A first timer's photo scrapbook of building a watercooling system

Well, I just completed building my first watercooled rig. Since this forum was SO helpful to me in getting this put together, I thought I would take some pictures along the way and post an article about my experiences and maybe help the next person new to watercooling with their first build. I hope this will be useful to folks.

Thanks also to my friend for hosting the images for me!

The system uses a 2.6C Pentium 4 CPU, overclocked with hardly any work to 3.4 Ghz (I am working on taking it higher), and 1 GB of HyperX 3500 DDR RAM (purchased onsale from BestBuy) on an IC7-G motherboard.

I started out with the following components:

Danner Mag 3 pump (read about it
Slitedge here ) - $37 from Aquatic Tech

Slitedge waterblock (which I got for $30 on sale - read about it here ) - $30

An '87 chevette heatercore from Autozone - $16.99

1/2" Clearflex 60 tubing and worm drive hose clamps from mcmaster.com (read this thread for order info) - $14

1/2" teflon plumbers tape from mcmaster.com (part listing here ) - $1.59

1 1/2" Female IP (FIP) to hose barb adapter, 2 1/2" Male IP (MIP) to hose barb adapters, and 1 1/2" FIP cap from Orchard Supply Hardware. - ~ $10

1 1/2" "Y" connector, from a local hardware supply place - $.75 (this was very hard to find, because Lowes, Home Depot, and OSH only carried "T"s. I started out installing a T but eventually went to the "Y" instead for the fill/bleed line"

1 pkg Gladware entree size containers and associated mounting hardware from Home Depot, as listed in this thread - approx $6 (I got the Glad containers Target)

1 pkg weatherstripping tape (3/4" wide) Part info from home depot - $3.39

3 1 gallon distilled water containers from Safeway - $4

And 1 bottle of Hy-per lube coolant additive that I got from Kragen for about $7.

I also used a Papst 120mm model 4212 12V fan that I purchased from a local surplus store for about $7. The fan's specs are located here. It does 97 CFM at 45 dba (4.3W), but is much quieter at 7V. I started off with the Sunon KD1212PMB2-6A fan (spec's here ), which was 108 CFM at 42dba at 5.1W, but this fan seemed much noiser at 7V than the papst, even though it's specs should be better. The Papst is also quieter by my ear at 100% than the Sunon, so I don't know what the problem here is. I got that fan for about $7 at the same surplus place.

I also wanted a pump relay that was safe and reliable.

I chose to use the Elk products ELK-924 Dual relay module, which you can get from Worthington Distribution or HomeTech Systems for about $10. This module has 2 relays in it that can handle 10A at 120 VAC, which I liked to provide some future expansion options for a Pelt, etc...

I also spent about $10 on various parts for the relay module, like IEC connectors, fuse and holder, toggle switch, 120 VAC green lamp and a prototyping case.

More on the relay module later...

Prices above not including tax and shipping where applicable.



So first off, we started with the shroud, as per Wetwilly's excellent thread. Here's what it looks like before surgery:



Then using an x-acto knife, I cut out the middle part:



I then proceeded to try and cut the outer edge as in wetwilly's directions, but could never do this and still get a good seal. So I settled for a slightly thicker shroud than necessary, but it still worked fine.

Then I placed the cut container body on the fan (after checking for fan direction so it would suck air from the radiator through the shroud:

Then we take the thereaded rods and mounting hardware, and we mark off with tape the 6" inch mark

(so I know where to cut!):



After cutting them with a dremel, we have 4 6" 6-32 rods:



We then poke holes with the x-acto in the glad container, using the mounting holes for the fan as a

guide. Then we install the rods through the cut holes into the fan mounting holes:



Then we go ahead and take the 6-32 nuts and attach them to the ends of the rods on the other side

of the fan:



Now we take our heatercore and prepare it for mounting the tubing and flush it before we install it

on the shroud.

Here is the heater core we got from autozone:



Now we need to cut off some length of the tubing so it will be easier to attach. The tube on the

left gets smaller as you go down, so cutting about 1" off the tubes (be careful to make sure the

length is right for your particular core - some models vary) with a dremel is needed.

