current undervolted panaflo U1A's (which make an annoying ticking sound) with quieter fans. Unfortunately, most quieter fans don't have high static pressure, so I can't add too much restriction.

Anyway, if you do build an external setup, a word of advice: use quick disconnects. While they might add a bit of restriction, the convenience is far worth it.
 
how much restriction would those Swiffer pads present?

filtering out the whole mesh side would keep most of the dust out, but then that sort of defeats the purpose of seeing an easy-to-see-through mesh side.

filtering out just the heatercore prevents dust build-up inside the fins and on the fans, but then the rest of the compartment would still have dust inside.

Damn dust thingies...
 
I guess it depends on how much pull your fans have. Things I've used is an air furnace filter, you can buy one and trim out about 5 or 6 filters, I've also used fabric softener sheets, these give a lot of resistence though, I've also used scuff pads, these are green or blue pads used for paint prep and can be found at auto body/parts stores. I'e found that these work the best, plus they are easy to blow out and reuse.
 
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