Tubing bumping against case door - problem?

[elninost0rm]

Hi folks,

I just completed my custom water loop using EK's L360 kit yesterday. It's the one that uses the black tubing, but I'm not an aesthetic guy (yet), so I went with the cheaper option. Anyway, I got everything setup and working great yesterday. The problem I ran into is that the pump is mounted on the bottom of my NZXT Phantom 530 case, and the fittings are facing outward (standard EK ACF G 1/4 fittings). With the tubing attached, this adds about ~2-3 inches of unbendable tubing. As a result, the case door requires a tiny bit of pressure to stay closed, and you can tell that the tubing (on the way to the rad) is a little bit squished. I don't see any kinks and I haven't noticed any leaks under the pump fittings, but I'm wondering if this is putting undue strain on the fittings to the point where leaks may form eventually?

I was thinking I could get a couple of 45* fittings from EK to alleviate this problem, as the tubing would be immediately diverted to either side when coming out of the pump, thus avoiding the case door. That or I can rotate the pump itself 90* to the right (PSU is to the left, no room) and hopefully have enough space to clear the drive cage off to the right.

Any advice? I'm thinking the new fittings are probably the best route, but I'm not going to touch anything until I redo the loop in the future if there isn't a higher risk of leaks. Please note that while the tube is slightly squished up against the door, it still properly projects away from the pump at a relatively straight angle.

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, the 45* angles are your best bet. As long as there isn't any pressure against the fitting of the pump that will result in breaking, I don't see any problem. Why don't you just leave the side panel door off the case until you get the needed fittings? Have small children/small animals that will get into the case?

 

[elninost0rm]

Yeah, the 45* angles are your best bet. As long as there isn't any pressure against the fitting of the pump that will result in breaking, I don't see any problem. Why don't you just leave the side panel door off the case until you get the needed fittings? Have small children/small animals that will get into the case?

Thanks for the reply!

Nope, no kids and the cat would be far too scared of the fans to get near it. I just didn't want to have an open PC case for the duration, but it's probably a good idea until I can get the fittings. I wanted to install a T-splitter drain port anyway and opted not to out of laziness, so this will give me an excuse to drain the loop and get all that hooked up.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Nebulous]

No problem. You can keep the side panel slightly closed and use a rubber band to keep it that way. Cat won't be able to get in and there won't be any pressure against the fitting until you get the 45*'s

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Yup, I would advise as well to get some angled fittings (45s, 60s, 90s, etc) and do it the right way.