bleed kits

[dem1an]

i love the looks of the swifttech bleed kit. i havent been able to find the right valves at lowes or home depot here locally and swifttech is 2 to 3 weeks behind with their kit. i found one site that sold the quick connect fittings but i really don't need 10 of each. =) i guess i need to keep looking but i'm wondering what you guys are doing to bleed the air from your systems? i'm using an inline eheim pump.

[dem1an]

somebody please field this question. =)

[Colin]

Don't spend a bunch on a bleed kit. Just add a tee to the return to your pump. Attach a length of tubing to the tee with a valve. Open the valve to prime the pump when filling and close it when water comes out. This also makes for a handy way to drain most of the coolant from your system.

Here's an old pic of my system. While some of it has changed, the basics I have described are there. Note there is a small reservoir on top of the radiator. I am sure there are other ways to do this, but this has worked well for me. The bleed valve is covered with foam tucked in to the right of the pump.

[img="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1551335&a=11768501&p=42034952"]

[dem1an]

what's the resevoir for? to fill the system with coolant? do you just keep adding coolant at the resevoir with another valve up there? what about another t with a valve and a tube into a milk carton?

[Colin]

No extra valves. The reservoir just makes it easy to add coolant and allows air bubbles to escape for bleeding. You could do the same thing with a filler tube. A reservoir is handy for placing a thermistor without impeading coolant flow.