- 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]
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!
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]
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!
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