Pump/Res loop order?

[s1lv3rvortex]

Hello all, I just completed my first WC system and it was pointed out to me that I may have installed my pump and res in the wrong order(current flow is pump->Res). Apparently this may decrease the life of the pump if not corrected.

Just wondering if this is something that should be corrected asap, or if it can wait? What are the side affects of running it this way?

Here's a few pictures of my build and a vid demonstrating all the parts in my loop. Thanks for the advice!

Video: www.youtube.com/embed/c3hHdyA8zw8

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Ok. It's even worse than I thought. I thought the reservoir was feeding the pump but at a very odd angle.

Loop order doesn't matter as long as the reservoir is before the pump. It's a MUST.

I am really curious to know how you filled, primed and bled the loop. I curious to know if the pump ever ran dry. Dry pumps = dead pumps. The fluid is used as a lubricant to lubricate it's bearing otherwise it will burn out, hense why you always need the reservoir before the pump plus the reservoir catches all the bubbles when bleeding the loop so it doesn't get into the pump.

It seems you have flow going on from the looks of the video. I would redo the loop asap so you won't have to worry about it nor run into issues down the road. I would lessen the tubing going from the reservoir to the tube so naturally the liquid slides down to the pumps IN port.

I also hope you know the maintenance required when using colored fluids. It looks great but can become a disaster/nightmare. You'll need to dismantle the loop every 2-3 months so you won't get your other components stained and or clogged up which would impede the loops performance. We always recommend folks if they don't want the extra headache to go distilled water + biocide or kill coil with colored tubing.

Hope this helps.

 

[BobbyBubblehead]

^^^ what he said on the nose

You want colour then buy pretty coloured tube... Put some acetate around the res if you really want the red black theme going off. But seriously get that red junk out of the system. If you put in distilled and biocide with a silver kill coil it wont need cleaning or breaking down for about two years

If your proper lazy... I did 24 months and nothing but top ups. It was all spotless inside when I broke it down.

Get some good gravity drop from the res into that pump inlet and as long as its flowing its happy bunny time

Im more concerned about that fluid breaking down and cloging your gpu blocks than anything... As its primed and flowing.

 

[s1lv3rvortex]

Thank your for the pointers. Filling, priming, and bleeding the system all proved to be much more difficult that I expected. I can't help but think that my pump MUST have ran dry several times during the filling process, all caused by not having the res directly feeding the pump. I'm really hoping that I didn't severally damage the pump!

I am planning to work on the system tonight. Just curious, once I drain the coolant, is it okay to reuse? Its only been in the system for a few days, so I hope I don't have to replace it.

 

[Lvcoyote]

It'd be advisable as other have said to not use the coolant you currently have in there. Get some distilled water and a biocide like PT Nuke. If you're going to go through the trouble of redoing the loop, now is the time to change that fluid out too. Don't forget to completely flush the system before using distilled water, which may require a complete disassemble to do correctly.

 

[s1lv3rvortex]

Noted. Since I use this computer daily, I will redo my pump/res design tongiht and report back.

I probably won't have enough time to completely drain and clean this time around(need new hose), but this will be my next project.

Thanks guys!

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Yup, you'll need to do a complete full tear down by opening everything to make sure all the dye is removed and replace the tubing with Primochill Advanced LRT with your choice of color. You have time to do this. Just reuse the liquid. Make sure whatever container you put it in is clean and just poor back in since you have no choice for the time being.

As for the pump, if it still works you're ok. You might have shed some life out of it but these pumps are tough and tested to run for 50,000 hours MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure) equivalent to 5 years lifetime. Some folks have these pumps for 7+ years running strong.

Anything close to this or similar even though you'll be having the pump in the lower compartment is good.

 

[s1lv3rvortex]

Hello all, just a quick update on pump/res order. I drained my system and rearranged the loop so that the pump was being directly fed by the res. Once complete, it proved to be much easier to fill and bleed the loop.

Here are a few pictures of the completed build. Let me know if you spot any more issues(besides the lousy coolant).

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Much, much better. Glad to hear it went smoother. Just take this as a learning experience.

I like the way the tubing looks towards the pump. It should naturally feed it from that angle with the res being directly above it.

 

[s1lv3rvortex]

Thanks!

 

[BobbyBubblehead]

Your getting their good stuff...