Water cooling advice

Slinkie

Slinkie

Slinkie

Associate
Joined
21 Oct 2002
Posts
1,680
Location
UK
Hi Folks,

I have received most of the items I need to set up my first water cooling loop today. I am just waiting for a few more items (case and fans) before it's all ready to go. I have been looking around for guides on the process involved in setting up the loop but haven't had much luck.

My plain is
1.) Cut rad hole in top of case + fit rad + fans + grill.
2.)Drill holes in the bottom of the case and attach pump securely on and vibration base
3.)Fit barbs to all items and then fit to gfx card and processor.
4.)Install items into pc and get everything screwed into place.
5.)plumb up the loop, using cable ties to make sure the connections are airtight on the barbs.
6.) fill loop with liquid.

Can you please comment on the above and let me know if that looks ok.

What I am a bit unsure of is how the loop fills with liquid. I will have my case set up as per picture below. The case is a Lian Li A05B so it have an inverted motherboard layout.



Do I need to have the pump turned on for the liquid to make it's way around the loop. What method should I use to get all of the air bubbles out.

What words of wisdom do you have for a WC newbie?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
You've bought a loop which should be easy to fill. Here's what you do.

Get all the loop plumbed in and fitted. Makes sure the cable ties are tight. Put some tissue round each of the joins.

Fill the reservoir with coolant. Tip the case towards the back so it's propped on the rear bottom corner so that some of the coolant flows downwards towards the blocks. If the res empties put in more.

Detach the main PSU connector that goes into the motherboard and all other connectors from hard drives, DVD, etc. Only the pump should be left plugged in.

Now with the PSU power switch off, use a paper clip to short the green wire on the main motherboard connector to any of the black wires. Now if you flick the PSU switch, the pump should start and cooland should start to flow. Pour in coolant via the fill-port. the pump must not run dry! Keep adding coolant until the loop is bled. This can take several hours. You may also need to close the fill-port and with the PSU off, rotate the case until any bubbles are dislodged from the rad.
 
Thanks for that!

Do I need to keep the case tipped over for when I turn the pump on or once the blocks have filled can I put it back again.

Also, how can I minimise the chances of any leaks? All of my barbs have rubber rings on them and will be tightened as best as I can. As for the hoses I have 7/16 hose on 1/2" barbs. I have the option of either using these or using cable ties. I'd prefer to use cable ties as they are a bit smaller and will look a bit better but will they be as good?

Also, the instructions that have come with my radiator say to wash it through with distilled water. I have a 5ltr bottle of deionised water, can I use that? Shall I wash through all my blocks too? I also says it must be hot distilled water. What shall I heat it in. I presume putting it into a jog etc will contaminate it.
 
which rad did you get?

for my thermochill 120.3 i washed multiple times with distilled white vinegar, on my 4-5th flush now and still getting bits of black gunk come out.

good cleaning guide here

you can heat the water in a bowl in the microwave, probably best method
 
It's a thermochill 120.2

The instructions didn't mention anything about vinegar, I guess I could pop out and pick some up. What is the reason for the vinegar, does it just get it cleaner?
 
yeah i did a few flushes with water at first but not much of the black gunk started shifting until i used the vinegar. sarsons is what i used, a bottle of 568ml fills the radiator, so grab maybe 3-4 bottles
 
yes cleaned my ek supreme, soaked the detached copper base in vinegar for an hourish (dont let vinegar get in contact with plastic parts) and scrubbed with toothbrush, but my supreme came very clean
 
I've given everything a rinse with distilled water now and I have followed the first few steps of that rad cleaning guide. I'd going to change the vinegar once tonight and then fill it again and leave it until tomorrow.

Fingers crossed my case and a few extra bits turn up tomorrow so I can get cracking!

Thanks for the help
 
Slinkie said:
Thanks for that!

Do I need to keep the case tipped over for when I turn the pump on or once the blocks have filled can I put it back again.

Also, how can I minimise the chances of any leaks? All of my barbs have rubber rings on them and will be tightened as best as I can. As for the hoses I have 7/16 hose on 1/2" barbs. I have the option of either using these or using cable ties. I'd prefer to use cable ties as they are a bit smaller and will look a bit better but will they be as good?
Click to expand...

You're just tipping it to prime as much of the loop as you can before turning on the pump; this means you have less topping up to do.

As for leaks, if you've got 7/16" and ½" barbs, you're unlikely to get leaks. Hell, it's hard enough to get the stuff on and off! I suggest having a kettle handy. Put the end to be fitted into the boiling water and leave it for a minute or so. If you can handle the embarrassment, buy some KY jelly and put some on the barbs. Because it's water-based it won't affect the coolant but will help get the tubing on. Once the heated tubing is on and cooled, you will need to cut if off; pulling just makes it tighter. I've never had a leak from 7/16" tubing on ½" barbs.
 
Ok, Finally my build is complete, phew!

A few dramas on the way but no leaks or anything and temps are even better than on air! I'll start a new thread tomorrow with some good pictures as I need a bit more advice.

One thing I want to do though is quieten down the pump! It's quite loud in my case. It's the only thing really making any noise! I have it mounted on foam but it is still quite loud. Is there anyway of quietening it down. Low sound output was on of the reason I went to water cooling. The pump is a Laing DDC 1-T Pro 10W 12V DC Pump with an XPSC res on top

Here is a crap picture I took on my phone to show you the loop.



Cheers

Matt
 
Last edited:
I have had a bit of a play with it this morning to try and get it to work a bit quieter play placing in on more foam but it is still quite loud compared to the fans.

I had to shorten one of the tubes to mount the pump on more foam and when I have filled the loop up again with liquid I have air in again.

I can see the air come from the rad into the res/pump but then it it pumped straight back into the loop to the cpu block (I can see it leave the pump). I presume the air is just being pumped round the system rather than escaping in the res. Every time the air passes through the res/pump there is a fizzing noise, so maybe some air is escaping but it's not a lot, there definitely aren't big bubbles coming out of the res.

Also, there is a collection of bubbles in the gpu block that don't seem to be shifting. I have tried rocking the case slightly but it is no use.

Any advice on how to completely rid the loop of air is greatly appreciated.
 
is the fillport in your res open? if not, open it, it may help with air escaping?

is the pump noise from vibration?
i wonder if having the res/pump combo creates more noise from vibration than having a pump separate to res.

im thinking of putting egg carton foam beneath my pump, or bubble wrap
the foamy stuff that came with the pump mounting kit from ocuk isn't very good at isolating vibration at all, too thin and dense
 
I use foam from a sample of Tempur (the stuff that they make incredibly expensive mattresses from) and my DDC10W has no vibration noise at all.
 
I will keep experimenting with ways to reduce the pump vibration noise. Maybe it is something to do with having the res ontop of the pump that amplifies the noise. I currently have it sat on an assortment of foams (packaging materials).

I am still having problems with bubbles. The don't seem to be escaping, just circulating around the system. I might leave it on overnight to see if keeping it running will eventually get rid of the bubbles.

EDIT:

No more bubbles. I used a bent PCI backing plate to direct the flow of water coming from the rad into the res rather than straight into the pump so the bubbles could escape. I think the gap at the bottom of the res isn't big enough to let the air out and so it just gets circulated again.

IMG_0128.jpg


I went over the entrance and exit to the res and the pci plate so you can see it easier, did anyone else have this problem with this pump/ res combo?

IMG_01282.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom