Am I doing something wrong? (air getting trapped in loop)

[davetherave2]

So I am trying to get to the bottom with a problem (question mark) with my current loop.

I am still relatively new to water cooling (almost 18 months) so have already done 2 loop replacements during that time (I like to make sure that I do a fluid and tube swap every 6 months)

So my current water cooling setup is:

EK-Velocity RGB Intel CPU Block (Nickel+Plexi)
EK-CoolStream SE 360 Slim Triple Rad with (3 EK-Vardar EVO 120 RGB Fans)
EK-XRES 140 Revo D5 Pump+ Res Combo
16/10 Soft Tubing + Compression fittings. (inc 2 90deg, 2 45deg fittings, 1 T-piece with drain port)

So I seem to have no problems in terms of leaks but it seems I am constantly getting air trapped in the system which seems to congregate at the return port/tube from the radiator to the pump/res.

I have tried setting the pump to minimum speed and it seems to make no difference I seem to constantly get air trapped over time so I am not sure where this is coming from as I said there is no leaks and all fittings are as tight as they can be. I am not sure if this normal with having the rad fitted at the top of the case or if it is a case of the pump is sucking air in from the fluid surface of the res (there is no vortex but you can see rippling on the surface of the fluid).

Currently I have been leaving a little air gap at the top of my res (not sure if that is causing the issue) so should I be filling the loop to the top of the res as well so it is flush to the cap?

Thanks in advance.

I would like to get to the bottom of this issue before my next replacement which is in the coming week. I've just ordered replacement fluid, thermal paste etc.

 

[davetherave2]

Tip the case.

Air goes up, and you're getting air stuck at the highest point, which is the top of the rad. The exit port is (I assume) on the underside, so beneath where the air runs to.
You have to tip the case so the exit port from your rad is as high as it can go. This will allow the air to escape.
Remember to keep the pump/res upright though, so unscrew it and turn it as you turn the case.
Another option, if you have a multi-port rad is to slightly open one of teh top ports to bleed the air out that way, but it can very easily spill.

Note that both methods require you to have the loop running as you do this...

That is what I have done several times but there is air still getting caught in the system. Once I think I have everything cleared out as in a solid stream coming from the rad to the res. a couple days later I see that little air gap growing larger and larger.

 

[davetherave2]

Here are some quick snaps for you

(Showing the air trap)

(Current Loop Setup) - omg how much dust good job I have an air duster arriving to sort that mess out

I have tipped the case on a regular basis and I tried to run the pump at min/max and then also got the air to move down the tube to the res and then switched of so it didn't get sucked back into the loop, creating all the micro bubbles.

I am wondering if I switched the rad round so that all the tubing is on the right hand side and then reducing the total loop length.

 

[davetherave2]

So i have spent the weekend and the first half of the week getting the system completely redone and hopefully you will agree the final product looks a lot better than before.

With lighting on

I had one large air lock in the rad after a day or so which refused to come out so I unbolted the res and then tipped the case 90 degrees (very carefully as ensuring not to tip the res over everything) on it's back and then air just came out. I haven't seen any other big bubbles in the loop or even trapped in the rad like that

This I think looks a lot cleaner now and have reduced my total tube footprint by probably 50%. I still see little improvements I can make from this in having the top and right tubes slightly shorter. but I didn't want to cut the tubing too short with this new config.

Thanks again everyone for the suggestions. It certainly gave me some food for thought.

 

[davetherave2]

Why do you have angled fittings on the rad still? Looks like they're not needed.

Not sure on the heat dissipation of the entire system as you've got 3 fans at intake through the roof and then from what I can see no other fans.

Glad the air lock is gone though.

I found them easier to have on for fitting the tubing onto and allowing the flex tubing to bend a bit more naturally rather than trying to force it into some tight angles.

The fans at the top are set up to pull air through the rad rather than draw air in. I have tested them at full power and they pull a lot of air through (although they sound like a jet engine when at that level)

temps are fine usually. cpu at load rarely goes above 55c at full load with my 5820K @ 4ghz. and the gpu at full load usually sits at around 80C from looking at hw monitor.

 

[davetherave2]

The air is being pulled from inside the case, through the rad and out the other end, rather than coming from outside the case, going into the rad and then pulled into the machine. If I hold a piece of paper above it at full pelt then the paper floats for a second or two before it gets blown away.
(it was the one thing i ensured was happening when i initially set it up to prevent the middle becoming an oven)
I have 2080 RTX. that 80C is at full load (ie playing something like Destiny 2). usually it will sit in the mid 40's when doing nothing too gpu intensive.

 

[davetherave2]

Odd, unless you've changed the fans around? Can see the fan shrouds bit which is always at the side of the direction of air flow

you were in fact correct. I did have the fans in the wrong orientation. I Thought when I had put everything back together again i had it pulling the air out. When i blasted the fans at full it was odd that it was sucking. So have literally just had the rad off and swapped the fans over.

Good catch. 1 internet cookie for you.

 

[davetherave2]

Looks like you improved it
But anyway for future reference
You don't need to replace coolant and tubing every 6 months
Hell my primo chill lrt tubing is 8 years old now and still good as new, though it's really solid stuff compared to the really soft bendy stuff nowadays
Angled fitting on rads is fine or you would have to bend the tubing too much
Use the port on top of the reservoir for bleeding air out just very slowly open it
Do that a few times you will actually hear air hiss out
Don't fill the res to the brim, like you have it is fine otherwise if you open the top port on the reservoir coolant not air comes out

I know i don't need to replace it every 6 months but as I have my pc most of the time. as soon as I see the tubing looking a bit too cloudy/ streaky I know it is time to swap out. Plus this time when i did the swap out I had some gunk in the water block. So I just like to get it into a routine. Plus I like to change to the colour every so often

 

[davetherave2]

I don't have any vibration at all from the pump and never have had any sort of vibration issue. The ek bracket seems to do a pretty good job.