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Old 11-06-2012, 03:44 PM   #3 (permalink)
Phantom
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Location: Independence, KY
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Blue Meanie - '02 Volkswagon Golf TDI
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jime57 View Post
It occurs to me that I am wasting energy by opening the thermostat when radiator cooling would actually be unnecessary if I found the correct amount of grill block.

I could enlarge my grill block opening to put the "warm" winter day temp at 204, just on the edge, and on cold days the thermostat would never open. What think ye thermodynamics experts?
I would not worry about having having the t-stat open as it takes no real energy to open and it will drop the temps down and close itself. When it is open it will lose some heat and warm up the radiator causing it to heat the air around the engine and it will give off heat longer after the engine is shut off due to the larger thermal mass that will be heated. Also there will be less drag with more blocked off saving energy.

If the fans are coming often or running for a long time then I would open it a bit.
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