Water change and flow dropped

atomic7431 · 14 Apr 2017 at 15:36

Had a small leak near my drain port at the bottom of the pc so drained the system and fitted new o ring.

Re filled the loop and spent quite a while jiggling the case about to remove air from the loop as before.

Started pc up and the flow rate seems to have dropped from 0.7 to 0.4 gal/min?

Any ideas why this would be the case? not changed any loop order or anything, no sludge etc in the loop?

Reading the flow via a high flow sensor and aquero 6lt reported rpm of pump is 4823

Razor Time · 14 Apr 2017 at 17:15

Sounds like trapped air to me.

atomic7431 · 14 Apr 2017 at 18:42

I have jiggled and wiggled until my arms look like popeye`s lol

Ive not had this issue in the past, i have had loads of air out already but alas i can keep trying.

Just seems strange

Razor Time · 14 Apr 2017 at 19:36

Give the pump and the blocks a gentle tap. If you haven't changed anything in the loop and just refilled it, it can only be trapped air.

atomic7431 · 15 Apr 2017 at 00:51

all i have done is gone from clear fluid to green recently but that higher flow rate was with the green in.

I have new vadar fans fitted and cpu temps are way too high, something isnt right for sure. BF1 for a few hours and cpu was high 70s which ive never seen before on my loop.

Tonight i have taken the rads out but still connected to the loop, and tilted them up to allow air to escape them better, but nothing out of them at all.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/mayh...premixed-watercooling-fluid-1l-wc-032-mh.html

Razor Time · 15 Apr 2017 at 01:05

If your water temps are similar to previous and your cpu temps are very different it would say to me that you have an air pocket in the cpu block. Try lightly tapping the cpu block and pulsing the pump or if possible adjusting the pump speed up and down. An air bubble in the cpu block can be a bit of a pain to move.

atomic7431 · 16 Apr 2017 at 11:15

Could this be a pump struggling to cope with my components i have?

I have drained the loop again, changed the orientation of the front rad so the in and out are at the top.

The flow meter right now has a Y piece staright off it, coulds have done with a bit of pipe run before the Y piece but connectors wouldnt allow.

I Have an even worse flow rate, Could the pump be failing or is it at max? i run it at 100% going by both the motherboard and by the aquero 6lt info when i swap between them.

wondering whether a second pump is needed or if the pump is failing?

I have one 240 rad at the front with pipes at the top, 2 360 rads in the top pipes facing down. Gpu block on my 1080TI and a cpu block. The high flow sensor and a y piece for a drain.

The out on the pump goes up to the first rad in the roof of the pc.

I have also blown into the flow sensor and the cog spins from both sides very well.

water level is just below the black of the top part of the pump although the pic doesnt show this.

atomic7431 · 16 Apr 2017 at 17:06

taken the front rad out of the loop and the flow is the same at 0.158 gal/min.

The water in the top of the res is moving about what i would consider rapidly.

Only option is to do a full drain of the loop again and flush each rad to see if any blockage somewhere in the other 2 rads.

I do wonder if the pump is failing some how, it seems very odd and with my limited wayer cooling knowledge a hard one to find the problem

atomic7431 · 16 Apr 2017 at 20:35

Ok
stripped it right out, flushed all 3 rads nothing in them.

Setup a basic loop through flow meter but couldnt read the data, however water flow in the top of the res looked the same (yeah i know lol)

So i have put 1 of my 360 rads in the roof of the system, connected the flow meter and a y piece for drain and temp. Have my gpu and cpu under the loop.

Reading from the flow meter is - 0.360 gal/min or 81.200 l/h.

Do i conclude the pump is playing up from this? seems that way to me.

The flow meter seems to read correct i think because the temps on 1 rad are as good as when all 3 were in and flow rate was lower. Now i do have case sides off as well which will help i know.

If i return the pump how long will turn around be? i bought it from ocuk around august last year.

Will i have to return it to EK themselves ?

In the mean time i am thinking about my options to try a new pump, what is recommended? are the ddc pumps better as head pressure is more? 18w version?
Will it play nice with my Aquero 6LT and if ddc what res do i need for it ?

Hope someone can help, many thanks.

ps the readout i get from the pump is 100% at 4830 rpm, i have also tested on my motherboard fan connectors as well

atomic7431 · 17 Apr 2017 at 11:09

no one?

