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Do elbows restrict flow?

B

bradyapba

Gawd
Joined
Nov 30, 2004
Messages
923
Well, i went to run the hoses, and i get severe kinking.. so I was thinking of throwing in some elbows to help the turn to solve the issue...

The question becomes..do elbows restrict the flow?

I have the swiftie 655, BIP2, maze 4, TDX, and atyphoon ressie.

Any thoughts would be great!

Chris
 
Well that depends ;) Use of 90 degree elbows is more of a problem with higher flowing setups than with lower flowing setups. Why don't you use a more flexible tube?
 
yes 90 degree bends restrict the flow, no matter if you are using high flow or low flow.

If you cant avoid using bends, go to the hardware store and get some copper pipe bends, they have an easier more sloping bend to them then the acrylic ones.
 
this hose is very flexible, but they are really tight turns, almost 90, causes the kink, i dont think a different hose will matter.
 
What are the inner and outer diameters of your hose? If you're using 3/8" or 1/2" tubing that has less than 3/32" thick walls, then your tubing is kinking because its walls are too soft for tight turns. If you want to read up about elbows, read this: http://www.procooling.com/articles/html/maximizing_flow_rates_with_h2o.php

As Eresmus mentioned, high flow or low flow, elbows restrict the flow. Maybe part of the reason why some people's loops have such low flow rates (beyond the restrictive tubing, blocks, even reservoirs and fittings) is the 10 (or more :eek: ) horribly restrictive mitre elbows? :rolleyes:
Sticking an elbow in the middle of a tubing run gives two more spots for a leak, and most people don't like to see an elbow in the middle of a tubing run (if you can't hide it).

You would probably benefit from getting some tubing with thicker walls (for 3/8"id, at least a 9/16"od for the tubing, 1/2"id should have at least 5/8"od), mcmaster.com (page 82) has any size of tubing that you need, and it's pretty cheap as well (10' of 7/16"id-5/8"od tubingg was $8 shipped).

If you still have kinks, you have a couple options. First, you can use a hose clamp or a couple zip ties to force a turn to hold a circular shape on the bend. If that doesn't immediately work, you can try heating up the tubing in the position you want (without a kink), then the tubing should keep that shape somewhat decently after it's cooled down. If none of these suggestions still don't help (with or without getting better tubing), try to see if you can reroute your tubing better so you don't have such a sharp turn (possibly cut away part of your case if the case's design is forcing you to make such a tight turn). If worse comes to worse, a 45* sweeping copper elbow (or two) should be enough for you to make the necessary turn, while not being too restrictive.
 
1st let me thank you ikellensbro. That was probably the most through explanation i have ever recieved. That was full of a lot of great info!!!

Turns out TN was right, it was just a case of hose. I took out some of the better hose, I had used in the external water box, and used it in the computer instead. And used the thinner stuff in the external box, becuase the turns were easier. So it all worked out.

I orginally want to use the thinner tubing in the computer becuase it made the computer look less crowded. But had to go with the thicker stuff.

I am going to post some pics in my work log.. ill put some linkage here in a sec.
 
Erasmus354 said:
yes 90 degree bends restrict the flow, no matter if you are using high flow or low flow.
Click to expand...

Yes that is correct, but the more applicable answer is the degree to which they affect flow. In a high flow situation they cause more problems than in lower flowing applications.
 
ikellensbro said:
Maybe part of the reason why some people's loops have such low flow rates (beyond the restrictive tubing, blocks, even reservoirs and fittings) is the 10 (or more :eek: ) horribly restrictive mitre elbows? :rolleyes:
Sticking an elbow in the middle of a tubing run gives two more spots for a leak, and most people don't like to see an elbow in the middle of a tubing run (if you can't hide it).
Click to expand...

