Did I get a bad batch of DDC 3.25 pumps or what?

[Techlogoblin]

howdy,

as I posted in this forum before I had a brand new setup built. I am running 2 loops. I am using (2) DDC 3.25 pumps with the XSPC Dual top per loop.

About 10 days ago I had a problem with one of the DDC's on the GPU loop just stopped spinning. Completely dead. I tried connecting it to another molex (known working) and it still did not even attempt to spin. I got a replacement pump, replaced it with the bad one, and it spun up first time no issue.

Last night I turned off my system and it was off for about 12 hours. Today I went to turn it on and one of the DDC's on the different loop attempts to start spinning and stops (it doesn't spin "fast" you can see the impeller rotate though)..it tries to do this a few times. All the other pumps are working flawlessly. I disconnected the molex for the bad pump and re-connected it once everything was running. Once again it tries to start and then stops..There is nothing blocking the impeller and the system has not even been moved/touched since I last turned it off.

I bought the initial 4 pumps all at the same time, and I imagine they came from the same batch. I am seriously wondering if I just got a total faulty set of pumps?

I was a little worried when the first one gave out, but I thought that was just bad luck...now I am having serious second thoughts on what is going on. Before this incident and then last everything is running fine...no weird noises or anything like that from the pumps.

Power supply is a Corsair 1000HX and everything else is running to specs (voltages, etc.)...NOTHING HAS CHANGED SINCE I TURNED THE DAMN SYSTEM OFF AND IT WAS SPINNING FINE! It's not a matter of the pump being hot, etc...I am completely perplexed.

Any ideas/experiences?

 

[Conumdrum]

Could it be the XSPC restop? Some of the early ones had an issue or two, I forget. But yea, you might just have bad pumps. Unusual to say the least.

 

[Techlogoblin]

Could it be the XSPC restop? Some of the early ones had an issue or two, I forget. But yea, you might just have bad pumps. Unusual to say the least.

I'm not sure. I would tend to doubt it because of the other pump failure. I'm sure the other one just flat out died because as soon as I put the new pump in, it powered up without issue.

Now that I see a 2nd pump not starting...something is def. not right..It's on a totally different loop so it's a different XSPC top as well...The pumps are not overtightened, leaking, etc.

You can see it try to spin (it tries at about 40-50% speed) and then stops...then tries again, repeat. The other pumps start spinning right away and fast.

I wonder if I should try leaving the defective pump plugged in and just see if it starts eventually. I'm afraid if I do I may truly burn it out though. There is liquid in the chamber, and my temps are normal so I know coolant is flowing normally through the loop....minus one pump lol

 

[muddocktor]

Sounds to me like the motor bearings are trying to seize up on that DDC. If I were in your shoes, I would start the RMA process on it right away. It won't get any better by leaving power to it over an extended period of time.

 

[Techlogoblin]

Sounds to me like the motor bearings are trying to seize up on that DDC. If I were in your shoes, I would start the RMA process on it right away. It won't get any better by leaving power to it over an extended period of time.

It's too bad when the first one died I didn't notice if it started the same way. I just happen to check the first bad one when everything was running and it was not spinning.

I would agree with the term "seize". It starts to spin at 50% speed and then just sorta ..well....seizes..like as if you took your finger and put it on top of a slowly circulating fan.

It's just hard to wrap my head around not only one dying, but now another within 10 days...when you can barely find ANY instances on google of such a thing happening once to someone. The only saving grace is I know for a fact nothing changed between when I turned it off/on so I can count out a lot of variables.

 

[muddocktor]

Yeah I hear you man. I just had a D4 start seizing up on me the other day. I fired off one of my Q6600 crunching systems for the Rosetta contest and 30 minutes after starting it back up I heard the most gawd-awful racket coming from that side of the computer room. I went over there and localized it to the system I just fired up (2 watercooled systems on that desk) and just continued watching and listening to it for a little longer. Thje noise pitch kept changing and gettin g lower, so I shut it down and pulled that box to the kitchen and swapped out the motor end of that D4 with the motor of another D4 I had as a backup. After swapping them out the system is back up and running again. Good thing I bought some extra pumps when I bought these D4 pumps.

 

[Techlogoblin]

Yeah I hear you man. I just had a D4 start seizing up on me the other day. I fired off one of my Q6600 crunching systems for the Rosetta contest and 30 minutes after starting it back up I heard the most gawd-awful racket coming from that side of the computer room. I went over there and localized it to the system I just fired up (2 watercooled systems on that desk) and just continued watching and listening to it for a little longer. Thje noise pitch kept changing and gettin g lower, so I shut it down and pulled that box to the kitchen and swapped out the motor end of that D4 with the motor of another D4 I had as a backup. After swapping them out the system is back up and running again. Good thing I bought some extra pumps when I bought these D4 pumps.

being proactive rocks...I am more upset about the steps in having to replace the pump. It's not at the easiest location with this loop either..and disconnecting lines to the radiator (the radiator is at the top of the case barbs facing down) won't be fun. Since I have a nice long warranty on the pump and my system is running "ok" for now...I am almost tempted to just disconnect that pumps molex for now and just use it as is with one pump. Then I can just switch it out next time I drain the loop, add parts, etc. The only NEGATIVE impact on this is if the batch of pumps was bad. That means if the other pump in the loop dies (possibly when I am away from the PC) the CPU will no longer be my friend.

The i7 920 WILL shut itself down if the temps get too high......right??..I kid I kid

 

[muddocktor]

Actually yeah, you can set your mobo's bios to shut down at a certain temp. And it does work, as I found out when on one of my systems I accidentally dislodged the molex connector to a pump when putting the case side panel on. It actually ran for a couple of minutes before shutting down, but nothing was damaged.