Tubing Size?

[fugdong]

Hi, i am setting up a water cooling rig and i have all the componets. A black ice radiator, a resivor i made for myself with one of those underground electrical boxes, a mag drive 700 gph pump, and a maze2 waterblock.
I want to know if it will really make that much of a difference if i use 3/8 or 1/2 inch tubing. The water pump is uses 1/2", the resivor uses 3/8 or 1/2" it can be made either way, the radiator uses 3/8", and the waterblock is 3/8" or 1/2". So all i really need is a converter for either the water pump, or the radiator. I know if i use the larger tubing there will be lower pressure, but would there be a performance difference and if so could go give me a general estimate. Also this in inner diameter on the hose measurments.

 

[Tacoman667]

I use 3/8" hosing and cool my system very effectively. If you want more then 1/2" would be fine. The bigger the hose to the output nozzle on the pump, the faster water will flow. So 3/8" will actually flow slower but still far beyond critical problems.

 

[Carceron]

Umm that does not makes sence. Water has to flow faster in a smaller diameter hose than a larger one as the same volume has to occupy a smaller hose. It's the same as when you put your thumb over the end of your garden hose. As you know than the water flows faster and further.

 

[Tacoman667]

Only because of the pressure BUT, if your whole system runs on a smaller diameter hose, then the flow will be slower hence, less water at one time. Trust me. Anything smaller then what the output nozzle on the pump itself will be slower, granted not by much though.

 

[fugdong]

Either tubing can be implemented fine for me, and pressure is not an issue because i will be able to adjust the gph output on pump with a little gadget i rigged up. But which would provide for the best cooling, and therefor higher overclock speed on my t-bird. Thanks for your help

 

[[Oc]acaridans]

the 1/2 tubing would offer more watter flow which is what is wanted. but you are still resticed by the smallest passthrough, if your pump isnt an issue, id look at the water block, if it only has a 3/8 opening than 1/2 tubing wont really do much for you, if I were you id match the tubing size to water block.

 

[fugdong]

The waterblock is a maze 2 which will can come as 1/2" or 3/8" from dangerden. The only thing that is always gonna be 3/8" that i would need an adapter for is the black ice radiator.

 

[fireman233]

Canceron, they are correct. This is Bernoullies principle. Think about it this way: in a larger tube, the water WOULD slow down because there is less pressure pushing it compared to a smaller tube. BUT!!!, since the the back pressure will be the same regardless because the pump is supplying a constant pressure. In order to maintain that constant pressure across interfaces (different size hoses), the water will actually have to speed up across a larger diameter hose.

It is not intuitive. It's not like putting your thumb over the end of a hose!!!
Hope this makes sense, maybe someone else can clear up Bernoullies (sp?).

 

[cjtune]

fireman233 (Jul 09, 2001 08:18 a.m.):
Canceron, they are correct. This is Bernoullies principle. Think about it this way: in a larger tube, the water WOULD slow down because there is less pressure pushing it compared to a smaller tube. BUT!!!, since the the back pressure will be the same regardless because the pump is supplying a constant pressure. In order to maintain that constant pressure across interfaces (different size hoses), the water will actually have to speed up across a larger diameter hose.

It is not intuitive. It's not like putting your thumb over the end of a hose!!!
Hope this makes sense, maybe someone else can clear up Bernoullies (sp?).

You mean speed up in a SMALLER diameter hose? Yes, it's like this for the Bernoulli principle but that's NOT the real issue here. Ideally, without any friction or viscous losses, water will flow at the same MASS FLOW RATE (kg/m³) so it won't matter whether you use a narrow or wide conduit for fluid flow. BUT because narrower conduits have more of it's inner surface exposed to the moving fluid than in a wide conduit (an analogy would be the skin surface of a fan person and the skin surface of a thin person -who is the better adapted to conserving body heat in cold climates?), it'll sap energy that was supplied by the pump to displace the fluid. Therefore, due to more friction losses, you have less MASS FLOW RATE although your fluid moves at a higher speed.

Actually, this involves a complicated issue with what is known as boundary layers but the above explanation should suffice in getting the gist of the idea across...

 

[cjtune]

sorry, I meant to say FAT person instead of FAN person. Just answered a topic regarding fans y'know...