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Swirl Pots: What do they do?

To: lye@elegans.wustl.edu (John Lye)
Subject: Swirl Pots: What do they do?
From: medtron!pwcs.StPaul.GOV!phile@uunet.UU.NET (Philip J Ethier)
Date: Tue, 31 Mar 92 10:16:17 CST
John Lye asked me this.  Although I don't usually repost private mail, I think 
John will understand if I need a little help with this one.

>Is the swirl pot in your Europa original?  

Yes, although somebody chromed it!  

>Anything you can tell me about it/them in general?

Only my own ideas, as I have not read any theory.  I never saw one before, and 
only know what it is called by the parts book.  I have watched it whilst the 
engine is running.  The coolant comes in from the radiator at the front of the 
car.  It enters the top of the swirl pot via an off-center tube.  The coolant 
races around the pot and falls down and exits to the water pump housing via an 
off-center tube in the bottom of the swirl pot.  The flow is very high, so the 
design keeps the coolant moving smoothly in a fast circle the whole time.  The 
swirl pot is at the highest part of the system, and the pressure cap is at the 
top of it.

My idea is that the thing is a centrifuge to knock out air and gasses out of 
the coolant.  It stands to (my limited) reason that the heat capacity of 
coolant is higher when there are no gas bubbles in it.  I will be happy to hear 
from anyone that knows more about it.

Phil Ethier, THE RIGHT LINE, 672 Orleans Street, Saint Paul, MN  55107-2676
h (612) 224-3105     lotus@pnet51.orb.mn.org
w (612) 298-5324     phile@pwcs.stpaul.gov  (list goes here)
"The workingman's GT-40" - Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman

-- 
Login name: phile                       In real life: Philip J Ethier
Phone: 298-5324


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