"Tornado" in my line

I finally hooked up my watercooler box, but I have a problem.

In the last leg of the water-lines there is a tiny "tornado" in the line. The water is free of all air bubbles through the entire line, then it hits the NB block, and when the water comes out it has a "tornado" of air. It's really freaking me out. Luckily the reservior is right after it and so all the air goes away.

I have had it running for 3 days and it's stil there. I have started/stopped it multiple times. I have shook the block violently (and the tubing) and nothing seems to make to go away.

Anyway to remedy this? Is it even something to worry about?

Thx

Looks like you have a leaky block, but you have so much negative pressure on it that no water goes out, just air goes in.

How would I fix this? If i put my ear next to the block, I do hiss...well a slurping sound? I don't really know how to describe it. None of the other blocks make noise, they are completely silent.

Well, sounds like a leak. Take the block apart, see if the gasket needs replacing. Sometimes just taking it apart and putting it back together fixes it.

ummmm... It was made by dangerden and it looks as though they put some sort of threadlocker goop in their. There is a rubber washer, some goop, and teflon tape it looks like. I could be wrong.

Check the other parts of your system, and shake them too. That vortex is getting fed air bubbles from somewhere, and maybe the block's flow is churning them in the vortex.
If you have a reservior, make sure the water level is topped off. A pump can suck air down even through an inch of water.
Also check the fitting on the pump's suction side (inlet) to make sure it's not leaking there. That's the location of the most powerfull suction in the system, and a leak that won't let out water could easily let air in.
A radiator can hold quite a bit of air for sometime after filling, shake the tar out of that too.

It's not really gonna hurt anything there, but the causes of this may hurt you later (leaks), and being you want top performance (who doesn't) it'd be nice to get rid of that air.

its probly getting air from the res even though the res is after it. try putting as tiny screan in front of the inlet to the res from the NB block and see if it disapears

I get one of those vortexs when I fill my loop. It's made by the foam created by the purple ice I use in the coolant. It bleeds out in about an hour or so though. Did you use an additive? I'd follow the above advice and make sure everything is tightened.

maybe the clamps are not tight enough and air is coming in through the tops of the barbs

I doubt its a leak, That happend to me for a while, always just after the Z block but I turned it around a while and stopped the pump at the right time so the air floated to my res and no bubles for me (at least not that I can see).

The first time I fired up mine I had trouble getting the fittings on right, you may check those to see if thats whats causing it.

the advice, that its getting air from a leak in the WB seems like the only one that makes sense to me. If if was getting air from the res there would be air in the rest of the system.... no?!?

Yuriman said:

Looks like you have a leaky block, but you have so much negative pressure on it that no water goes out, just air goes in.

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I don't really think this is the problem. In order for this to happen, your system would constantly be losing air/water somewhere else in the loop, causing a vacuum by the NB (pressure inside the system would have to be less than ambient air pressure.) If your system were "sucking air" by the NB block and not venting pressure anywhere, the pressure would build up very quickly, and you would start leaking water out of the same hole that is supposedly sucking air right now. (Or the system would just explode.. )

Fortunately for you, neither of these cases happen in real life. The likely culprit is a nice vortex in the water as it leaves your NB block (be happy, this is a good thing... you know you have some good turbulence in there.) This vortex is stronger than the natural buoyant forces of air in water and is thus keeping the air in place, constantly circulating.

If you'd like to fix this problem, simply slow down the flow of water. I would recommend doing this by temporarily "pinching" hoses. These momentary restrictions will slow down your flowrate, allowing the air to escape. If it were me, though, I might be tempted to leave the little cyclone in there and just show it off as part of my new "top secret" water cooled PC.

Put the NB block in a large glass of water and see if the tornado goes away. That would be definite proof of whether or not there's a leak.

