Pressure testing

therealdippy · 12 Dec 2020 at 13:15

I'm starting my first watercooled build and have been planning for what seems like years. Out of all the research I did, pressure testing was not one of the things I had in mind until I saw a Kitguru review where Leo used one. So I bought a Barrow tester and have been using it as I gather the parts I need. It has given me great confidence as I have confirmed that my new rads and reservoir are airtight. I plan to continue using it as I assemble the parts so that I have the confidence that the final build should be leak free. The confidence it gives me is worth the cost of the tester, but I do wonder if it is really needed. Hence my post: How many people here pressure-test their systems? For those who do not, has anyone built a system only to find a leak on the first run?

therealdippy · 23 Dec 2020 at 15:41

Indeed - in terms of helping my confidence as a beginner, my tester has paid for itself a few times over. Without going into boring details my build is rather ambitious and has some tricky parts. I've just fitted 2 crossflow rads with a short EK ZMT pipe linking them using rotatable fittings, positioned in a difficult to access place in the corner of the case. I really don't want to have to take it apart again (at least for a while), so being able to pressure test it has been very reassuring.

One compensation about having to wait for RTX3090 availability is that I can take my time over this build...

therealdippy · 3 Jan 2021 at 14:37

I need some advice. I have assembled the trickiest part - I have an EK-XTOP Revo dual D5 pump assembly at the bottom of the case and I managed to fit an EK-Quantum Volume 360 flat reservoir between it and the connection to a fill port fitted in the top panel of the case. The reservoir inlet is connected to my front rad with the other ports plugged. I previously pressure tested both reservoir and rad and they were fine. But now I have a slight leak with the pump, reservoir and rad all connected. The first time I saw the pressure drop, it was by about 0.03 bar over 12 hours. I tightened all ports (and the fill port plug was not as tight as it could have been) and the pressure stopped dropping - it stabilised at about 0.53 bar for the next 12 hours. I then released the pressure and retested, bringing the gauge to about 0.56 bar. 12 hours later it had dropped to 0.53 bar. However after another 4 hours the needle has not dropped any further.

Does it seem possible that the seals on the pump could leak when the pressure is just above 0.53 bar, or is this something I should investigate further? I believe that the EK-XTOP Revo dual D5 pump can achieve about 0.67 bar, however I expect to run my system well below that: I chose this pump because I like the idea of dual redundancy and so that I can run both pumps at low speed to keep the noise low.

therealdippy · 4 Jan 2021 at 15:18

I have a barrow tester and the gauge has 8 sub-divisions between the marked 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 bar points, so each is approximately 0.03 bar. Yes the needle can move slightly when there is shock to the gauge but this is not due to that. I tested again and there was the same slight drop overnight. It occurred to me that when previously testing individual components such as rads I only really checked for perhaps half an hour to an hour. So now I'm doing another overnight test on another part of the system - just two rads connected. Maybe the tester itself leaks slightly - a risk that someone else observed earlier in this thread. I sent an e-mail to EK support so I'll see what response I get.

I am inclined to proceed to the water stage because that's what counts, but I'm still waiting for some parts so I can't yet. I also noted that the EK pump block has got a third plugged port and I simply can't remember checking how tight it was. The only way to be sure is to remove the pump because it's underneath with little access. When I mounted the pump I over-tightened the clamp screws on one of the mounts (I was relying on feel) and they dug into the plastic and cracked it (EK should provide washers I think). So I have ordered a new mount and will replace it at the same time.

In spite of all this I am rather enjoying this build.

therealdippy · 4 Jan 2021 at 21:29

I should have searched this forum sooner: Dr Drop air pressure test question.

I tested the 2 rads over a few hours today and the pressure dropped at about the same rate. Now I have plugged the end of the tester hose and have managed to hold about 0.18 bar inside - I'll leave that overnight. I sent an e-mail to Barrow support asking for comment. I'll probably still take my pump out and check it again since this has knocked my confidence. I'm in no hurry - which will come first? End of pandemic or availability of the Gigabyte RTX 3090 I want to buy?