I applied some electrical tape at the appropriate length of the brass tube as a guide to where to

cut, and then stuffed in a rolled up plastic baggie into the tube so the opening was blocked. This

kept metal shavings from getting into the core, and the plastic bag can be removed easily:



Then we cut off the excess tubing:



At this point, I took the plastic tubing sections that you want to attach to the core and stick the

ends in very hot water (I took some water from my instant hot, filling a large measuring cup with

it and taking that out into the garage where I was working on all this) and soak them for about 30

seconds. Then you should be able to attach them to the core with a little work. On the large one I

had to use a flat head screwdriver to help get the tubing stretched over the opening, but it worked

fine.

Now I wanted to flush the core with distilled water to make sure any solder byproducts and such

are removed before we put it into the cooling loop.

This means means we need to make a loop with the pump and the heatercore so we can pump the water

though. So first we have to fit the FIP to hose barb adapter to the to the pump outlet, and then

fit the MIP to hose barb adapter to the inlet. I did this and used the teflon tape to seal the

fitting.

NOTE: It's important to apply the tape properly for a good seal. You start by wrapping the tape

on male thread in the direction of how the fitting will be screwed on, from the end of the thread

where the fitting will first touch the thread, and then wrap it around the thread until all the

thread is tightly covered. Then gently screw the fitting onto the thread until it is very tight.

If the tape starts coming loose and unraveling as you tighten the fitting, it probably wasn't

applied in the proper direction, and you need to remove it and try again with a fresh piece of

tape.

Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of this proceess for some reason. (maybe it was repplying it

3 times to one of the fittings that got me a little frustrated).

Once the fittings are on the pump, it's time to attach the tubing to them by pushing it on. We

take the outlet of the pump and push on to the fitting the tubing we attached to one of the core's

fittings. We take another piece of tubing and push it on to the inlet of the pump. I emptied the

large measuring cup holding the hot water, and fill it with distilled water from the plastic

bottle. I took the tube that's connected to the core that doesn't go to the pump, and shoved it

into the distilled water bottle.

We hold up the tubing that goes to the inlet, and we fill it with water from the large measuring

cup so the pump has some water in it's inlet. we then take the other end of this tubing and stick

in the bottle, so the end goes towards the bottom of the bottle. Then we turn the pump on by

plugging it in.

It should prime ok and water should begin to flow through the loop. Once it was flowing well, I

let it run for a couple of hours and made sure everything got flushed ok.

Here is a pic of the flushing setup:



and here:

Ok, once the heatercore is flushed, it's now time to attach it to the fan/shroud. I took the rods as in Wetwilly's directions and carefully pushed them through the core and attached the nuts and washers. Here's what the finished front of the core looks like:



And here is a nice pic of the assembly:



Ok, now I attacked the case. It's an old case I had lying around, a chenming case that is a lot like the Antec 1080 series.

Here's the case before any modding:




Note I measured the size of an IEC socket (the same used on PC power supplies), and taped a guide to cut with the dremel tool. This is where the power cable for the pump will plug into. I decided to use IEC connectors because they are compact and standard for PC's. Here's what it looks like after the cut:



Now, I did the same thing for the front. Here is the case before the cut:



Here's a pic after I cut the intake for the heatercore:



It's important after cutting the holes that you use a grinder bit on the dremel to smooth the edges. If you don't do this, the sharp edges may end up cutting you pretty badly if you grip them in an unlucky spot. I found this hard out the hard way, but I'll spare you a photo of that.

Also, I managed to cut about an inch more than I should have on top for the core. I measured the core improperly. It's not a big deal, because the bezel covers it, but it was annoying that I didn't check the dimensions before cutting!

Now I placed all the components in the case, and cut the tubing approximately to fit. After plugging everything together, I removed some fittings and cut out the excess length. Remember to attach the clamps BEFORE to push all the tubing together.

I "plumbed" it this way: PUMP -> HEATERCORE -> CPU BLOCK -> "Y" fitting -> PUMP

This way the pump heat is dissipated through the heatercore before going to the block. It makes the arrangement of the components a little harder, but I think yields somewhat better performance.

The "Y" is used this way. The top left of the Y is hooked to the return from the block. The bottom of the Y goes to the pump inlet, and the upper right of the Y goes to the fill/bleed line, which is terminated in another male (MIP) to hose barb adapter. The cap screws onto the adapter and is sealed with the teflon tape once the bleeding is finished. If you look at the layout of the system, you'll see why the "Y" worked so much better for me than the T.