MikeTimbers · 17 Apr 2017 at 12:03

Start from the basics.

Is the pump set to full or is the BIOS controlling it? Run it off a Molex to be sure.
If your pump is submersible (some are, don't know your one) you can use a bucket to test flow-rate. If it's not submersible, you can still use the bucket but you would need to set up the bucket as a reservoir i.e. drill a hole in it and set it to feed your pump via gravity.

atomic7431 · 17 Apr 2017 at 12:28

I have used both the bios and the aquero to control the speed, its plugged in via the molex or it doesnt do anything as tested that yesterday.

I have just ordered a new pump, if this fixes the issue then i will send the other back for replacement.

atomic7431 · 17 Apr 2017 at 18:41

ok, stripped the loop yet again and flushed out the cpu block, i couldnt see anything in it but maybe im blind, ran it through hot water for a while.

Put loop on a test into a bowl and flow wasnt amazing even with nothing attached it seemed.

Put the loop back together and something has helped at least, with 1 360 xe rad, cpu block and gpu block, high flow sensor and a y to a drain and back to the pump.

I now have 0.800 gal/min, now although much better the flow rate is slowly dropping again as it started off at just over 0.851 gal/min. will monitor it and see where it settles.

Thanks for all the help.

I did order a new pump so will see how it performs as it will work with my auqabus much better - Aquero 6 lt

Aberfala · 18 Apr 2017 at 07:32

I know you've flushed the CPU block but have you taken it apart and checked it?

I had a situation where I had a build up of gunk in my CPU block that was blocking some of the micro channels and causing very low flow. Maybe in the process of the original loop drain something moved around the loop and got stuck in the block as that's the most restrictive part of the loop.

V4NT0M · 18 Apr 2017 at 08:03

Aberfala said:
I know you've flushed the CPU block but have you taken it apart and checked it?

I had a situation where I had a build up of gunk in my CPU block that was blocking some of the micro channels and causing very low flow. Maybe in the process of the original loop drain something moved around the loop and got stuck in the block as that's the most restrictive part of the loop.

I would suggest this too, I also thought I might have had a problem with my pump but it turns out some gunk had got into my loop somehow and it was clogging up my GPU. The only way to be sure is to take all of the blocks apart and give them a clean.

atomic7431 · 18 Apr 2017 at 20:38

Today i have done just that

I took my cpu block apart and although not loads there was definate gunk. Cleaned it all up and put it all back together.

Loop up and running again on the 1 rad to test and my flow has improved and i now get 1.119 gal/min or 253.40 l/hour.

The pump it would seem is fine which is a relief in many ways and im pleased to have got to the bottom of the issue, lesson learned.

So i have an aquacomputers pump on the way which i will use soon as i am thinking about buying the thermaltake tower 900 (just like the way it displays the loop etc)

Thanks for the help peeps

Aberfala · 19 Apr 2017 at 09:30

Glad we could help

atomic7431 · 19 Apr 2017 at 17:12

been told that soft tubing suffers from gunking whereas hard tubing doesnt, is this the case?

i have this tubing currently - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/mayh...ling-tubing-3-8-5-8-16-10mm-1m-wc-114-mh.html

OLDPHART · 19 Apr 2017 at 19:19

atomic7431 said:
been told that soft tubing suffers from gunking whereas hard tubing doesnt, is this the case?

i have this tubing currently - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/mayh...ling-tubing-3-8-5-8-16-10mm-1m-wc-114-mh.html

It all depends on the coolant you use with the tubing if they react together.

I use Primochill tubing with EC6 Coolant Clear-eco-friendly coolant for PC water-cooling, it’s based on a blend of refined vegetable extracts with non-toxic corrosion inhibitors and non-toxic dyes.

No problems at all been in my loop nearly a year still clear no aliens.

Aberfala · 19 Apr 2017 at 21:48

atomic7431 said:
been told that soft tubing suffers from gunking whereas hard tubing doesnt, is this the case?

i have this tubing currently - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/mayh...ling-tubing-3-8-5-8-16-10mm-1m-wc-114-mh.html

I've only used soft tubing so can't comment on how it compares to hard tubing but I did want to say that the gunk in my block was mainly tiny pieces of the kitchen towel I used to clean and dry parts. There was some other bio type gunk but seeing I'd not cleaned the block in well over 5 years I wouldn't consider any of that to be due to the type of tubing I used.