Help !! Aquastream problems

[Olly]

Hi all - I've got a bit of a pump problem you might be able to help with ...

I've just installed a new watercooling circuit in my server, but I'n having difficulty filling it 'cos the punp doesn't appear to be doing much pumping.

The res is an aquatube installed in an aquabay, feeding the aquastream pump which is installed horizontally below it. The pump feeds a Konvekt-o-matic Ultra passive rad, which cools a cpu and a gfx block before returning to the res via a t-piece and drain valve.

Everything is connected up, and I'm starting the PSU with one of those ATX bridge connector doohickeys. The PSU is starting up OK and I can even feel the pump vibrating (and the green led on the aquastream controller lights up), but there doesn't appear to be any movement of water, and the level in the res remains the same (I'm not getting any recirculation of water).

I do have some air bubbles in the pipes, but they don't seem to want to move.

I really don't want to burn out my new pump by keeping it running and hoping for the best, anyone got any suggestions ?

Cheers,

Olly

[fivecheebs]

did you try blowing through the loop before you filled the res?

Also, not having used one i might be wrong, doesnt it have a priming mode set by a jumper of something?

[Fibbles]

did you try blowing through the loop before you filled the res?

Also, not having used one i might be wrong, doesnt it have a priming mode set by a jumper of something? The priming mode makes the pump turm on and off repeatedly. It's great for bleeding, but it isn't completely nessecary to get it filled.

How much water did you add? Enough to fill the whole loop, or just enough to fill the res? With the Aquastream/HPPS/Eheim 1046, you're not going to see a lot of circulation, and if it wasn't for my pump's hum and slight vibration, I would never know if it was on or not, or even if it is circulating. Do you have any UV dye? If you have clear tubing and drop some dye in the res, you would be able to watch it disperse thru the tubing.

[Starbuck3733T]

If you're seeing bubbles traveling through the tubes, and not just foam filling your tubing, chances are that the coolant is indeed moving... maybe just not very fast. Fibbs advice is sound - dye is good. Also, make sure the inlet to you pump is truly flooded (full of water). The eheim (which the aquastream is a derivative of) are not self priming - which is why you need to make sure to, and keep, the inlet flooded.

[Olly]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I seem to have sorted it now.

There must have been an extra large air bubble hiding in the rad,
and the pump obviously couldn't push water through the rest of the system.
However after much shaking and jiggiling about it made its way out of the system.

I now have a stunningly quiet server - passive radiators rock! :D

[Fibbles]

What are your temps like with that ultra? I'm going to plug my Maxi in, with a 120mm active rad, just in case, but I think I won't have any issues and am just worrying over nothing. I'll have a few blocks though (CPU, GPU, C/S, HDD). Where do you keep the rad (on the floor, next to it on the desktop etc)?

[Olly]

I haven't had a chance to check the temps properly yet, in fact I'm I've just finished installing XP Pro on it.
Don't worry though, when I've got it all sorted out I'll let you know the temps I'm getting (but they'll be diode temps unfortunately :()

[Olly]

Dr.Fibbles - my server's been up and running for a few days now, just file serving and running folding@home, and I'm only cooling an AMD64 3200+ and a 9700 GPU, but my diode temps have never risen above the low to mid twenty's (celcius).

I must say that I'm surprised at this, I would have been happy with temps of thirty, or even forty celcius, as long as the system was cool enough and most importantly QUIET.
[edit: looks like Motherboard monitor was telling fibs, the CPU temps are more like the mid 30's celcius, which is a lot more believeable]

The radiator is standing on the floor beneath the pc, and the central heating thermostat is usually set to about 19 deg celcius (so the ambient temp. has prob never been above that).

I'm well impressed with the Konvekt-o-matic Ultra, in fact I think I'll be getting anther one ......:D