Bong time again!

[ROH]

Ok, guys I'm getting the stuff I need to set up a bong cooler for my system! I went past the hardware store yesterday and started looking at pricing on components. Now I have a list of a few questions I need to ask.

1) What is a good tubing thickness? I was able to find the following sofar, and was wondering if I should look for others.

1/4x3/8 or 1/2x3/4

2)The only sizes for PVC I could find were 3" or 4" PVC tubing. What would be better to use. I was thinking of going up to about 2-2 1/2 feet in height.

3) How the heck do I pick a shower head? I'm assuming I need one with lots of holes and a good ability to disburse the water under low pressure right??

4) I Need some names for good pumps. (I want quiet.) The only sounds I want to here are the water dropping, the Bong fan and the few case cooling fans I have set up.

5) No war here but I need a good waterblock. I have no way of making my own or I would but I'll need to buy one. What have people bin getting good results with?

6) Is my 2- 2 1/2 feet going to be adequate for cooling my 1.4? I live in a very dry climate over here. Humidity is almost non existent so I think it should be ok at this height. Comments?

And I think that's about it for now. Total cost of parts if I get it set up as a 4" PVC Bong sofar.....$25CDN not including pump fan or waterblock.

with some good choice selection I think I can have it made for under 100 no problem.

[jaKito]

In my Opinion.
Pump > EHEIM
Waterblock > DangerDen
Tubing > 3/8", Thickness depends, if the circuit has curves get a thick one.

[Intraveinous]

Make sure that its 3/8" INNER DIAMETER. That and 1/2" inner diameter are the most standard tubing sizes for watercooling. 1/2" moves more water and is less succeptible to bends and etc. 1/4" inner diameter is too small for a 1.4 in my opinion, plus you'll have a helluva time getting it to mate up with the 3/8" ID connectors on the waterblock...
My $0.02
peace
John

[Christoph]

You should go with the 1/2 " ID tubing, just make sure that you can get 1/2 " barbs on your waterblock. It shouldn't be an issue. With Dangerden and most makers I've looked at, you can choose 3/8" or 1/2" fittings. IMHO more flow is better.
I'm not sure if you'll even want to use a bong, though. Very low humudity will give you excellent results, but you'll go through water like nobody's business. If you really want a bong, then a med. or large reservoir is requisite, if you don't want to be constantly refilling your cooler.
Eheim pumps are great (I've got a 1250), but they're expensive and will easily put you over the $CDN 100 mark. The water block and the pump are usually the most expensive items in a watercooling setup.

[ROH]

Hmm... what is a good ratio for the pump? What type of flow rate should I look for? min/max flow rate?

As well I'm not to worried about the refill problem. I have my computer set up in my laundry room easy access to water. I'm working out a method of keeping it filled from my cold water outlet for the washer. more on that later. And even if I can't get it working the way I want I could always make a larger resevour on the base.

What about keeping the water clean?? should I use some type of filtration system? and as for organic residue, what do most people use to kill the bugs??

Thanks again.

[jaKito]

I have an Eheim 1250 (1200 l/h - 2.00m), but with 1048 (600 l/h - 1.50m) i think is enough.

[Colin]

1. 3/8” id works fine in my system. If you are starting from scratch, I would go with ½”

2. Use 4” pipe. While 2.5 feet may be enough I would recommend tuning the height of your tower to the sweet spot for best cooling.

3. The best showerhead is the 300 hole Dram garden wand. About $4.

4. Danner or Eheim. If you are planning a tall tower, stick with 500 to 700 GPH.

5. Danger Den (http://www.dangerden.com)

6. See #2.

I would recommend a large reservoir. A 6 gallon Igloo cooler or better yet, Igloo’s 17 gallon ice chest. Both have spigots that can be removed to supply a water outlet.

[ROH]

Never thought to check the garden section for a shower head! :p

I'm going to have to go down to the local pet supply store to take a look around, at their pump selection.

BTW: do these pumps need modifications to get them up and running? Or are they basically capable of plug and play! :) The few pumps I've seen all have large filter resevours attached and such (at the pet store).

well I'm off to do some soldering! have another case mod to work on tonight! :)

Orion

[Colin]

Go for a pump that can be used inline. Ehiems don't require sealing. Danners should work fine with some silicone grease on the O-ring but most of us pull the impeller chamber and seal it with silicone caulking. Another trick with the Danner is to put a hose clamp around the input to prevent cracking if you overtighten the fitting.

