Koolance VL4 mini review

Postman Just delivered a nice box of goodies for me from the US.

First Impressions – worth every penny

Koolance have been making Quick Connectors for a good few years now, and are on the third
revision of their QDC range. The first models were ok and worked well with the external watercooling
systems that Koolance produced. But frankly Zalman’s plastic QC were just as good at a fraction
of the price so the VL2 and VL3 were created to cater for the custom watercooling market.

These not only looked the business but came with elbows, barbs, compression and screw ends.
They also catered for tube sizes up to 1/2 “ ID. The VL2 (low profile) and the VL3 (high flow) are
beautifully engineered but Koolance have gone one better and without much press the VL4 (extreme flow)
is now available in 13mm and 19mm ID!

The Male and Female QC are only available with compression fitting to date and I’m the happy owner
of a pair of the 13mm versions (I’m guessing the 19mm ones are for a different market as I’ve never seen
a pc watercooling loop with this size tubing)

Ok these metal wonders are not cheap – especially with the exchange rate where it is but as
we live in this over priced nation they were just over a £10 more than getting the smaller bore VL3 here.
Up until recently the plastic CPC QC were the low resistance kings – but ugly. These are a major step up
for the plastic zalman’s QC’s that came with my Reservator 2 so I’m really looking forward to installing
them once I’ve got my Fanless tweeks and Mods completed.

Anyway enough with the chat


Big, little box, with lots of packing nuts. P+P was $18 btw with USPS nice


Zip tie bag with goodies inside


Female VL4-F13-19S and Male VL4-M13-19S in their heatsealed bags


Components parts (female on left again)


In locked position – both male and female valves open. 3” long

And yes the threaded ends are a darker gunmetal finish - I like it, looks better in real life than in these images

The forth picture shows the metal peg on the male end and the fifth you can just see the track/groove
that the peg slots into. Both connectors are spring loaded so the when separated, each valves is shut.
Up to a teaspoon full (5ml) of water may escape, so a paper towel is required when disconnecting.
And I guess that a small air bubble in introduced when connecting (unconfirmed)

I'll be swapping the Zalman QC for highflow barbs and using these as the tubing enters my case.
One will have the Male on the outside the other with the female - this way I can connect the two
together to form the de-gassing loop that the Res2 required during setup.
This will also allow me to remove the Case from the wall when I want to tinker without needing
to drain my loop. Will try and get these fitted soon so you can see them installed.

Edit: Some extra tech info from the koolance boffins
VL2 have a 6mm flow-through
VL3 have a 10mm flow-through
VL4 with a 13mm flow-through
The inner springs are stainless steel
Male g1/4 thread on both the male and female nozzles are comeing soon

Very nice - so when connected the connection is an unbroken 1/2" ID - no more restriction than tube? I take it the spring-loaded bit are outside the connecting, lining up metal tubes? Won't you need another set?

Eee gads, just seen the price - about £25 for one male and one female connector! Bit pricey!

not exactly - my metalwork drafting skill are a bit rusty and I may have the internal proportions wrong but it's sort of like this



Top image is the male QC (shut) the second is both when joined (open).

Notice how the plugs are pushed back into the caseing so the coolant can flow round them.
In theory the area around the plug when open is the same as a 13mm dia hole.

I've two sets - four in total
Paid £56inc (would have been 75inc from finland or germay) or 44inc for the smaller VL3 for a uk competitor.

And no I don't need a third set, thankfully

Edit: updated the sketch as I had the compression fitting drawn wrong

I need a few of these, how well do they keep any air outa the loop?

Should only let air in when reconnecting - seals are really good so shouldn't be any worse that a normal barb in normal use.

Will try and set up a test loop in next few day for you and check (intrested in knowing myself) still at work at the minute so unlikely to be tonight.

shadowscotland said:

not exactly - my metalwork drafting skill are a bit rusty and I may have the internal proportions wrong but it's sort of like this

Click to expand...

Thanks for going to the trouble of drawing that - very helpful.

.:SAmSuNG:. said:

I need a few of these, how well do they keep any air outa the loop?

Click to expand...

Just squeezed some 3/8 tubing over and without much care connected the cupplings together. So worst case is a 40mm bubble is formed, which by my calculations is 12ml

Not super impressive but nothing that a decent pump couldn't remove in a single sweep of the loop.

Cheers for that. I gotta have em so theres not much option.

the uk available VL3 (high flow) would give a smaller bubble - but more restriction. So there are alturnatives. The plastic CPC ones are also an option (no idea on bubble size) but they are even more expensive that the Koolance ones!

I've had a chance to play with these and when disconnecting they release more that a teaspoon of coolant - maybe three teaspoons will try and measure it.

I can only assume that to acheive the larger pass through diameter the amout of escapeing coolant has risen.

Not recomened for internal use (stick with the VL3's) - but as mine will be used externally - I'm more that happy