Building W/C loop questions

[Greboth]

Hi there

I have a couple of questions regarding the actual building of a water cooling loop which I hope someone can answer.

From reading reviews and on here, people say when they fill their loops about tilting the case to get the air to move around the loop to bleed all the air out of the loop. However I was thinking about using red tubing in my loop (instead of clear tubing and red liquid) but then how do you bleed the air out if you can’t see if there is air bubbles and where they are?

Second question is in regards to building the loop, reading the guide on xtreme systems, they list the first step as removing non essentials which listed is CPU. I was initially thinking that would screw cpu block down before adding the tubing as the ease of which to apply timm etc though I did wonder about the pressure needed to get the tubing on the barbs though. I take it though the best method is to take the cpu out, put the block roughly in position and build the loop and once leak tested use the flexibility of the tubing to move out the way so can put the cpu in, apply timm and screw down. Or is there a better method for this?

Thanks for the advice.

Greboth.

 

[w3bbo]

I see little point in leak testing a loop without all components 'tubed' up. Personally I attach everything, blocks and all, building the loop as I go. When you are ready to add water wrap some kitchen towel around all of the connections. DO NOT turn your pc on as you normally would, disconnect all of your sata,molex and motherboard power cables. The only thing you need connected to your psu at this point is your pump. To start the psu, and therefore your pump you need to jump start the psu. The easiest way to do this is with a paperclip threaded into the green cable (switch) and any black cable (ground), this will start your psu when you flip the switch on the back. Google 'jump start psu' - there are many guides on this.

To bleed the loop try and have the res at the highest point in the loop. As air rises it will eventually push 95% of the air to the top (res). The remaining 5% will be slight air locks, normally in your radiator, hence the titlting to release these air locks. You will know when your loop is free of air when your pump goes silent and does not give off a 'fizzing' sound (cavitation).

 

[Greboth]

Thanks w3bbo

I knew about running the pump without having the pc running but you have answered my questions perfectly. To remove the last 5% as you say by tilting the case to move it around to loop, I assume you do this while the pump is off otherwise water flow could interfere with getting the air around the loop.

 

[w3bbo]

I do it with the pump running. It's a balancing act tbh but just make sure the res does not run dry which is difficult when you have your hands full! Surging the pump (on 3 seconds off 2 seconds helps too.

 

[dreigns]

Same I build my loops with everything in cpu,gfx card just run the pump on it own for 12hours to test for leaks.
i'v done 3 loops now only one has ever leaked and that was a fault with the res
cracked plexy as with pressure you have to use when fitting tubing well it all depends on the tubing and fittings used.
I started using 3/4 barbs and metal coil reforced tubing [ no way to kinck this ] but it was realy hard to get on.
Now i'm using 1/2 clear tubing with black nickle coils which look nice with Compression fittings which look a lot better and from what I can see shouldn't leak.

A Tip to help with tubing up if ur finding it hard get some warm water and put the end of the tubing in to that for a few min's then put on makes it nice and soft.

 

[no_1_dave]

My res is half way down (see sig link) and I have a rad in the top
My pump is at the bottom.

I didn't tilt my case at all.
After about an hour my pump was silent (no more bubble whizzing sounds) and it's been silent ever since.
All the air bubbles are pushed around to the res over time, they whizz around really quick, was watching them through my GPU block lol

 

[Greboth]

Thanks for all the advice guys Really appreciate it. Just got to save up the money for all the water cooling components now Oh well should be worth it.