1st system complete, minor bubble issues

[dagnasty]

Hello everyone

thanks again to those of you who helped me pick out parts weeks ago. I finally have my system running and for the most part smoothly.

q6600
ati4870
corsair620
8GB gskill 800
p5q pro
swiftech mc655
swiftech triple rad 120
gtz block

pics --

this is the very first version with a dangerden tee fitting that i took out durring testing and fiddling around. I am still not done sleeving and managing but at least it is up and running with temps between 23-27 on stock.

The issue is this thing will not bleed! It runs quietly but every 30 seconds or so, a cascade of bubbles hit the pump and it is driving me crazy. I have had it running since sunday night and still no improvement. I can't possibly get any more water in this loop because i have twisted and turned the thing every way imaginable and even removed the window on the res and added a little water that way. I recall seeing someone with the same bitspower 5.25 res in the picture section but cant seem to find it again. I remember it being 100% full of water where as I have a small gap on the left side by the outlet portion. I have tried leaving the cap off but so far that has made no difference. I tried to be as logical as possible with the loop and have the outlet to the pump got to the top inlet of the radiator and the bottom of it go to the block to avoid a major bend.

Basically I need input on how to make this go away because the sound of the tiny bubbles is going to make me break something. Here are some more pictures, a bit crude but I only have a camera phone availible. If anyone would recommend add in the tee again I will. I am not really sure why i bought it in the first place haha.


thanks
the rest are up to date

 

[basserdan]

Man, you gotta shake that thing like a British nanny! Seriously, you have to tilt it and shake it while you tilt it. Try to picture the path of your water through the whole loop and tilt your case as needed to help a bubble through. Of course, as it passes one area it just moves to the next hang so keep it up. I notice your water "in" for your rad is above the "exit" so air will have to be pushed downward. If you can lay it flat or close to it, and shake it, thump it whatever, you'll help it pass. Just be careful, when you tilt your case, don't allow air from your rez into the loop or it will take longer! Eventually, the bigger stuff will break up and the smaller will eventually make it to your rez. I'm not so sure how necessary it is to leave the cap off of your rez, it's risky. Any bubble that enters will simply displace the water it allows into your loop. Hope it helps. Nice lookin' system too!

 

[BillParrish]

It will go away.

Its fairly normal . and likely a little trapped air and the pump impeller causing dissolved air in the coolant to become bubbles due to "Cavitation" (see any modern submarine movie). It will go away in a week or so as all the dissolved air get worked out of the system.

 

[dagnasty]

hey thanks to both of you. This has not been a trivial process in the past 3 weeks haha. Things seem to be quieting down too. Also, the small gap between the water and the top of the res on the left hand side(where the water "in" is located) is no problem right?

 

[basserdan]

It will go away.

Its fairly normal . and likely a little trapped air and the pump impeller causing dissolved air in the coolant to become bubbles due to "Cavitation" (see any modern submarine movie). It will go away in a week or so as all the dissolved air get worked out of the system.

This sounds more like your situation. I should have read a little more carefully.

 

[basserdan]

hey thanks to both of you. This has not been a trivial process in the past 3 weeks haha. Things seem to be quieting down too. Also, the small gap between the water and the top of the res on the left hand side(where the water "in" is located) is no problem right?

An air gap in the top of your res is ok as long as it's not enough to allow water flowing outward to suck any air in. You would likely hear that.

Now, if I'm seeing this right, ( http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/bi5bayresbla.html )
the left hand side of this res is the lower of the two ports. If this is the case (reversed image?), I don't think you want this to be your intake port. This means water is being sucked out of the higher port. Generally, you want to take water from the lower port, the farthest point from the air in the top of your res.

 

[dagnasty]

Little hazy at the moment due to how late it is ha. Here is a better example-

---------cpu-res(highest)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------res-pump(lowest)


is this correct?

 

[basserdan]

That's right, you've got it. I just looked at the picture of your res again ( http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/bi5bayresbla.html ). I guess I was squinting from sleepy too, because I missed the ports on the very edge. I only saw the three with plugs in them but, clearly there are 5 ports on the back. By their placement I can see that your hooked up right

 

[dagnasty]

ha ha good news thanks again man. Although its still a little noisy, I hope that it will work itself out soon!

 

[basserdan]

I think it's been too long, in my experience, for you to still "hear" bubbles passing. Did you clean your rad thoroughly? Any foam in the res? If not, can you get to your res to reposition it? If so, try propping it (or get someone to help you hold it) so you can tilt your case 90degs in any direction and shake it, thump it. Do that in any other position you can tilt your res while keeping it above everything else in your loop(so you don't recycle air). I've never had any air that I could hear after the first few hours.

Most of all, I would search your problem at Xtreme Systems "Liquid Cooling". Tons of very good info!

Good Luck

 

[Painman]

You've got the loop set up in such a way that bubbles ought to get trapped in that res... but, since the 655 is a really forceful pump, and the GTZ is the only block in the loop, offering little restriction, I'm going to ask what speed the 655 is running at (assuming it's the adjustable version).

