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How much do elbows restrict flow rate?

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Veland

Member
Joined
Aug 13, 2001
Location
Bergen, Norway
Well, the WC setup works good, but one of my tubes has a "kink" in it. The bend is a little too tight, and it sort of flattens in the middle. Flow is still good, but I'm wondering if using some elbows would help or hinder?

If they do not reduce flow too much, I might use more of them, I estimate I could cut about.. (counting) 30cm of tubing by using a couple of elbows.. How much resistance is there in a normal elbow? Is the shorter tubes worth the extra resistance? Since I'm cooling CPU, NB and GPU I have tubes all over the place..
 
I got some really crappy tubing on mine it kinks regardless of the bends so i had to use 4 and my temps are around 37c ondie so i don't think it's doing much damage.
 
well, they dont hurt the rate that much, and if the kink is sharp enough, it could be doing more dmg to the flow rate than an elbow. the best way for the flow rate to do it would be to get a Y splitter, and cap/seal one end of it so that you would get a part bend... this might strenghten the area where its trying to kink, but then again, its tough to say unless we can see what your tube path looks like. just wanted to throw another idea out to you
 
I solved a kink in my system by using a paperclip to force the tube into a circular shape.

I first straightened out the clip and then wrapped it around the tubing at the problem point. I then squished it a little to counter the kink. Works really well.

Though the actual difference it makes in performance of the whole system is neglible.
 
kinks

A plastic zip tie also works well for opening up a kink in the hose. My one hose out of the heater core to the W/B is like 2ft long and straight down, it kinked at the heater core outlet. Put a zip tie around it now its round and flows perfect.:burn:
 
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