Reply to "Electric water pump?"

Electric pumps are ideal from an engineering stand point. With an electric pump you can throw away the thermostat and regulate temp by regulating the speed of the pump. Pump speed can be directly correlated with heat load instead of engine speed. Such controllers were available years ago, I'm sure they are still available today. The biggest challenge is improving the vehicle's electric system to supply the constant load of a pump.

(On a side note, automobiles have always needed an electric a/c compressor too)

The engineers at Ford gave the Ford GT a 100 GPM pump in order to provide enough circulation at 200 MPH. They chose a crank driven pump however. The SAE paper is #2004-01-1257.

Many years ago when I investigated the possibility of utilizing an electric water pump for a street vehicle I was put-off by the fact that the manufacturers of electric pumps only warranted their pumps for 200 hours, or claimed they needed rebuilding frequently. Has this situation improved? How many hours of operation are the pumps you guys are using rated for?

-G