Trying to saturate the loop fully

D

Dajinn

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 18, 2010
Messages
117
So my last build was a very basic soft tubing build and I had no problems saturating the loop to the point where the water looked static, the cpu block was completely filled up etc, all air bubbles eliminated, however, with this distro plate I am having trouble completely filling the loop.



Few questions/concerns and need recommendations.
  • The yellow circled area: the fluid level does not rise when adding more coolant to fill in that area and if I loosen the plug, the water level will rise but I cannot unplug it fully without it leaking from that port. What is the reason this area is not being filled in and how can I achieve it for aesthetic uniformity?

  • The blue circle: I've been using this as my fill port, and right now I have the pump running at 100% with this port off to allow air bubbles to escape. Leads to my next point:

  • The red circle: there is a top mounted g1/4 port that can be used instead of the traditional 90 degree mounted port, I am wondering should I leave that one open instead of the distro plate port to let air out or does it not really matter between those two? I have found that that top port is more sensitive to the pressure change between pump RPMs and if I lower the pump RPM the coolant will overflow out of the port. I don't seem to have that issue with the blue-circle distro plate port.

  • One issue that I'm having with filling the loop completely is the level of coolant in the main res section of the distro plate varies with the pump speed, so if it's at 100% it will be near the top of the highest fill port, if I put it low on say 35%, the water level goes down a bit and the cpu block gets an air bubble stuck in it because there isn't enough fluid to completely fill up every space in the loop? I guess a video would help to demo this but I suspect this isn't an issue unique to this distro plate. I am just trying to figure out what is the best way to eliminate the air and completely fill every inch of the loop with fluid.

  • It seems like if I put the pump speed on 100% and shake the system to get some air out, the fluid level drops ever so slightly so I can fill it up with more. I would just try doing this for a few hours, to try to top everything off, but I want the CPU and GPU block to be completely filled to every corner when the pump is at 35% and right now I'm not seeing that. Is that the solution here?

  • At 100% pump speed, the liquid is quite white/foamy/bubbly as you can see from the picture, I am using Corsair XL5 CLEAR fluid, when the pump is at low speed the water is much more clear but air bubbles vortex around in the GPU block and distro plate. What is the fix here?

  • Lastly, I ran out of coolant surprisingly, is this an instance where it would actually be okay to top it off with distilled water since the loop is about 1L of pre-mix coolant (less due to leaks when filling and experimenting with opening fittings to let air out). I'd rather use another pre-mix coolant, would it be okay to mix EK CryoFuel with Corsair XL5? I can't imagine that many of the companies use highly differing anti-corrosives and growth inhibitors, but I am sure someone more experienced than me would know if differing chemicals can cause issues from the different pre-mix products out there.
Thanks.
 
My only guess is there is too much restriction in the loop to allow the pump to be able to fill all the nooks and crannies at 35% speed. I don't run my pumps at varying speeds, even if they are variable. I think you just need to live with a higher pump speed. In my sig rig my D5 runs at 100% 24/7.
 
The flow in the loop itself seems perfectly fine, everything moves nice and quickly without restriction all the way from 20% to 100%. I'm not saying you're wrong but the DDC seems to perform as well as the D5 I was using before. I am not experienced enough to say one way or the other.
 
Last edited:
The yellow area is a pocket of air and is acting as a accumulator for the entire system. This is the reason the level rises and falls with pump speed. The higher speed means more pressure, compressing the air in that pocket. You will need to rotate the whole thing around until you can get that pocket to move somewhere else where it can eventually be vented.
 
Dajinn said:
The yellow circled area: the fluid level does not rise when adding more coolant to fill in that area and if I loosen the plug, the water level will rise but I cannot unplug it fully without it leaking from that port. What is the reason this area is not being filled in and how can I achieve it for aesthetic uniformity?
Click to expand...
It's because that area is above the port there, and there's no other way for air to escape. Only way to fill that area would be to tilt the whole system so it's upside down or sideways, and then that air would move somewhere else (but it may get trapped somewhere else in the loop).
The blue circle: I've been using this as my fill port, and right now I have the pump running at 100% with this port off to allow air bubbles to escape. Leads to my next point:


The red circle: there is a top mounted g1/4 port that can be used instead of the traditional 90 degree mounted port, I am wondering should I leave that one open instead of the distro plate port to let air out or does it not really matter between those two? I have found that that top port is more sensitive to the pressure change between pump RPMs and if I lower the pump RPM the coolant will overflow out of the port. I don't seem to have that issue with the blue-circle distro plate port.
Click to expand...
Doesn't really matter, whichever works for you.
One issue that I'm having with filling the loop completely is the level of coolant in the main res section of the distro plate varies with the pump speed, so if it's at 100% it will be near the top of the highest fill port, if I put it low on say 35%, the water level goes down a bit and the cpu block gets an air bubble stuck in it because there isn't enough fluid to completely fill up every space in the loop? I guess a video would help to demo this but I suspect this isn't an issue unique to this distro plate. I am just trying to figure out what is the best way to eliminate the air and completely fill every inch of the loop with fluid.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a combination of trapped air and not enough coolant...A big issue I see with this loop is you have tubes extending above your fill ports. You will never be able to get all the air out of those tubes without tilting your system, and that trapped air can get pulled into the loop if you don't (if you shake it, for example).

