Are these fittings too restrictive?

So I made a fairly big mistake, and picked up some compression fittings for my rad, MCRES V2, and eventually the replacement pump head for my D5 vario. For the blocks, I have 4 True Silver 1/2" barbs. I am looking for some black worm drive hose clamps, but that isn't my real problem (but if you have a link to some that I wouldn't have to paint, that would be great as well). The problem is that I didn't think to check the clearance of the side ports on the res, and now that I have the parts here, I noticed they won't fit on the side ports of the res, which I would like to use for the time being. In my looking around for parts, I came across a rotary 45 extension, THIS ONE, to be exact. Is something like this going to be too restrictive or will I be OK using one? There will only be one in the loop, and the rest will be direct connections. I have read in a few places that fittings like that can be restrictive, but I have read that some of them won't restrict flow too much. What do you guys that have been water cooling longer think?

You'll be fine. BP 45's and 90's can be used without restricting flow too dramatically.

Thank you, atomic, I was unsure, and just wanted to double check before spending money on something that may cause problems.

Jab-tech is blocked from work, but you're fine with BP 45 or 90 degree fittings. 45 is slightly better of course, so you have the winner of the two. Any pressure drop would be very, very minuscule.

Considering there may still be a very small pressure drop (there will only be one in the loop), will I be better off putting it on the inlet side of the res of the outlet? In other words, between the MCW60 and the res, or between the res and pump? Will I notice a difference either way? I want to make sure I do this right the first time.

deadlysyn said:

Considering there may still be a very small pressure drop (there will only be one in the loop), will I be better off putting it on the inlet side of the res of the outlet? In other words, between the MCW60 and the res, or between the res and pump? Will I notice a difference either way? I want to make sure I do this right the first time.

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not really put it where you want. i assume it's so you can use compressions?

you might need 2 with the micro res.

Spawn-Inc said:

not really put it where you want. i assume it's so you can use compressions?

you might need 2 with the micro res.

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That is correct, I will be using compression fittings. My plan was to have one fitting as the inlet to the res, and then the 45 to a compression on the outlet, where the tubing will be going to the inlet of the pump. I tried 2 compression fittings, and if the ports on the side of the res were about 1/4" farther apart, there would be plenty of room. I will also have compression fittings on my rad, and once I have a chance to replace the head on my D5, I will also have them there as well.

are you sure it will work with 1 compression and the 45? i seem to recall it being tight even with my 7/16" compressions on there.

I may just end up getting 2 of them for aesthetic purposes, but I'm fairly sure that 1/4" more between the ports would have been all that was needed to make my 1/2x3/4 compression fittings to work. I will double check the OD of the 45 before I order just 1. There will be pics coming in a new thread when I start putting it together.

two 45's will work, but i wasn't sure if 1 compression fitting will fit with 1 45. also i don't know if the compression will fit on the res with a proper seal, but i think it did when i tested it.

Was there a specific reason that the compression fittings didn't seem to seal? I wouldn't think the side ports on it were beveled at the top, just for that reason. I will look into the OD of the 45 fittings, but haven't been able to find much online. If anyone happens to know it, I would really appreciate it.

lol, stupid me, i'm looking on google for pictures of it and not finding a good picture. i looked up and oh ya, i have one lol...

it's a flat surface so there won't be an issue with the compressions not sealing. it's only the top and bottom that are sunk in.

I put one of my compression fittings on the res, and tried 2 different 1/2" barbs. One was a Bitspower True Silver and the other was the plastic one that came with the res. The plastic one has a bit of a lip around the threads, which is much wider than what the True Silver had, and they both fit just fine with the compression in place. I think the 45 will fit fine. The one thing I did notice is that the threads are somewhat recessed, which may have been what caused the previously stated sealing troubles. I had a thought that may help resolve this, but I am unsure whether or not the threads on the new fittings are long enough. The plastic Swiftech fittings came with some O-rings that are a bit thicker than the ones that came with the better fittings, so if the threads are long enough, I Amy just use those.

Any thoughts?

Edit:

Spawn-Inc said:

lol, stupid me, i'm looking on google for pictures of it and not finding a good picture. i looked up and oh ya, i have one lol...

it's a flat surface so there won't be an issue with the compressions not sealing. it's only the top and bottom that are sunk in.

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I've had some of those kind of moments.

Anyway, when I ran my finger over the side ports on the res, I could feel a little bit of a difference in height. I don't know if it was enough to affect the seal, but I could feel it.

Bump. Any thoughts on the thicker Swifty O-Rings?

I don't see why not. Tighten them enough but not so much they bulge. That's how some have fixed the XT fitting issues when their fittings wouldn't snug tightly enough. Heck, on a Koolance GPU block that my fittings were too deep for I've used two o-rings on top of each other. I do, however, feel very strongly the only way that didn't leak was pure luck and would strongly recommend against that.

hokiealumnus said:

I don't see why not. Tighten them enough but not so much they bulge. That's how some have fixed the XT fitting issues when their fittings wouldn't snug tightly enough. Heck, on a Koolance GPU block that my fittings were too deep for I've used two o-rings on top of each other. I do, however, feel very strongly the only way that didn't leak was pure luck and would strongly recommend against that.

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Well, I wasn't thinking about using 2 O-Rings, but just some thicker ones. Other than that location, I think I should be fine. Atleast I hope the barbs I got will seal on the MCW60. I just need to get the 45 and my tubing ordered, and then it should just be assembly, leak testing, and running the system.

I just wanted to throw in an update. I got my 45 today, and test fitted the compression fittings with it. It's almost a perfect fit. I opted for the single rotary, instead of the double, since the double seems a little pointless with the compression fitting on one end. Anyway, I just wanted to post this up, in case someone needed a way to mount a pair of compression fittings on the MCRES.