Watercooling noob questions

El Kapitano

Has anyone recently installed any of aseteks waterchill kits?

I'm wondering if the tubings got any more flexible yet.

First looked at one of these kits around summer last year and the tubing was pretty stiff and looked a bit prone to kinking and also I figure it'd put a bit of a strain on the waterblock fixings not to mention the vga card.

I like the look of these kits because of the push fit fittings, I've used these type of fittings for pneumatic feeds (20-100PSI) for 20 years and never had a fitting failure yet.

The dual 120mm Black Ice Pro radiator and the L30 pump should have some serious cooling potential it's just the tubing I'm concerned with.

I plan on mounting the radiator outside the case on a wall bracket behind my desk's back panel so I was also wondering if anyone knows where I might get something like a PCI pass through plate for the flow and return pipes, possibly with valves so's I can release the rig from the rad without draining it all down. I have seen something similar but can't find it again.

El Kapitano

Well, I figured it out for myself, after conversing with a chap at Asetek he's told me they have adopted a new, more flexible tubing in both 10mm for the standard kits (with the L20 pump) and 1/2" for the Pro kits (with the L30 pump).

So I've got a K12-L30 powewrcooling set on order along with a Tank-O-Matic external reservoir, once I change the connectors on this to 1/2" we'll be set to rock and roll.

The radiator is going to be mounted under my den's floor so I'm getting a couple of more powerful 120mm fans along with making a shroud come mounting plate out of some 3/4" marine ply I've got stashed. I've checked the temps under the floor and they're stable at about 10°C so the cooling should be good and if I mount the radiator to the underside of the joists the pump will only have to lift about 500mm at the most so it shouldn't cause it any problems.

How's this sound?

I'll post some piccies when it's done, probably a coupla weeks off judging by the demands my companies making on my time.

Asmoday

Sounds cool,,,keep us updated ...

Zardon

yeah, look forward to seeing it.

zerodamage

Post up some screens and let us know how she runs. I am very interested in knowing you results.

scobywhru

Some Tips for you when Putting the kit together

1. If you are using distilled water and putting in an addative Leave out the Addative until AFTER the lines clear of bubbles then add it, if you don't it will take longer for the bubbles to clear the lines

2. Do a Dry fit with everything cut the Lines how you want them, Then remove everything from your case you can now add water, and begin leak testing, Test for atleast overnight if not 24hrs

3. DO NOT ADD WATER WITH YOUR ELECTRICAL PARTS STILL IN YOUR COMPUTER even well made parts can still have defects

4. Do Not Twist the Tubing, you can Curl it into circles but NEVER Twist, if a hose is twisted it can cause any parts that are threaded on to back out and leak even after 24hr leak test

I'm sure I can think of other Tips, but I am going to try and write up a good How to, and any little tips I have tried and had fail or tried and worked with examples of Mine and My friends watercooling setups (both of which I put together)

El Kapitano

Thanks all, I'm trying to get a site up at the mo' with a bit of insite into what I'm doing (if I can get to grips with M$ Frontpage).

scobywhru, thanks for the tip re the additives, that's a new one to me but I'll bear it in mind, the rest of the tips are pretty 101 but thanks for the thought, anything to drive these things home is good in my eyes.

I've been talking to my usual pneumatic store (www.thorite.co.uk) and my man says he can supply the same fittings as used by Asetek so all is looking well, try the online prices, makes me think the water cooling suppliers are a bit expensive (read - nailing our hats on) :-)

Well, my head isn't hurting enough yet, back to the wall (frontpage).

scobywhru

you might want to look into getting soem quick disconnect fittings so you can move the system around whithout having to remove all the tubing

El Kapitano

[COLOR=teal]Where's my waterchill kit?[/COLOR]

Weekends here and it's not landed - Bugger!

Yeah I'd thought of this but all the fittings I use rely on pressure to seal them, any ideas as to low pressure units or could I pressurise my system slightly - say 4PSI?. Sounds like hard work to me.

scobywhru

Actually the ones I was looking at for my system and my friends seal both sides and don't require pressure http://www.thomasregisterdirectory.c...0027210_1.html is a link to some company's that make them just find ones that will work but they are pretty expensive like $7+ USD a fitting but they should work just fine

Edit: GTG to work may have misread the post will get back to you later

El Kapitano

Hurrah - I think

I've spoken to the suppliers and they have said they have K12a-L30 Kits in so I've stumped up some extra cash (£8 ish) and now I'll be getting the waterchill kit with the Antarctica CPU block in it.

And another thing is, they're shipping it overnight so I'll have it tomorrow

And... my tank o matic reservoir landed to day - It looks superb I can't wait to get this kit up and running.