What I would do is temporarily put a long tube or reservoir at the top of the loop and fill it then plug it. After, run the loop, and tilt to get as much air into the res/tube as you can, then fill some more. Repeat until it doesn't get any more air. You may have to work on it a lot if air keeps getting stuck in your pump or blocks.
 
As others have said, the air pocket in yellow has nowhere to go in that orientation. The only way to get it out is at minimum flip the system on its side. Ideally you would turn it upside-down.

If liquid can escape, that means air can be pushed out of that area. If liquid isn't being pushed out, air can't get pushed out either.
 
^^^ yup, start flipping it around to get that air to the fill port.
 
Thanks guys. I need to get more coolant but the stuff I used is out of stock everywhere. Might have to flush and re-fill with something I can actually get.
 
Last edited:
Is it pushing into the back of the distro? Potentially cutting off flow? You mentioned loosening it allowed air/fluid to move. Im wondering if the plug is causing a restriction.
 
hititnquitit said:
Is it pushing into the back of the distro? Potentially cutting off flow? You mentioned loosening it allowed air/fluid to move. Im wondering if the plug is causing a restriction.
Click to expand...
This. I agree with everyone else that you likely need to rotate the orientation but hititnquitit could be onto something. The plug fitting could be blocking fluid. Try a thicker Oring on that fitting or try a different plug altogether. Nice build!
 
hititnquitit said:
Is it pushing into the back of the distro? Potentially cutting off flow? You mentioned loosening it allowed air/fluid to move. Im wondering if the plug is causing a restriction.
Click to expand...

Ahh, you mean like the entire threading of the plug going all the way through and touching the back of the area where water sits? I don't think that it is, the threading seems deep enough to where that shouldn't be a problem and the plugs are rather shallow to be honest. I could be entirely off base here though. The threading on the plug is only 5mm in size. I couldn't find any specs for the distro plate g1/4 ports though.
 
Dajinn said:
So my last build was a very basic soft tubing build and I had no problems saturating the loop to the point where the water looked static, the cpu block was completely filled up etc, all air bubbles eliminated, however, with this distro plate I am having trouble completely filling the loop.



Few questions/concerns and need recommendations.
  • The yellow circled area: the fluid level does not rise when adding more coolant to fill in that area and if I loosen the plug, the water level will rise but I cannot unplug it fully without it leaking from that port. What is the reason this area is not being filled in and how can I achieve it for aesthetic uniformity?

  • The blue circle: I've been using this as my fill port, and right now I have the pump running at 100% with this port off to allow air bubbles to escape. Leads to my next point:

  • The red circle: there is a top mounted g1/4 port that can be used instead of the traditional 90 degree mounted port, I am wondering should I leave that one open instead of the distro plate port to let air out or does it not really matter between those two? I have found that that top port is more sensitive to the pressure change between pump RPMs and if I lower the pump RPM the coolant will overflow out of the port. I don't seem to have that issue with the blue-circle distro plate port.

  • One issue that I'm having with filling the loop completely is the level of coolant in the main res section of the distro plate varies with the pump speed, so if it's at 100% it will be near the top of the highest fill port, if I put it low on say 35%, the water level goes down a bit and the cpu block gets an air bubble stuck in it because there isn't enough fluid to completely fill up every space in the loop? I guess a video would help to demo this but I suspect this isn't an issue unique to this distro plate. I am just trying to figure out what is the best way to eliminate the air and completely fill every inch of the loop with fluid.

  • It seems like if I put the pump speed on 100% and shake the system to get some air out, the fluid level drops ever so slightly so I can fill it up with more. I would just try doing this for a few hours, to try to top everything off, but I want the CPU and GPU block to be completely filled to every corner when the pump is at 35% and right now I'm not seeing that. Is that the solution here?

  • At 100% pump speed, the liquid is quite white/foamy/bubbly as you can see from the picture, I am using Corsair XL5 CLEAR fluid, when the pump is at low speed the water is much more clear but air bubbles vortex around in the GPU block and distro plate. What is the fix here?

  • Lastly, I ran out of coolant surprisingly, is this an instance where it would actually be okay to top it off with distilled water since the loop is about 1L of pre-mix coolant (less due to leaks when filling and experimenting with opening fittings to let air out). I'd rather use another pre-mix coolant, would it be okay to mix EK CryoFuel with Corsair XL5? I can't imagine that many of the companies use highly differing anti-corrosives and growth inhibitors, but I am sure someone more experienced than me would know if differing chemicals can cause issues from the different pre-mix products out there.
Thanks.
Click to expand...


1) That is because of gravity and there being no way for the air there to escape. To remedy this you may want to try and flip the PC upside down if possible and give the air a path to escape that is to the surface. You may have to keep rotating as you "chase" the bubbles out.

2) fill port should always be at the highest point in the loop and in your example it is not. You can get a T valve for either of the higher points on the top for a proper fill port location

3) The fill port is also commonly where air escapes the loop and again it needs to be at the highest point and yours isn't

4) You need to chase the bubbles out of your loop as I suggested in #1 here and relocate the fill port.

5) what's most likely happening is you are chasing small amounts of air out from the pocket you circled in yellow with higher pump speed due to the higher pressure. Again refer to my suggestion in #1

6) Air is still trapped in the loop

7) No, never mix coolants they may not be compatible and can cause chemical reactions that could damage the seals/blocks and tubing or cause the die in the loop to loose suspension in the fluid and cause build ups and deposits. Yes usually adding JUST distilled water is fine to any premix coolant as that's what it base is anyway.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top