I tried it with the T at first, but it was hard to avoid kinks and get effective bleeding. The Y enabled me to bleed the system in a couple hours, though I let run overnight for leak testing.

BTW, one tip is to wrap the waterblock in plastic to prevent it from getting scratched up by all the moving around.

I then took another gallon of distilled water, and poured about 1/3 of it into a measuring cup, and then added about 10% by volume of the hyperlube to help cooling and protect from corrosion. I poured this into the feed line through a funnel, and switched on the pump! I keep pouring in the coolant until it was primed. As the system bled fine bubbles into the feedline, I capped it and moved the case around a bit. After a few minutes I needed to add more coolant, and then again a few minutes after that. I left for about an hour, came back, and added some more coolant. After a couple hours the tubing was clear of any foam or bubbles, and very clear with a hint of green from the hyperlube. I then applied teflon tape to the threads where the cap is attached and screwed it in firmly. A good seal!

If you use a measuring cup to mix the coolant, be sure to clean it very well after use, preferably by a couple cycles in the dishwasher - the hyperlube is toxic and you don't want your wife inadvertantly fixing dinner with it after it's been contaminated!

Here is a pic of the cooling system in the case, and bleeding the air out of the line:



Here is a closeup of the "Y":




After bleeding the system overnight, I found very slight leaking around the outlet of the Y, but tightening the clamp fixed it and it's working very well. More testing for another few hours and it looked great! Here's what it looked like after bleeding:




The vertical mounting arrangement that you see in my system worked best for me, but meant I couldn't use the base that came with the pump. The base of the Mag 3 is mounted on a the remains of an old mousepad that I cut into 4 quarters, and stacked up. I cut a tab out of the stack to enable the power cord to not kink as much.

I then drilled two holes in the bottom of the case for a tie wrap to wind under the case and secure the pump to the stack of mousepad quarters. The tiewraps I had wound up being too short to be able to reach around the pump. This turned out to be an opportunity! I used another tie wrap to extend the length to be able to fasten the pump. This turned out to be a better arrangement, because when I need to remove the pump, I cut the top tie wrap and discard it, but then don't have to thread another one down through the bottom of the case. I just use another tie wrap on the top.

Now that the cooling system was bled and ready to be installed, I wanted to get the pump relay assembly built. There were a few things that I wanted that I hadn't seen before in pump relays:

1) I wanted the whole assembly to be enclosed. The idea of having 120 VAC exposed in the case is offensive to me! It's dangerous, and is easy to avoid. I fail to understand why vendors don't build an enclosed version. It's poor design otherwise.

2) I wanted the assembly to be able to be removed without removing the pump assembly or the socket for the 120 VAC on the back.

3) I wanted a fuse in the line. I think that's another good safety idea, and since I plug my pump into my UPS like the rest of the system is, I was a little concerned about what a short at the output of the UPS would do.

4) I wanted a bypass switch to be able to run the pump regardless of 12V power from the system, for testing or troubleshooting.

5) I wanted an indicator to tell if 120 VAC was being applied to the pump. A pet peeve of mine is how people use red LED's or such in a configuration when the indicator is supposed to mean everything is OK. Red should only be used for faults. Green or amber should be used for a pump running, since that is the normal case!


Ok. So here's what I did. I took the 912B module and stuck it in a small plastic case I found at a surplus store. In hindsight, I should have used a bigger one, but this one had end caps that were precut for switches and such, and was very convienent to work with. I took a IEC cord extension cable, and I cut it into 2 pieces. The plug side I connected to the socket I mounted in the case above the power supply.

As you see, I used normal wirenuts I had lying around, and later I wrapped them in electrical tape.

The socket side of the cable I routed through the opening in the left end of the case, wired the neutral and ground wires through to theother side of the case, and took the hot and soldered it to the base of the fuse holder. Nothing special about it, just a twistoff cap design, and for the Mag 3 I used a 1A fuse.

The other end is then wired into a small wirenut, along with one side of the SPST toggle switch, one lead of the green indicator light, and a jumper lead to the common terminal of one of the relays.

I took a 4 pin molex extension cable I had and cut it, and took the yellow wire (+12V) and hooked it to the +12 on the 912B module, and jumpered it to the + trigger input on the 912B as well. This means +12V will trigger the relays. The black wire is hooked to the Ground terminal input on the 912B. It's a male molex connector that is then connected to a 4 pin molex from the power supply, which is energized when the PC is running, and has no voltage during power off or S3 mode suspended to RAM sleep.