My mates wife just said it looks "suspicious" - like it should be filled with plutonium and moved around by dubious looking people

I'll get a site up with some more piccies as I go along assembling and testing it. I supposed it'll be a "blog" of sorts.

scobywhru

Oh yeah I thought I would mention the reason you don't put any addatives in before gettting the air out of the system, is that any good addative reduces the surface tension of the water and so it can foam easier and make smaller bubbles that are harder to get out of the stystem, and the reason you want lower surface tension is it allows the water to get closer and into parts of the waterblock it normally wouldn't

El Kapitano

GRRRRRR, Now the kit has landed I've found that it's the 10mm kit NOT the 1/2" kit as advertised!!

However, it all looks well, the antarctica cpu block looks superb. Unfortunately the L30 pump may be too big to find a home in my case sooo........

I am now considering a full external watercooling solution with bulkhead connectors thro into the PC case and I've found some self sealing male and female disconnects so I can have a fully portable solution.

I may take my idea further and put the pump under the floor as well...even quieter..

But first let's see about this kit problem.

zerodamage

Check out Corsair's Hydrocool solution. It is external to the case.

G@MeBoY

cant he just assemble the whole system somewhere in the bathroom and when all boubless are gone from watter, bring sistem (filled with watter) to the computer and THEN mount the watterblock and the rest ?! I am asking because I have no idea how do you put watter in the sistem and I want to build watter cooling for my rig. I know how to pump watter into the external fishtank pump/filter case that I have, and IT'S MESSY and WET all around...

scobywhru

Well I personnaly like Completely sealed systems that fit inside a case makes moving it around alot easier...

When you setup a water cooling system you want everything in to do a Dry Fit so you get all the piping right and everything fits properly but you don't want to add water when you computer parts are in the case because you can damage your components that way, water and electricity don't mix, (theres more to it then that, but thats the simple answer) but if you can remove the water kit As Is from the dry fit from the case and fill it without running into a problem go for it, and after you tested it for 24hrs put it in the stytem as long as you can see no problems with that, BUT Do Not disconnect any of the piping after you filled and tested or you need to test for leaks again.

So you would have to make sure you can put the kit back in the case without causing any problems like leaks or having to disconnect the pipes or twisting any pipes

The Point is to Be careful and take your time and make sure you don't leak any water

G@MeBoY

ok, but how do you mean "remove all components" ?! I still need to have mobo, cpu and vidcard so I could mount blocks&tubbings on them. What is left to remove ? ok, RAM, modem ? F*** modem, if something leaks I would wish that only modem dies Maybe I didn't understand you properlly. I still do not know how to pour watter into system when everithing is closed&sealed. Do I do that through reservoir ? And after that, I keep reservoir open on top so the air can get out from the system or ?! Please help ! I looked through 6-7 different reviews that explain everithing except that part ! I even know hoe to make the bloody block my self...

scobywhru

by Dry fit I mean you mount the blocks and put in the tubing, but you don't add water and by components I mean Mobo CPU, HD CD-roms cd-burners DVD burners DVD-roms anything and everything Except the Case itself, so that means remove the PSU as well BEFORE you add water but After you put in the waterblocks and tubing and tighten down whatever you are using to clamp the tubing (Zip Ties, Metal or Plastic hose clamps)

Any AC pump, atleast the major ones I know of that people use for watercooling, self prime, so you just need to have some water getting to them to start pumping and not have the motor burn out, DC pumps for watercooling the ones from the swiftech kits must have the system completely filled before you want to turn the pump on

There are a couple of different ways to Fill a system
IF you are using a sealed (theres no open reservoir) coolant loop you want to have either a fill line or a plug on the reservoir so you can add water to the system
OR
You can Take all the fittings and tubing out of the computer and Submerge them and then run the pump until everything is clear of bubbles and then seal the whole thing up while under water then you leak test

IF you are using an Open system, the resevoir is an open top fishtank so to speak, then you just need to put the pump inside the resevoir and hook up the tubing to the output of the pump and put a the output from the case so it pours back into the resevoir or put it in the resevoir

BUT you need to do this Without having any electrical components in the case so you won't get them wet

El Kapitano

Well I'm keeping the 10mm kit, I've got my bulkhead connectors for the PC case (saves taking tubes through grommets, makes it easier to tube up). I've changed the 8/10mm screw on connectors of the Tank o Matic reservoir for some nice looking chrome 10mm push in pneumatic connectors (the bulkhead connectors are the same) so I think we're all set to go.

One more thing the zero pressure, self sealing disconnectors are by Norgren (pneumatics) and cost (for 6mm I/D) £13.60 a pair. (Thorite).

Zero damage - the corsair hydrocool is nicht gut for my rig cos I'm running an Athlon 64, plus I wanted a GPU block as well.

El Kapitano

Well people - the build begins. I've just posted some interim piccies if you're interested.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew....n_solution.htm
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew...._cpu_block.htm
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew....connectors.htm
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew....bare_frame.htm
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.howley/assembly.htm
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew....lack_frame.htm

I'll sort all the piccies out and put up a site but for now I'll update the piccies as I go along.