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Bitspower flow indicator = pretty, but restrictive

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batboy

Senior Moment
Joined
Jan 12, 2001
Location
Kansas, USA
During my system rebuild this summer, I got a Bitspower flow indicator (impulse buy) when I was thinking of going hard tubing and compression fittings. But, after thinking about it, I decided to stay old school with the flex hoses and barbs (cheaper and easier). I also decided not to use the flow indicator. Wish I could remember who it was, but a forum member told me the flow indicator was a potential restriction. Turns out he was right.

I ended up putting it into the loop after all. I had an order with a mounting kit for my waterblock and flex tubing that was never sent. I found the block parts and paid extra for expediated shipping. I had to reuse the old hose and one was a couple inches too short. The flow meter was pressed into service mainly to make a hose fit due to me chomping at the bit to fire the computer up. This is not my photo, but that's the type of flow indicator I got with the impeller and a sensor on the back that never worked right. [Not my photo, not my computer]

corsair350_025.jpg


Well, I changed reservoirs and the new bay reservoir with front window has an inlet that creates a visible cascade of water. So, I didn't need the flow indicator anymore, besides I had 6 feet of new Tygon hose now, so there was no reason to skimp on hose anymore. When I took the flow indictor out of the loop, the water flow increased dramatically as was clearly seen by a noticeable increase in turbulence at the reservoir inlet. I don't know exactly how much restriction that impeller thing was, but it was significant.

So, I swapped out the old hose for new Tygon thin-walled flex tube and bought some new black spiral wrap (was tired of blue and it was getting brittle). I added a new single XSPC RX120 double thick radiator to the lower front of my case. Maybe you remember my thread where I asked if I could mount a radiator sideways because I didn't think it would fit otherwise. As you can see from the pic, it fit no problem. My rig is ready to rock!

Old School with new waterloop 01.jpg
 
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Odd... a spinning plastic wheel is restrictive...

That said, you mentioned you also switched reservoirs. Is the turbulance you saw from the first res, then swapped it out and removed the flow meter and turbulence in a different res?

So long as you are still getting your 1-1.5 GPM flow, all should be well!
 
Well, spinning a plastic impeller does require energy, duh. But, I thought it would be insignificant because I thought my mighty pump was so awesome. ;)

My first res was a Swiftech mini and you could never see much of anything with it (with that internal baffle), besides I had to take a panel off to get to it. I put the new bay res in at the same time the flow indicator went into the loop. So, I have no point of reference before the flow indicator, But, I do during the time it was on and now after it's off.

Wish I knew what my flow was, I have the pump specs, maybe I'll see if I can figure out Martin's flow rate estimator spreadsheet thingie.
 
Yes, duh, it requires energy... just not a lot of energy considering one can lightly blow in the thing and have it spin...

My first res was a Swiftech mini and you could never see much of anything with it (it had an internal baffle), besides I had to take a panel off to get to it. I put the new bay res in at the same time the flow indicator went into the loop. So, I have no point of reference before the flow indicator, But, I do during the time it was on and now after it's off.
In a round about way, you are saying that your testing of tubulence was with the same res...right? Gotcha. :)

As for flow rate, we would want to know a before and after which seems not possible without putting it back in. Cool for your own curiosity sake, not so much for comparison purposes which is what I was curious mainnly about.

Further reading shows some of these to be about as restrictive as a block. Depends on the meter as to how much restriction. May want to 'de-blanketize' the thread title and list your flow meter. :)
 
Yeah, I didn't mean to tar everyone with the same brush. This was specifically Bitspower, but I would be willing to bet if there is a spinning impeller involved, there will be some restriction. You said flow meter, this was not a meter in that sense. It did have a "sensor" that was supposed to convert the pump pulses into a rpm signal that the motherboard fan header could read. That part I never could get to work.
 
Should be able to edit the title, go for it. :)

There is some restriction on all of them, surely. As I said, it wll vary by flow SENSOR (what bitspower calls it since you are splitting hairs, lol). Some more than others...
 
Wasn't trying to get too picky, but some flow meters use volumetric pressure, so that's not quite the same as spinning an impeller.

Martin hasn't maintain the website for years, but the old Martins Watercooling website is still working, somehow. There is a flow rate estimator spreadsheet which while based on data obtained from reviewed components, it's certainly just a rough ballpark guestimate. That said, it shows that I should have about 1.4 gpm or so. I've heard going above 1.5 does not gain you much except maybe more heat from the pump.
 
Is it me, but do you have the fan on the bottom front XSPC RX120 rad going in the opposite direction? It looks like you have that fan pushing out the front instead of pulling in. Did you mount that fan like that on purpose?
 
The fan is indeed pushing air through the single rad and out the front.

It's the same with the RX240 in the back, push fans exhausting out of the case.
 
I assume you have intake fans on the top then? You would probably get better temps if you used outside air to cool the rads and exhausted out the top. Sure, the internals would be a couple C warmer, but, will give your CPU headroom, where its needed, not the motherboard. ;)
 
I probably should test different fan configurations again, now that this new rad is installed. I had tested every possible combo previously. I have two intakes in the side panel, one low to help cool the vid card and one higher up. The top of the case stays cool, the only fan in the top is the power supply fan. I currently have a little negative pressure in the case, I figure about 20 CFM less intake compared to exhaust. I could put a fan in the top panel, although an 80mm is about all that will fit. It'll be interesting to see how temps are (case, CPU, GPU, and motherboard) with that front fan pulling in like Neb thought.
 
I did a quick check of maximum temps with the single radiator fan pushing air out and then with the fan pulling air in.

fan pushing: CPU package 60, CPU cores 60, motherboard 28, MB CPU 34, PCH 48
fan pulling: CPU package 59, CPU cores 59, motherboard 27, MB CPU 33, PCH 45.5

I also have 4 sensors with the fan control unit: (1) ambient, (2) lower case, (3) middle case (near drives), (4) upper case. Sensors #1 and #4 remained the same, while #2 and #3 average about 1 degree lower with the fan pulling.

Interesting results, I'll leave the fan installed in the pull mode for a few days and see how it works out. It sort of runs counter-intuitive. My computer must like positive ventilation better than negative.

P.S.:

I dialed the case fans back to a nice quiet 1300 RPM (rad fans were left the same as last time, single fan pulling). Case fans were running at 1,600 RPM in the earlier tests.

Rad fan pulling and case fans at 1300 rpm: CPU package 56, CPU cores 56, motherboard 27, MB CPU 33, PCH 47.5

I had a hard time believing that by reducing the RPM and noise of a couple of 120mm case fans, this would improve CPU temp, so I ran it again.

Rad fan pulling and case fans at 1300 rpm (test #2): CPU package 57, CPU cores 57, motherboard 27, MB CPU 33, PCH 47
 
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Moral of the story, rads like fresh cooler air. :p Don't worry about the internals warming up. They have tons of headroom before it even becomes an issue. The main objective is taking care of the chips under water.
 
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