New loop flow drops to zero

faxfan

faxfan

faxfan

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22 Jun 2013
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Zomerset (Glastonbury)
Just put a new loop into a case, all parts apart form one radiator are from a previous build.

I power on and get a flow rate of around 30 - 40l/h. This eventually - after around 5 minutes or so drops to zero. Power off / on get flow then stops again etc. The pump is still running (Aquastream XT @ 5000rpm). I have the pump and flow monitor connected to another computer so I can see them running.

I can't find any air bubbles by tilting (there were of course some to start with).

Any hints / tips? Should I leave it running? Or keep powering off / on? Anything to listen out for?
 
Hmm how strange!

I presume its an electronic flow monitor, not a physical "I can see it spinning" job?

Maybe its just reading incorrectly?

Them Aquastream Xt pumps are pretty much bullet proof so be amazed if that's the issue.
 
It's a spinny thing - flow meter is also an aqua but I can't actually see it spinning as it's in an enclosure. It was definitely a lock of flow but seems to have settled down but only getting 30l/h - 50l/h with the xt going at 5000rpm, not sure if this is low / normal / hight or not.
 
faxfan said:
It's a spinny thing - flow meter is also an aqua but I can't actually see it spinning as it's in an enclosure. It was definitely a lock of flow but seems to have settled down but only getting 30l/h - 50l/h with the xt going at 5000rpm, not sure if this is low / normal / hight or not.
Click to expand...

All depends on loop, corners, how many rads, type of rads, how many water blocks, type of water blocks etc etc.

No two loops are ever the same.
 
Totally agree, but you know how you get paranoid about these things - thinking "is it big enough" you know what I'm saying, right fellas?
 
Surely if the flow was dropping after 5 min temp would shoot up? Have you been monitering temps? Do flow meter need calibrating? Are you using aquearo for flow rate display?



Zia
 
I've been running the loop without the PC on just to check the flow. But I've just switched on and getting a 40l/h flow rate reading and the temps are awful to say the least - gtx1080 hitting 90c before I shutdown furmark, cpu has the same issue so it doesn't appear to be component related.

Something is totally screwed with this loop and I just can't see what it is.... :(
 
Surely that can't be right? 40 ltr per hour is extremely low for any pump. No wonder the temps are bad. You should be seeing several hundred ltr per hour flow. How do you have the loop set up?
 
Hence my question it seemed pretty low.

Pretty simple loop really

Aquastream XT / Aquainlet XT pump / res combo -> 480 rad -> flow sensor -> gpu -> cpu -> 280 -> pump / res combo

I've just removed the 280

Still getting a measly 44l/h, suspect the pump / res combo since everything else is from my case.
 
faxfan said:
Totally agree, but you know how you get paranoid about these things - thinking "is it big enough" you know what I'm saying, right fellas?
Click to expand...

Yeah which is why I have 5 rads and 18 fans cooling the same system as you. :D you can never have enough ;)
 
pastymuncher said:
Surely that can't be right? 40 ltr per hour is extremely low for any pump. No wonder the temps are bad. You should be seeing several hundred ltr per hour flow. How do you have the loop set up?
Click to expand...

Correct and I didn't spot it earlier, just realised for my massive loop I both the 440lph flow meter. 40 is way too low.
 
OK...

I isolated out the pump / res & flow meter and was hitting anything up to 400l/h. So fiddling, I tried the following combinations -

pump / res -> 480 rad -> flow -> pump / res = ~300l/h
pump / res -> gpu -> flow -> pump / res = ~280l/h
pump / res -> cpu -> gpu -> flow -> pump / res -> 200l/h

So it looks like the the more I add the lower the flow so the combination of them all (480, gpu, cpu, 280) will drop the flow right down to 40 - 50l/h.

I though the aquastream xt was a bullet proof, powerful pump?

My old laing d5 in a similar setup worked fine (didn't have a flow meter but good temps) which had cpu, gpu, 480, 240, res, pump.
 
That must be a faulty pump because you shouldn't get a 100 L/H drop just from adding a radiator. As a general rule, the radiator is likely to be have lowest restriction of any component when added to a loop. What watercooling components are you using? How have you connected the blocks (serial/parrallel)?
 
I have a 480 coolgate rad, quite a thick one, EK blocks on the 1080 FE, Aqua computer clear block on the cpu.

The pump is a aqua stream XT and the res is an attached aqua inlet xt (pump / res combo). I'm not comfortable with the pump res combo as the coolant comes in horizontally to the res part and through to the pump, the res is above this entrance. Just doesn't strike me as efficient.

I'm going to try the pump with another res and see what happens.
 
If your getting 400 on a small loop then it isn't pump, I get the same when I ran it on a test run
now through 2 massive 4 x 200 mm fan rads and 2 sets of quick disconnects it drops to about 340.

The fact you originally said "The flows fine for a few meters then drops off"
really confuses me....
 
VKleita said:
If your getting 400 on a small loop then it isn't pump, I get the same when I ran it on a test run
now through 2 massive 4 x 200 mm fan rads and 2 sets of quick disconnects it drops to about 340.

The fact you originally said "The flows fine for a few meters then drops off"
really confuses me....
Click to expand...

For a few "minutes" it flowed at 50l/h - hence me checking the actual flow values.
 
Just swapped out everything to D5 pump @ 5000rpm and a separate res. Just trying to dislodge a huge air bubble before getting the results
 
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