I then took a IEC socket with attached leads and then ran that through the other end of the case. The hot is connected to another wirenunt that is also connected to the other terminal of the SPST toggle switch, and a jumper to the NO terminal of the relay in the 912B.

The neutral from the socket is then wirenutted to the neutral that comes from the AC feed to the relay, along with the other lead to the green indicator light.

The ground wire is then wirenutted to the ground from the AC feed.

I may edit this when I get seom time to enter the schematic into a CAD package and upload it to the web...

Here is what it looks like during assembly (sorry for the blurry picture):



And when it's completely wired (note the use of wirenuts and tape INSIDE the enclosure):



So took the top of the case and scrwed it on, and then mated it with the cooling system to test. I cut off the end of the pump cord, and soldered on an IEC plug that plugs into the output IEC socket of the pump relay. I tried to cut the cord so there wouldn't be an excessive amount of cord in the case.

And here it is being tested, from the left side:



and from the right side:



I then stuck some velcro to the top of relay assembly and to the PC's case, and mounted it. Here's a pic of the IEC socket that I mounted into the top of the PC case, just above the power supply:



The other end plugs into the relay assembly, and everything can be unplugged and unmounted if needed for service. The assembly is very light, and the velcro does an excellent job of holding in place. I used a 2"x3" pad I had lying around.

And that's about it! I installed the motherboard, disks, etc, and then installed the watercooling hardware into the case. I was careful to tighten the screws for the block gently and rotate around to each of the mounting screws so that the pressure would be uniformally applied.

I also connected the Papst fan into the CPU fan connector on the IC7-G. As long as takes less than 6 watts, it should work fine on the IC7 - you should check the wattage ratings on the fan headers of the MB if you decide to go this route. Too much current and you'll burn out the header (bad news!).

The reason I plugged into the CPU fan header is so that the CPU FanEQ feature on the motherboard can control it's speed. I have it set to run at 60% speed bloew 48 degrees, and 100% after that. This way I get the benefits of quietness at low load, and full cooling power at prolonged high load. It worked out very well.

Here's a few pics of the results!

Here's a pic of the top of the case, you can barely see the relay module at the top. It's the green indicator light that's glowing there:



Here's the bottom of the case, where you can see the pump and Y fitting:



And here is the big picture of the whole case, so you can see how it's installed as a system:



I hope this has been helpful to folks! You all made it possible for me to build this. Thank you!

wow, thats a really nice setup you have there. i would really like to see teh schematics of that relay if you make them. i am not a big fan of a lot of the ready made relays for water cooling systems. i also really like the shroud. very well done. is there anything between teh fan and the tupperware,and the tupperware and the heatercore? what about some sort of weatherstripping or something to make a better seal? again, very nicely done. it takes forever to load on my 166 though !

Spacerangerjoe, thanks for the comments. The shroud idea is purely wetwilly's design - all credit goes to him.

There is nothing between the fan and shroud, the compression pressure from the rods seals it really well. I do use weatherstripping between the shroud and the heatercore. I couldn't get perfect alignment because of the options for where the rods could go through the core. The shroud wasn't perfectly sealed, so I used the weatherstripping to make sure it had a tight seal.

It performs really well.

I hope to have some time in the next few days to do a nice job with a cad package on the schematic. I'll definitely post it when I get finished.

Thanks
Mike

good deal. also, where are the pictures hosted, cause they transfered to me at about 500k a sec (im not on my 166 any more ).

Looks really really good. Keep up the work. I really like how you made your shroud

Toolbox, thanks - it was my first try at a watercooled system!

SpaceRangerJoe, my friend uses a hosting service called Dixiesys (I think it's www.dixiesys.com). He has a reseller account there and swears by them, though I don't know enough about how that sort of stuff works. He has a LOT of telecom experience!

Thanks
Mike

This is excellent, absolutely idiotproof way to a WC setup, kudos for taking so much time, am sure a lot of people will enjoy it. I like the way you have posted links to all your parts, good job. I used to have a case like yours and I can see that things are packed in there. If you had a bigger case I will probably use a push/pull mechanism down there

if i were going to get a case to watercool in, i would go for a full tower lian li. they are very wide, and VERY deep. my brother has one, and it is considerably larger inside than my full tower antec. of course, my was almost $100 less .