what is an "air trap"?

[SureFoot]

*Would it be good/bad if an airtrap was used in conjunction with a regular old resevoir?

Not good, not bad. It's 100% up to you, and how you can manage case real estate.. Do as you whish, make it beautiful, and original

What should the order in a 2 block loop if it were?

The order which will produce the less turns in your tubing, and which will require the less fittings / elbows, according to your case setup.

*Are the 90* turns better or worse than the straigh versions you made?

Any 90° turn in the loop is a bad thing for flow.

 

[BlueMan]

I was under the impression that 90 degree turns were necessary for the air trap though. I think excess was talking about that...

 

[Turbokeu]

Thanks Torbokeu! That guide is great.

a few more questions:

*Would it be good/bad if an airtrap was used in conjunction with a regular old resevoir? What should the order in a 2 block loop if it were?

*Are the 90* turns better or worse than the straigh versions you made?

You're welcome....

There's no advantage for using a second reservoir since the airtrap act as one.
- Airtrap is smaller than a reservoir (mine has a volume of about 2 cups)
- Visual indication of coolant level (I fill the airtrap only half)
- Removes air from the loop
- Compensates for volume changes due to temp changes
- Easy topping of coolant
- Cap must not be airtight during operation, only during filling with my Fill & Bleed system (I leave the cap 1/2 turn unscrewed normally)

The 90° elbows are there only for easier connection to my tubing.
It does not influence the operation.

Edit: The only needed elbow for efficient operation is the big T.

CD

 

[Turbokeu]

Any 90° turn in the loop is a bad thing for flow.

I don't really bother about flow, only tubing neatness.
With four PVC 20mm ID elbows and eight 13mm ID copper elbows in my loop (+ a Becooling cube rad) I had a flow of 4.40LPM with my Maze3, and now 3.34 LPM with the Cascade. I know the Cascade would be happier with a little more flow (although I have great CPU temps and my rig is very silent) but I'm waiting for a possible motor upgrade (more silent motor) I heard about by Laing on the D4 pump to replace my Eheim 1250.

CD

 

[SureFoot]

Do you think the 1250 is not enough for cascade / WW blocks ?

 

[pauldenton]

Do you think the 1250 is not enough for cascade / WW blocks ?

Turbokeu's system has an unusual amount of restriction (especially in the rad)
iirc cathar designed them to work well with a 1048 or better...

 

[PunkRawk911]

ok, so let me get this straigh. An air trap uses large ID 90* bends to shake up the water and let the air bubbles float to the top, then they go to the surface where you can uncap the Res section of the air trap and let the air out? then once all the air is out you just cap it up?

I just ordered all my componants, and a criticool waterplant was part of it. How would I go about modifying that to get an air trap? or is it even possible?

Putting in large 90* bends will seriously hurt flow rates. And air trap/reservoir/t-line are all one in the same, just different versions. You only need to use one. Personally, (what I use) I would grab a piece of 1-2" ID PVC pipe, get an end cap for one end, and a screw type end cap for the other. Dril two holes into the side , screw some barbs in, and you are great to go. make sure you have water flowing in the top barb and out the bottom barb, this allows you to get all of the bubbles out, and also easily add water when you need to.

Here's a link to what I'm talking about. It works perfect for me.

http://www.virtual-hideout.net/guides/pvc_reservoir/index.shtml

 

[Turbokeu]

Putting in large 90* bends will seriously hurt flow rates. And air trap/reservoir/t-line are all one in the same, just different versions. You only need to use one. Personally, (what I use) I would grab a piece of 1-2" ID PVC pipe, get an end cap for one end, and a screw type end cap for the other. Dril two holes into the side , screw some barbs in, and you are great to go. make sure you have water flowing in the top barb and out the bottom barb, this allows you to get all of the bubbles out, and also easily add water when you need to.

Here's a link to what I'm talking about. It works perfect for me.

http://www.virtual-hideout.net/guides/pvc_reservoir/index.shtml

As most of you know, air trapped in a watercooling loop is "mulched" into microscopic air bells by the pumps impeller when passing through it. Those microscopic air bells, often more like foam due to the water wetting agents of additives like Water Wetter, Purple Ice, Zerex and other, need some time to go up and reach the water surface.

Your system, which is a more a reservoir than an airtrap (since the complete water flow goes through it), works great with lower flow setups (as in 3/8" or 1/4" loops), but not so good with higher flow systems (1/2" and more).

With high water flow through this type of reservoir the water turbulence is so high that the air is simply trapped into the outlet again without having the time to reach the surface.
This is why most (great looking) german reservoirs like Innovatek's Tank-O-Matic, Fass-O-Matic and other work well with low flow pumps and small tubing as used in european setups, but are almost useless (without modding anyway) when used with high flow pumps and bigger tubing.

This is why, in 2001, I came to the actual concept of my airtrap:
- Incoming water velocity is slowed down in a big (20mm ID) Tee and divided in two flows.
- Biggest part of the flow goes directly down to the outlet by the suction of the pump, but a part goes up in the reservoir part of the airtrap where it creates a very slow vortex before returning into the T again, allowing the microscopic bells to reach the water surface.

At every passage through the Tee therefore a part of the water looses its air.

Starting from a "milky" solution my airtrap clears the water in about an hour, leaving just a layer of foam for a couple of hours on the surface of the water in the reservoir.

CD