Help me make my Silent Loop silent

PieEater · 28 Nov 2018 at 16:28

I have a BeQuiet Silent Loop 240 which for the first 2 weeks worked very well however the pump started to become noisy, not excessively so but enough to bother me when the rest of the house is quiet.

The rad is top mounted with the hose connectors facing the rear.

I believe this may be air in the system (in use for ~3 weeks) and that the best way to deal with this is to mount the rad vertically? Unfortunately my case will only allow for mounting the rad horizontally so that is out.

Any advice?

/Edit:- I have just tilted my case forwards so the rad is at an angle, with the connectors at the highest point (not sure if it should be the other way?). This in theory should trap the air bubbles in one place over time !?!

doyll · 28 Nov 2018 at 17:25

I'm not sure which of the lines between pump and radiator are intake and discharge. Ideally we want the intake line into pump lower than discharge line. Have you tried laying your system on it's side to lines are up out of pump? This should help move any air bublbles out of the pump.

Before I installed my I set it so pump waterblock was waerblock on bottom with radiator on top of a box and ran it for awhile, then topped up the coolant level. I did the same when I flushed and refilled it and have had no problems with pump noise.

PieEater · 28 Nov 2018 at 18:32

I haven't found any instructions specific to the Bequiet Silent Loop coolers for topping up the coolant including on the manufacturers site, do you know of any as this should replace the air in the system and eliminate the problem? What do you suggest topping up the coolant with as I assume we are only talking a minimal amount of liquid, I have access to distilled water and motorcycle coolant?

PieEater · 29 Nov 2018 at 16:26

So I contacted BeQuiet to ask for info on topping up the coolant and they told me to RTFM, sure enough on page 22 we have the following sentence dealing with the subject "Open the dedicated fill port on the pump unit and fill the Silent Loop tank to the top using a syringe or similar and finally securely reclose the filler port". I've gone back to them to ask if the rad needs to be lower than the pump when topping up which I assume would be the case and if either of the coolant options I have available would be OK.

PieEater · 30 Nov 2018 at 12:24

Info back from BeQuiet - "the Pump should be higher than the Radiator because the air needs to escape. If you just want to fill it up a bit, distilled water will be just fine."

I'm planning on giving this a go over the weekend.

I must say that BeQuiet's customer service is excellent, I have always had a helpful response from them within 24 hours of contact.

doyll · 30 Nov 2018 at 13:43

Yeah, which is why I suggest their products and Silent Loop even though it's made by Alphacool.

Started to reply yesterday but got sidetracked and didn't post below bit.

I fill mine with pump above radiator and with radiator setting on it's side and up so hose flowing coolant to radiator is highest point of radiator. the hose flowing coolant to radiator , then run it for a few minutes and check again to be sure it's full.

I use a dehumidifier in one part of house so always have plenty of distilled water.

PieEater · 4 Dec 2018 at 20:33

So I have topped up the system and the pump noise seems to have gone now, I'm not counting my chickens yet but hopefully all is good. I kept running the pump, shutting down giving the rad a shake and then topping the pump up, until it was obvious I wasn't going to get any more distilled water in there (~8 times). Process was relatively painless and it's a definite plus for the BeQuiet AIOs that they can be topped up although you have to wonder why they ship with not enough coolant in them, at least with mine.

doyll · 5 Dec 2018 at 17:25

That's good news. The automated fill system at factory probably leaves more air in system then most people think, plus it probably has some air suspended insolution, so it's not going to be 100% topped up.. and it's possible your was filled with less than normal. The good news is pump is now quiet like it should be because there is a way to top up system. Way better than a CLC that has no way of adding coolant.