If it's at full speed, then it might not be giving air bubbles the chance to settle anywhere at all due to sheer pumping force/turbulence. If so, then I would back the pump speed down to setting 3 or so, and prop the front end of the case up a little bit so that air has a high point for accumulation inside the res.

It's kind of odd that the fillport is smack dab in the center of the top of that res (towards the back even). It ought to be in one of the front corners so that you can prop the case up and bleed the air out by adding coolant with a syringe or something. But I digress.

I also have a 655 in a low restriction loop with 2 blocks, and I get bubble suckage if I run the pump @ full speed (along with its distinctive motor noise). That's how much that pump can really suck.

 

[basserdan]

Both of my mcp655's are near silent and flow very well on 5 which, is where they stay. My cpu loop has only an Apogee (pre-GT). I also have been using an MCRES rev.2 ( http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/swmcmire2re.html ). It's an excellent res for bleeding, not very stylish. I know some reservoirs are noisy due to turbulence, this one is excellent in breaking up the turb.

 

[dagnasty]

Thanks everyone, i thought id wait a while to respond but now it is clearing up a bit. Yes this is the adjustable one and i did take it down to 3 which helped a lot. There are no visible bubbles left in the tubing except a few around the block outlet barb. Is there an easy way to persuade them to move? I dont really want to squeez on it but need those bubbles to move. Also, I am beginning to think that i should have bought a different res because this one is a pain. Is there any logical reason for the strange curves and bends inside of it? I just dont see a logical reason for the shape it has. This has made it practically impossible to fill it without removing the hex screws. I did a lot of twisting shaking and turning and for the most part everything is clearing up but there is one bubble left about the size of a grain of rice that i cant seem to shove to the other side of the res where the bubbles are gathering and then popping. I have moved it in every way imaginable but hopefully it will go soon. So with that i have a few questions left:

What is the general thought on this res? Is it more of a pain than most? Also why do people recommend to leave the cap off? Does it really help bleed the system?

I have some little mini bubbles in between the o-ring in the res, do those every leave?
I mean the strange shaped o ring around the inside of the res and the acrylic face place not ones leaking from the barbs haha. No water is pulsating from the sides or anything like that.

Is there anything I could change about the loop to make it better? It is kind of hard to put my pump anywhere else because the foam that came with it lost its adhesive and i am using the petra gel wo\ith a throuh bolt fastened on the wheel of the case.

Also, if i were to turn off the computer, wouldnt the gap of air in the res be flattened out and spread through the loop once the pump is off? If so is there any way I can get more water in this thing to remove the gap? Like mentioned, the fill port is right in the middle and is practically worthless for completley filling the system.


Thanks all I can think of at the moment thanks again to all of you.

 

[OhMyGod]

hmm, all my water cooling setups took a maximum of 12 hours or so to remove all the bubbles.... with 98% gone in the first 1-2 hours.


*edit* nice job for the first setup

 

[basserdan]

I am not personally familiar with that res but, the strange curves are probably there to break up and slow the flow entering so as to reduce the turbulance, letting bubbles rise. That said, it may not work so well. Single "bay sized" reservoirs are kind of shallow and I would think, make it hard to capture bubbles.

Personally, I think the best res for "bleeding" a system and quiet operation is an mcres from Swiftech. The baffle in it breaks up the turbulence very well and separates the top half into a zone of bubble collection outside of the main flow. It really works.

As for leaving the cap off, I don't think it is necessary. For every bubble entering the res, a little drop of water is taken from it. It's just an exchange. I could be wrong but, my system bleeds with the cap on.

The only thing I can see that might be done differently is to reverse the hoses on your rad so water goes in at the bottom. This way, any vertical movement of air bubbles is upward, (bubble like go up!). It's not critical though.

As long as the water level in your res is higher than the highest opened port, in the res, and the cap is on, you can place the res anywhere. The bubble just stays at the top. If you remove the cap, make sure res is the highest point in the loop.

The only way I can see for you to fill that res, with a port higher than the cap, is to put a barb fitting on it and add a piece of hose to extend your opening to a point that is higher than highest port on your res.

If you wanted to, you could try removing your res from your loop and replacing it with a "T" fitting. It's not as easy to bleed as with a good res but, it will bleed! It's a cheap way to try your system without that res.

 

[dagnasty]

hmm, all my water cooling setups took a maximum of 12 hours or so to remove all the bubbles.... with 98% gone in the first 1-2 hours.


*edit* nice job for the first setup

thanks I put a lot of work into it


This is finally running quiet. I put the pump down to 3 for a few hours and some bubbles were gathering on the right side of the res but they were impossible to move to the other side at any speed. So, I went to the store and got a small turkey baster and removed the front acrylic again to add a few more drops which really helped. After 45 minutes or so it was much easier to tilt the case and move bubbles to the other side. It has been running quiet on full speed for about 24 hours.


thanks again!