[metasparks]

Hello everyone. Thanks for checking this thread out. I have been assembling a watercooling unit with my spare time all summer and had what I thought a great plan for removing the water from the loop without having to turn the computer upside down or disconnect any hoses or anything.

If you check the picture below, that is basically my set up.

The heatercore is set up vertically in an internal box along with the pump. The reservoir is up at top just as you see in the picture. I created a Y-adapter that allows me to have either one of the two outlets either on or off (both can be on, both can be off, or one of each can be on while the other is off).

The components I used were:

CPU - MCW6002-A - 1/2 barbs
NB - Danger Dan Maze4 - 1/2 barbs
GPU - MCW50 with 1/2 barb adapters
RAD - 77' pontiac bonneville heatercore (no a/c)
Pump - AquaXtreme 50Z-DC12 from Cooltechnica.com with 1/2 barb fittings.
Pump specs - Maximum Head - 10.5FT, Maximum Discharge 185GPH


So the problem is that the loop operates fine when I don't have the Y-adapter going to the bucket. But when I want to empty the loop, switching the Y-adapter from the heatercore to the bucket while the reservoir is full doesn't do what I expected.

I expected it to have the pump pump water from the water left in the loop all the way from the heatercore, around the cpu, gpu, nb, up in to reservoir with the water in there, down back to the pump, out through the hose into the bucket.

However, this doesn't happen.

When I do the switch on the Y-adapter, it will spill out of the hose with inital force for like 3 seconds, and then it will go down to a drizzle, although the reservoir does empty at the top and the pump sucks the water from the tube that goes from the res to the pump. But it leaves water in the CPU/GPU/NB loop and in the heatercore.

Why doesn't the vacuum work where the pump will suck all the water out of the loop and heatercore before emptying out the reservoir ???

I thought this would work and was told it would! Hopefully you can help with any ideas!

[SysCrusher]

You ever looked under your sink counter and noticed the U in the drain. That's what you got going on there.

[joelkyr]

Try disabling the line from pump to heatcore and tape the line and the heatcore inlet, make sure the the reservoir cap is tightly closed and so as the funnel cap.

[Guderian]

Does the Y act as a valve, or is it a plain hollow Y?

If its a valve, you need to give the loop someplace to take in air, and the closer to the Y the better.... though you won't drain the whole loop due to gravity.

[Aphex_Tom_9]

oh i see what's going on...when you start pumping the water out, the res will empty, but the water will remain in the rest of the system because there's no suction. waterpumps cant move air.