[FrozenInHI]

I just recently built a bong for my 1.4/a7m266 rig, now it's on my soyo dragon plus/xp1800+, but basically same, anyhow, here's my config:

top---------------4"pvc coupler(screen insert for top

tower------------3.5ft 4" pvc piping

middle-----------4" pvc pipe sanitary tee(important, don't get a wye

lower------------7" piece of 4" pvc pipe w/ outlet nipple

base-------------4" pvc pipe cap sealed w/ liquid nails inside at
bottom, works well, no leaks whatsoever


inside the base is a cheapo garden fountain pump, submersible, pumps 140gph variable, i've got it set lower for reasons i'll clarify below.

the nipple at the top has a 3/4" hose thread-to-3/8" ID barb fitting, this is the inlet, the barb sticks out the top, hose thread inside, epoxied in place. attached to the hose thread is a 3dollar garden sprinkler, real small that just spits out 15 small jets as it came, i got a 1/16" drill bit and made more holes.

at the opening of the sanitary tee is where the cord for the pump and my 80mm ultra quiet fan comes out, an 80mm fan fits just right if you sand the corners lightly, still allows the cord(s) to pass underneath them, on the end of the tee is another 4" pvc grate to keep stuff out as well.

in the base is the nipple for the outlet water, the pump has a 90degree elbow that a small piece of tubing is used to couple the pump outlet to the bong outlet nipple, the outlet nipple is a 3/8 to 1/2" barb splice, the 1/2" is inside, 3/8 outside, my system in the puter is all 3/8, that's why the smaller diameter.

I run a separate reservoir/pump/radiator that all fits in the case, look over at OCH and the heatseeker is pretty much exactly what mine is, i just added the bong to it. I would highly recommend setting up an autonomous option config...translation...set up valves that allow you to disconnect the bong should you need to, but yet allow you to run on the case's cooling setup. That's strictly if you decide to run a radiator and reservoir in the case as well, if the bong is the sole source of water and cooling, then obviously this is moot. anyhow, next is an inline filter that i use, the bong will introduce foreign matter into the water that may potentially inhibit optimal flow, so an inline filter is useful here. to pass the hoses through the case, i simply got a piece of tapered cork(started with a rubber one, but it was too small after i cut the hole) and cut a hole in the back of the case (where an exhaust fan could go works well, then drilled the cork to fit a 3/8 to 3/8 barb splice and tubing attached. this passes through the cork easily, the cork goes in the hole to protect the tubing from any possible sharp edges after cutting ( i filed and sanded the hole smooth anyway for looks, but you should protect the tubing)

my pump in the case pumps 160gph, the bong's pump i've tweaked down to about 100gph, to prevent pressurizing the reservoir. Basically the whole system pumps about 150gph, using a crude flow meter that isn't calibrated, but seems pretty accurate.

Now...on to temps with/without bong

without bong, the system remained at 36 to 39c roughly, water temp was 33 to 35c,

with bong, the system remained rock steady at 29c idle, and rock solid 34c full load, water temp was consistently 26c, room temp was 29.

a variation i tried:
bong w/out fan running: system temp 31c, water temp 28, again ambient of 29c

overall i'm impressed with how well it works, the water block i use is the z4 from OCH, it's a great quality block, high quality machinework done on it. One change i'm going to make is to put a cutout valve on the supply line from the bong to the case, this will facilitate dewatering the bong without having to dismantle it and pour it out. Also, i'd recommend you make the thing in two pieces and the top piece removable, if you need to take the pump out for service or adjusting, this will help, just use an o-ring or similar on the top of the lower piece of pvc to allow it to seal against the bottom of the sanitary tee.

And i really don't know what everyone's problem with OCH's Z4, i've been seeing negative threads about it, it was very easy to install, and cools very well with minimal water flow as i've proven. 600gph is a lot of pressure, you'll need to use heavy duty compression fittings to make that stay dry with any confidence IMO. I wouldn't trust barb fittings and hose clamps on a 600gph setup, too scary. Anyhow, email me if you want the drawing i made, just a paint thing, it's cheesy but it works, i was brainstorming this before i made it and i put it down on paint so i could play with the routing of lines and such.

Oh, almost forgot, i'm cooling the gpu on my video card as well, which i highly recommend that too. if you need a good block, OCH has a microblock that fits Geforce based cards perfectly, you just have to buy 2 bolts in this size 40 x 1", very tiny screws, and 2 fiber washers, 2 nuts. the block is threaded for the screws and mounts nicely on the gpu. temps on my gpu lowered by 15c from my blorbs' temps. Lemme know if you need any help, i'll do what i can. Good luck.

[ROH]

Damn now that was a post! I had to stop for lunch half way through. :)

Thanks for the extra info on your setup! Always good to hear a success story once and a while!

BTW what are you looking at for refill times? once every few days, week?

As well do you use anything for keeping down corrosion or biological material. Besideds the inline filter?

Oh, btw does that filter impead the flow any?

As well if you are able feel free to post your diagram. Or e-mail it to me! e-mail in my profile obviously.

Again thanks for the info.

Tomorow a pump hunting I will go! lala!
:D

Orion

[FrozenInHI]

The filter doesn't really impede flow too much, i still maintain a respectable amount of flow through the system (155gph) and it seems to work well. I use water wetter right now. I'll post the picture when i get home, at work right now, but i'll be there soon.

refill times have yet to be really calculated, its still new so i can't guage it yet.

[ROH]

Cool! Can't wait to see the pic! :)

BTW: Would it be bad to get a second hand pump? like one used in an aquarium already? A friend of mine has some spare pumps but I'm worried about contamination of my system. What do you guys think???

Orion