Answer
May 31, 2023 - 04:10 AM
Without knowing what the application is this is going to be an educational response to help you understand what you need.
Power steering on any boat that uses a GM engine would be best served with a small cooler. Consider this one. https://www.mrcool.us/8m0125855-mercr... A power steering unit for a boat up to 30 feet or so generates about 186 btu. As a comparison changing the temp of a cup of water 140 deg F takes about 70 btus (with lots of conditions that I’m purposely ignoring). So this is not a lot of heat to transfer. Keep in mind a boat going in a straight line does not really heat up the fluid. So a small one works for nearly a million boats since 2012 and it works just fine.
A power steering cooler also doesn’t have much in the line of fluid pressures as they are most often cooling after the pump where the fluid is simply making it’s way back to the holding tank.
In the large boats power steering coolers and get quite large as they are moving larger hydraulic systems that are moving large rudders and need some real heft. In that case the baffling used is super important as the fluid flows are commonly low volume. So make sure you’re replacing the cooler with something that is a duplicate or a product that is built considering the fluid flows that your pump delivers. ©2023 Mr. Cool Marine LLC
Power steering on any boat that uses a GM engine would be best served with a small cooler. Consider this one. https://www.mrcool.us/8m0125855-mercr... A power steering unit for a boat up to 30 feet or so generates about 186 btu. As a comparison changing the temp of a cup of water 140 deg F takes about 70 btus (with lots of conditions that I’m purposely ignoring). So this is not a lot of heat to transfer. Keep in mind a boat going in a straight line does not really heat up the fluid. So a small one works for nearly a million boats since 2012 and it works just fine.
A power steering cooler also doesn’t have much in the line of fluid pressures as they are most often cooling after the pump where the fluid is simply making it’s way back to the holding tank.
In the large boats power steering coolers and get quite large as they are moving larger hydraulic systems that are moving large rudders and need some real heft. In that case the baffling used is super important as the fluid flows are commonly low volume. So make sure you’re replacing the cooler with something that is a duplicate or a product that is built considering the fluid flows that your pump delivers. ©2023 Mr. Cool Marine LLC
