Fittings advice appreciated.

Abz Hussain · 3 Feb 2013 at 17:57

How does one work out what fittings they would require for their loop?
By that i mean how do you know wether you need a say a 45 or a 90 for a certain part of your loop and then for another part of it you may get away with straight barbs/comps. Same goes for extionsion and adaptors etc.
Is it a matter of holding the tubing from block to block/rad/pump/res and 'eyeing' the angle or what?
There must be an economical way to do it without spending good money upfront of fittings just to test.

How do you do it?

mjones1 · 3 Feb 2013 at 18:24

Repeatedly plan out your loop and common sense. Google sketchup is pretty helpful too.

opstrat · 3 Feb 2013 at 18:44

i draw my case then place what components need fittings, then draw lines to each component. then decide what fitting would be best.

BluD · 3 Feb 2013 at 18:46

The tubing bends quite a lot, i just put my loop together and got away with 1 90 degree solid bend at the bottom of my case and 2 90 degree barbs for my 360 rad in the top of the case so the pipes didnt go down into the drive bays, then just straight barbs on the other rad, graphics and CPU.

Have a look through some builds in the build log and see how other people plan theirs out.

SeraphX · 3 Feb 2013 at 19:13

If you could post a current picture of your case internals, pointers would be more easily given

BluD · 3 Feb 2013 at 21:42

sorry i would but last time i tried uploading pics they took up like 2 pages each +D, if ya just go into build logs theres many people making water cooling rigs in there, im sure theres proberbly loads in this watercooling section, just have a look at some of the photos of peoples rigs.

Abz Hussain · 3 Feb 2013 at 21:49

Lol google sketch up. i could not draw even if there was a million zillion pounds in front of me. im pants at drawing.

I have had a look at other users images on here, they are very helpful.

gcaster · 3 Feb 2013 at 23:38

It's one of those things that just comes with experience. Some tubing flexes more than others, you'll need more bends for stiffer tubing.
Have a play about with what you have, worst comes to the worst you have to rebuild the loop with some angled fittings here and there.

Abz Hussain · 4 Feb 2013 at 09:18

gcaster said:
It's one of those things that just comes with experience. Some tubing flexes more than others, you'll need more bends for stiffer tubing.
Have a play about with what you have, worst comes to the worst you have to rebuild the loop with some angled fittings here and there.

Does tubing size make a difference at all? I mean with with an ID of 8mm and ID of 12mm common sense would assume you wouldf get more flow through the larger diameter - some forums i have frequented suggest it doesnt really matter.

shadowscotland · 4 Feb 2013 at 10:30

Never needed a 45 or 90 - plan your loop well and get the right hardware and you will not have bends that the tubing can't do.
Most 45/90 are used for aesthic reasons or case layout

Any tube with an ID of 8mm or more will be fine.
some years ago various tubes sizes were tested everything over 8mm had no effect on temps.
I can effect flowrate, but block and pump choice is MASSIVELY more significant.

Smaller tubes have a tighter bend radius so are more suited for some cases.

Edit: I lie, I did use a 90 once on a fill line into a res - was removed when I got a better designed res.

Abz Hussain · 4 Feb 2013 at 11:36

shadowscotland said:
Never needed a 45 or 90 - plan your loop well and get the right hardware and you will not have bends that the tubing can't do.
Most 45/90 are used for aesthic reasons or case layout

Any tube with an ID of 8mm or more will be fine.
some years ago various tubes sizes were tested everything over 8mm had no effect on temps.
I can effect flowrate, but block and pump choice is MASSIVELY more significant.

Smaller tubes have a tighter bend radius so are more suited for some cases.

Edit: I lie, I did use a 90 once on a fill line into a res - was removed when I got a better designed res.

Thank you for that. I will have a sit down tomorrow and do what everyone suggest here, plan it out.

While im here, can someone give me examples of where you would use a Y fitting and T fitting and some of these fitting where you have multiple inlets/outlet holes like the silver koolance SPL-XFR3.

shadowscotland · 5 Feb 2013 at 08:35

In most loops Y's and T's are not needed.

T's (and Y's) can be usefull for fill and drain lines but a good res will have more threaded ports than you need for the loop.

Y's were used for parrallel gpu loop or swap out pumps but are not used anymore due to sli bridges and QC respectively

I wouldn't recomend a T line (this is used instead of a res) for a first loop