And if it DOES go away, you can find out WHERE by submerging parts of the NB block. If the tornado comes back, then the leaky area is out of the water. Should only take 3 minutes to pinpoint the leak (if there is one.

junkymagi said:

Put the NB block in a large glass of water and see if the tornado goes away. That would be definite proof of whether or not there's a leak.

And if it DOES go away, you can find out WHERE by submerging parts of the NB block. If the tornado comes back, then the leaky area is out of the water. Should only take 3 minutes to pinpoint the leak (if there is one.

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Very good thinking.

NeoMoses said:

The likely culprit is a nice vortex in the water as it leaves your NB block (be happy, this is a good thing... you know you have some good turbulence in there.) This vortex is stronger than the natural buoyant forces of air in water and is thus keeping the air in place, constantly circulating.

Click to expand...

The suggestion to pinch hoses to temporarily eliminate the vortex and release bubbles is a good one, but I'd be surprised at a vortex that was able to hold the bubbles long term.

I don't know what pump Joker is using, but it's possible that the bubbles are appearing due to cavitation. That could be bad, because in the area where the cavitation is occurring, the NB block may be slowly erroding. If the bubbles are making it to the pump inlet, the impeller will likely be damaged as well.

I don't think this is a situation to leave alone, because 'it's cool'.

Edit:

BTW, if it is cavitating at the NB block, it's almost certainly cavitating at the impeller.

definitions of cavitation

1 The sudden formation and collapse of low-pressure bubbles in liquids by means of mechanical forces, such as those resulting from rotation of a marine propeller.
2 The pitting of a solid surface.
3 Medicine. The formation of cavities in a body tissue or an organ, especially those formed in the lung as a result of tuberculosis.

I'm pretty sure that (if it's cavitation and not a leak) that it's number one which wouldn't cause damage to the block or impeller. The number 2 wouldn't be caused by air bubbles, usually by acid or battery effect and since most impellers are made of plastic, neither would damage it.

junkymagi said:

definitions of cavitation

1 The sudden formation and collapse of low-pressure bubbles in liquids by means of mechanical forces, such as those resulting from rotation of a marine propeller.
2 The pitting of a solid surface.


I'm pretty sure that (if it's cavitation and not a leak) that it's number one which wouldn't cause damage to the block or impeller.

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Cavitation link.

Quote:

"Implosions of these vapor pockets can be so rapid that a rumbling/cracking noise is produced (it sounds like rocks passing through the pump). The hydraulic impacts caused by the collapsing bubbles are strong enough to cause minute areas of fatigue on the metal impeller surfaces. Depending on the severity of the cavitation, a decrease in pump performance may also be noted."

Cavitation can obstruct the pump, impair performance and flow capacity, and damage the impeller and other sensitive components. In short, the pump has a heart attack called cavitation.


Above is pasted from the page you linked.

Cavitation bubbles form at the pump because of the differences in pressure between the inlet and outlet. If the difference is high enough to cause the water to boil (water will boil in very low pressure, when the pressure returns, the water stops boiling) then bubbles form at the intake of the pump.

Since the bubbles are appearing at the OUTLET of a waterblock and it's not directly connected to the pump (first post says it goes into a res) then it can't be pressure induced cavitation bubbles. Most likely the bubbles are caused by air entering the loop somewhere in the block or the fittings. He's lucky that it's at the end of his loop, if the NB block was at the beginning there would be possitive pressure and he'd have water everywhere.

junkymagi said:

Since the bubbles are appearing at the OUTLET of a waterblock and it's not directly connected to the pump (first post says it goes into a res) then it can't be pressure induced cavitation bubbles. Most likely the bubbles are caused by air entering the loop somewhere in the block or the fittings. He's lucky that it's at the end of his loop, if the NB block was at the beginning there would be possitive pressure and he'd have water everywhere.

Click to expand...

Ah, I missed the part about the res. I didn't really think it was cavitation, but if he were to try the test of dunking the NB block, and continued to get bubbles, I don't know what other explanation there could be.