First of all most people could care less if they have an elbow or not in a line if it looks good. If you use proper fittings you can put all the fittings in you want and not have to worry about leaks. There seems to be much more talk around here about barbs leaking than other types of fittings. And there are a lot of people that don't use barbs. :D

It seems to me that the only people who really know what their flow is are those running Innovatek or Aqua Computer devices that incorporate accurate flow sensors. The rest of you don't have a clue about what your real life flows are about so perhaps it might behoove you to really see what is going on before you blab about our low lower flowing systems. It has been readily pointed out by many around here that they don't seem to be suffering in either temps or OC's just because they have a lot of elbows or a lower flowing system.
 
bradyapba said:
hers my fix

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1028431393#post1028431393
Click to expand...

Looks good my friend.................. :D I don't see anywhere that even comes close to needing a 90 fitting........................ :eek: But hey, what do I know.

And just for general info TN, I do know exactly what my system flow comes out to ..............I measure it exactly before the system is installled in the case and again after I install it if I did any replumbing for any reason........................ :eek:
 
Guys,

no need to argue about flow in my post, im a big boy, i'll figure out my own flow.. :) i do want to install on of those AC meters one day, when i got some more dough that the wife will agree is computer worthy :)

Anyways....

Thanks Bio! When I used the thinner tubing inside the PC, it kinked bad.... I really didn't want to disconnect hoses, and re-run, etc... so I was hoping for elbows.. but in the end i did the right thing, and used the thicker tubing inside the PC, and thinner tubing in the EXT. box, where the bends are slight.

My local hardware store did have 1/2 barbed ploy elbows, when I wouldn't of minded using... they actually look kinda cool to me... but in the end I didn't need them!

THanks for everyones help!
 
The question becomes..do elbows restrict the flow?
Click to expand...




Well that depends Use of 90 degree elbows is more of a problem with higher flowing setups than with lower flowing setups.
Click to expand...


How does that depend? He asked if elbows restrict flow. Not if they restrict less or more with higher flowing systems.






It seems to me that the only people who really know what their flow is are those running Innovatek or Aqua Computer devices that incorporate accurate flow sensors. The rest of you don't have a clue about what your real life flows are about so perhaps it might behoove you to really see what is going on before you blab about our low lower flowing systems
Click to expand...


So your making the assumption that anyone who doesnt run AC doesnt know thier flow?
 
sorry to bump an older thread but i was wondering the same thing.

also, are there any pics of good use of elbows out there?
 
It baffles me to see threads like this. Simple answer, yes, it negativly affects flow. There are so many variables, that it's very doubtful any concrete answer could be given. Just try and step back and think about it logically at a larger scale. A river is cruising along, and theres suddenly a 90 degree turn. Definetly gonna slow things down and cause turbulence. A smaller, slower stream hits the same 90 degree corner, doesnt slow it down as much, because there simply isn't as much water hitting it at once, an it isn't going that fast to begin with. There's the high vs low flow part of it. What if the elbow is a different inside dimension than the rest of the tubing? O god, a slew of other possibilities come to mind.

Here's an idea, try it with and without, see if theres a huge difference in performance, and decide if the routing/aestetic benefits of the elbows are worth the possible degredation in performance.

My guess is the most degredation would be a high flow system in 3/8 or 1/4 tubing with lots of 90 degree elbows; the smaller tube = more of the water's surface on the edges of the tube, thus more resistance when it hits the corner.

I don't claim to be an expert here, in fact I'm only on my first wc setup. I have read a lot about water cooling, especially before deciding what to buy. I just think soemtimes looking at it from a real world perspective makes sense, just scale it down. My apologies if I am shown to be incorrect.
 
the fact that elbows restrict was kinduva no-brainer, I was more curious to know that if and when you had to elbow, are there good approaches / tips / examples / pics of how it was done. I don't see myself soldering copper so unfortunately plastic mitres may be the only choice...
 
Just use a higher OD elbow than the ID of your tubing, and force the thing on there. For example, rather than using a 1/2' elbow try a 5/8' elbow... That should help reduce any sort of flow loss, and it's what I did for my Tline.
 
I agree, larger elbow would help minimize the flow loss, also a 45 degree elbow, if possible, would reduce the loss even more. Sorry for going off on that whole paragraph of logic, just seems in here sometimes simple things are impossible to understand.
 
there are some plastic 45s yes

www.svc.com


thread jack: anybody know if they make a four way T fitting ... guess it would be an X? fitting...
 
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