<...  how long the engine would run at cruise power, with no water flow, ...>
<... If your water pump dies, the engine won't quit immediately, but you will need to get that second pump on right away ...>
<... almost have to have a flow meter that goes into alarm ...>
If the pump fails, the coolant temp rises.  You already know what that is.  Hook it to an alarm that will alert you to turn on the other pump.

On a related subject, one might do the same thing with fuel pumps - you know the fuel pressure - why not hook it to an alarm if it drops below a certain value.  Does anyone know with any accuracy how fuel pumps fail?  I doubt they fail catastrophically.  I suspect they fail by degrees (probably very gradually as the poorly maintained filter clogs up).

Just a theory ... Jim  S.

Russell Duffy wrote:

I do the same thing Rusty, I just run both fuel pumps all the time. If you run one pump and it fails, the engine will stop running  immediately. If you run an EWP and it fails, your engine won't quit immediately, so you would have a little time to switch over to the other EWP.

Perry Mick
http://www.ductedfan.com 

Hi Perry.  If your water pump dies, the engine won't quit immediately, but you will need to get that second pump on right away.  To do that, you would almost have to have a flow meter that goes into alarm below a certain amount of flow, and better yet, kicks on the backup pump automatically. 

Can anyone estimate how long the engine would run at cruise power, with no water flow, before you boil away lots of coolant, and warp the housings?  I'm afraid it wouldn't be more than a minute or so. 

Cheers,

Rusty (I'm NOT going to experiment with no-flow conditions <g>) 

 

--
Jim Sower
Crossville, TN; Chapter 5
Long-EZ N83RT, Velocity N4095T