No circulation in water-cooling loop

theor14

theor14

theor14

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24 Nov 2013
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202
Just build my 1st water cooling loop and cannot get it to circulate, I have positioned the case in every orientation, shaken it around and have got 3 quaters of a litre of coolant in it by filling the res, cycling the pump and filling from the top rad also but no circulation still.

240mm x 60mm rad in roof
240mm x 30mm rad on front panel
phobya uc1 cpu waterblock
EK r9 290x water block
EK dcp 4.0 pump
10 cm cylinder res

res - pump - cpu - top rad - gpu - front rad - res

any suggestions ?
 
Sorry to state the obvious, but you did use the correct in and out ports on the pump? :)

When you filled the res, did the pump seem to pass the liquid on ok and then just stop circulating properly or was it like this from the start?
 
out the top facing port with the arrow facing out so yes, and it was slow to start for the the 1st 2 times i emptied the res then didnt really go properly at all.
 
Would you be able to post a good pic of your setup?
Right now, all I can think of is trapped air or a dodgy pump, so perhaps a pic might help diagnose the issue.
 
IMG_0583_zps2f13919f.jpg.html
 
Damn, I was hoping you had clear tubing as that could help to tell us where the problem might be. I had a massive air bubble in my front rad and being able to see it being forced back into the tube when the pump was off helped a hell of a lot in getting it sorted for example.

When you loosen the top cap on the res, is there a backflow effect that makes the water try to escape out of it?
If you haven't tried this yet, be very careful :)
 
no taking the cap off has no effect and my next move was going to be draining it buying clear tuble and putting it back together so i can see the problem
 
Ok, well that might rule out trapped air.
Your pump should be able to handle that setup, so unless it's dodgy or something...

Other than that, the only possible part that it might be struggling with that I can see is perhaps the front rad to res section, but I kind of doubt it.

Unless someone else can see something wrong there, I hope that trying the clear tubing helps to find the issue.
 
I used black tube in my latest build and had an air lock. I found it by squeezing random tubes and listning to the pump noise if the pump gets higher pitch in noise you're creating more restriction so on that basis the airlock isn't there. Keep going to narrow it down.

What makes you think the water isn't circulating?
 
Take the pump out and make a loop with just the res and the pump. If it doesnt work, faulty pump, as at that point, there is no other thing it could be besides blocked port somewhere, which i have seen happen on a reservoir or pump top but very rarely and its very hard to miss.
 
there is no turbulence at all in the res which remains full even though there was no coolant at all in the top rad, im going to try the pump and rest only loop, I suspect there could be a block in the cpu block which is directly before the rad if that's not the case, so ill try that afterwards, I have spent hours turning and sacking the system and moving tubes and cycling the pump so im quite sure its not air, it surely would have come out by now.
Thanks for the advice
 
have found the problem, the pump is fine however the cpu block, completely stops the flow, and im using alphacool compression fittings which have a 4mm thread I think so they are within spec so o going to return the block and probably get an ek supremacy, abit annoyed ive waster 2m of tubing, 1 litre of coolant and hours of ime but at least found the issue.
 
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