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How Do You Empty A Watercooled System?

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tropicaltornado

Registered
Joined
Oct 3, 2003
How am I suppose to do this? I Have a PVC rez and I just dont see how I can do this without getting water on hardware?
 
Assuming the system is together, u probably should have thought about that before hand ;) . U could syphon the water out of the rez with some hose.
 
well I empty mine by slightly sliding out my bay res and removing the cap (of cource this is after I carry it to the kitchen sink) and then turn it upside dwon and let it drain out.

Probably not the best way to do it, but it works for me. :)
 
I just cut a tube and it all pretty much drains out there, quickly at that. Replace the one tube and your done. Granted you will have to refill, etc but I would just cut the tubes where you want the res to go in.
 
Yes, just like Mikeonastrike said, unless you though about it before the integration, you have to use an old piece of tube to syphon your res (this is what I have to do). I finish the job by disconnecting one tube and blowing into it to make sure the rad is also empty.
You'll see that this water+additives does have a real nasty taste. Yuck....
 
I use a turkey baster (available at any grocery store, a must-have for water coolers) to remove as much as I can from the res. Be sure to put an old towel under everything first, and have a little hand/face towel to put under the baster's spout as you are moving it back and forth to the collection receptacle.

baster2.jpg


I try to get enough out so that I can disconnect one of the hoses (with a towel under it) from the res (good reason to have quick-connect fittings). Then I short the main mobo power line (disconnected from mobo, of course) with a wire (pins 13 and 14) to "trick" the pump into running while the PC is off, and bleed it using the pump into a big bowl. Probably not great for the pump to be starved, but it's not on for a long time.

I use a very staining UV-reactive dye, so I do this in the bathtub, rather than on my carpet.

I also use the baster to refill the res.

As for the siphon method, I don't like the taste of Hy-per Lube.:eek:
 
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I open the fill cap on my wall-mounted reservior, then go to the basement and open my drain valve to drain it into a bucket.
After 7 systems, you learn to be nice to yourself :D
 
basically it's like with wine :)
Uput one end of hose into res, second lower, over container, suck second and put to bucket :)
try not to swallow too much UV-dyed water, as it may be funny but not for U :)

imagine ppl running with UV lamp after you screaming "open mouth and say aaaa" or watching you pee, with that lamp :D
 
I take the cap off the fill line on my res and dump most of it. Than I disconnect the the outtake lines from the res and my radiators and drain it into a container.
 
I use a pvc homemade rez also but I drilled a small hole in the bottom of it and screwed one of those draincock things in there. Now all I have to do is unscrew it a little and it drains out into a bucket. :D
 
all I have to say is thank god you posted this or else I wouldn't have thought about this when ordering the parts for my wc rig. I am going to use a t-line with a ball valve on the end for now and later I am going to switch to a big under case rez and use some sort of bypass to have the pump get all the water out.
 
I take a small bucket, hold my pump over it(its the 1 thing thats not bolted down) and pull off the tubes. The pump is off of course. After most of the water drains out I take off all the hoses, then remove each part sepperatly.
 
word, nightingale. i have a lot of schematics drawn up, but stupidly i forgot about how i would get the water out. i like the hole in bottom of res idea.
 
I have two 3/8th inch barbs on the botom of my home made res, and two on the top, one on each end used normaly the other one is just connected to the top, so all i have to do to drain, is turn off the pc and pump and remove the hose from the top and put it in to a bucket and it all drains away This gets all of teh water out after a few shakes of the case, because the drain is at the bottom of the loop :D
 
what if you dont have a res?

I have drained my system three times. It is a hassle. I think my t-line setup is best removed in its entirety and drained seperately to be safe. I must admit that I have implemented more riskey techniques!

Are reseviors really worth using? My system is entirely closed and I can tip it upside down if i wanted to without much worry. Its 100% portable and the cooling is great.
 
Are reseviors really worth using?


I think so, mine also runs a closed loop, and with the cap on my res i can run it upside down with out any worrys, and my system si also 100% portable and it cools everything i want to with out any problems. It would be lighter with out the extra 2l of water and the res on it, but it still gets out to lans every now and then :D
 
I just take my water block off the cpu. There is enough slack in the lines to be able to "pull" the tubes and block over the sink where I remove the block's tubes. Once that is done I blow the system down with 80 psi from my air compressor. Usually the only reason I have to drain my system is to add a new water block so this works for me. Be careful with the additives a lot of them are toxic if ingested in large quantities.

O
 
It's a fairly simple thing to do IMO. Coincidentally, I emptied my system just yesterday to re-adjust and clean it a bit. I put the whole thing on a desk, moved the pump (lowest spot in my setup) to the edge, placed a bucket under it, and unscrewed the inlet clamp. Then I just tugged the tube loose and voila. I did wiggle the waterblock and radiator a bit after it stopped dripping, to release any fluid trapped in local lows. It was pretty painless and effective though.

I also found out that the water was actually still very clean after 1 year of use and that the discoloration I had seen was mostly the tubing going slightly yellowish. :)
 
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