Water Cooling Advice

[richman]

Hiya All,

I have some questions regarding watercooling if anyone can help me.

In the repect of adatives or anything would i need any water
wetter or anything like that if so what would i need as i want to buy
the kit all at the same time so i can get it up and running soon.

With the water i know you are supposed to use distilled water! How do
you set up the system?

Iam planning on doing a 'dry' test for a few days to make sure that their are no leaks etc and this would mean running the loop with no components installed in the case, this may cause a issue when powering up the psu to fule the pump tho becuase it uses the PSU's power to power itself. Although if i make sure that the hose is firmly connected to the Barb and attach a jubelee clip to the hose i dont see that it should cause a issue.

Connecting the loop would it be like this?

Res Out -> Pump In, Pump Out -> Radiaotor In, Rad Out -> CPU Block In, CPU Out -> Chipset In, Chipset Out -> Res In

Rich

[fillip]

Firstly, the layout for the kit should be fine; the rad can go before or after the pump depending on preference, but whats most important is that the rad gets good airflow to cool the water down.

You'll need something to prevent algae growth in the loop as distilled water alone isn't sufficient. You can use additives like those supplid by AC and numerous other manufacturers or you can add some anti-freeze to the distilled water. Anti-freeze, as it does in a car, will halp lower the temps a little by improving the heat dissipation qualities of the fluid in the loop (don't expect miracles here though) and it also contains chemicals that inhibet the growth of organic materials in your loop.

The dry run shouldn't pose too much of an issue, as you can always 'jump start' your psu by shorting the green wire (there's only one) with any black wire (all black wires = ground). You can do this with a paperclip. This will allow you to run the 12v pump from the psu without having to connect it to your mobo.

[richman]

Firstly, the layout for the kit should be fine; the rad can go before or after the pump depending on preference, but whats most important is that the rad gets good airflow to cool the water down.
The rad is going to be attached to the top of the case (120mm) what i would like to know is does the fan that attaches to the rad go on the top (touching the case) or on the bottom inside the case?

You'll need something to prevent algae growth in the loop as distilled water alone isn't sufficient. You can use additives like those supplid by AC and numerous other manufacturers or you can add some anti-freeze to the distilled water. Anti-freeze, as it does in a car, will halp lower the temps a little by improving the heat dissipation qualities of the fluid in the loop (don't expect miracles here though) and it also contains chemicals that inhibet the growth of organic materials in your loop.
Iam going to be adding water wetter to the loop to do what you said above, i think this should solve and algree groth in the loop and stop any unwanted corrosion.

The dry run shouldn't pose too much of an issue, as you can always 'jump start' your psu by shorting the green wire (there's only one) with any black wire (all black wires = ground). You can do this with a paperclip. This will allow you to run the 12v pump from the psu without having to connect it to your mobo.
If i connect it all properly and take the time to make sure all the hose is on the fittings properly i dont see why i cant just let it go so to speak.

Rich

[fillip]

Water Wetter wont prevent algae growth, just corrosion, you'll need something else to prevent algae growth. Just Google for 'Anti-algae watercooling solution/additive' ;)

The mounting of the fan to the rad' depends on whether you want to suck or blow - 'oooh i say!' Enough inneuendo, basically if you want the fan to blow air over the rad' mount it underneath, if you want air to sucked up and through the fins on the rad' it will need to be above the rad'

I'm not quite sure what you mean in the last bit by 'let it go'. If you mean installing it all and running it with your components in without testing I wouldn't. The minute you get the careless is just when accidents happen. Better to wait 24 hours for testing than wreck a grands worth of equipment.

[richman]

Is their a pump that runs off the mains cos i aint to keen on shorting my PSU out.

A little advice on this area (pumps) might be a good place to start :)

Rich

[fillip]

Is their a pump that runs off the mains cos i aint to keen on shorting my PSU out.

A little advice on this area (pumps) might be a good place to start :)

Rich
Most stock Eheim pumps (if not all) are mains operated, as are Hydor. Shorting your psu out isn't anything more than what happens every time you press the power button on the front of your case. All it does is short the green wire from the psu to ground to start everything up. So all you'll be doing is the same thing without any components attached.

The one major issue you have with a mains pump is that you must remember to turn it on whenever you turn your comp on - aternatively you can leave it running 24/7 but I wouldn't want to do that. With a 12v pump it starts with the rest of your comp so you never have to worry about it. There are relay kits available for mains pumps that allow it to start up when your comp is turned on but it's extra cost unless you're prepared to build one yourself.

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Have you bought any watercooling kit yet rich?


Shorting out the PSU is easy and as Fillip said its designed to do it. I would ALWAYS leak test! The first time i turned mine on there was water everywhere! You dont need to do it for 24 hours though. If it runs for 2 with no problems then your all set.

[fivecheebs]

Yeah, dont worry about shorting the green and black on a PSU. The kit i got from pug last summer even came with an ATX conenctor (a female one like you would find on a motherboard) with the relevent pins allready connected. Dont just switch it on until your happy you have done it right.

[fillip]

Yeah, dont worry about shorting the green and black on a PSU. The kit i got from pug last summer even came with an ATX conenctor (a female one like you would find on a motherboard) with the relevent pins allready connected.
Thats even better, I was gonna make one so it was easy to test gear w/out having to locate some wire/paperclip each time. http://wizdforums.co.uk/images/smilies/happy.gif

[richman]

I havent bought anything yet no....

What kit did you buy that was pre-shorted?

Cheers
Rich

[fivecheebs]

It wasnt pre shorted, It was just an atx connector like you would find on a mobo with a wire coming out of where the green wire connects and back into where a black wire is. You just use it for leak testing. Big advantage i have to say, made it so easy during initial testing, and not at all fidly like the paperclip trick. If your still confused ill take a pic for you to show you what i mean.

The kit i got was an Alphacool xtreme pro set (http://www.wizdforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=412&highlight=alphacool) and i wouldnt hesitate to recomend it, however the pump is a little noisy at 24V.

[richman]

Emptying / Filling the loop seems hard task without soaking all my components is their a easy way i could make a drain valve attached to the loop if so how? Also i was thinking of adding a fill port to the top of the case how would i attach this to the loop would i use a t bone connector and add the fill port to one end the end of the main loop to the other and then back into the Res In port?

Rich