• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Watercooling Fail-safe Devices?

M

macrospect

[H]ard|Gawd
2FA
Joined
Nov 22, 2004
Messages
1,711
With so many people watercooling these days, I was wondering what some of you use for failsafes for your system? I know many of you use nothing, but those of you that do, what do you use to alert you when your watercooling system is not functioning properly?
 
Well, the best fail safe are probabaly just temp shutdowns. even if your pump fails your cpu temps wont go up crazy fast, so setting the temp shut down for like 70C or something is probabaly an ample 'fail-safe' to stop your cpu burning out.
 
thermaltake has a flow meter that will alert you if your pump is broken or cavitating....
(ive had mine cavitating on me once before.... got hot and shut down)
as for leakage.... if ur willing to pay an arm and a leg.... any place that sells WC stuff should sell some FluidXP, which is a non conductive liquid, so if you get a leek... its not as big a deal...

other than that, id just make sure u use some metal screw down clamps, & plenty of them if you want to avoid leakage....
 
Vapor1000 said:
thermaltake has a flow meter that will alert you if your pump is broken or cavitating....
(ive had mine cavitating on me once before.... got hot and shut down)
as for leakage.... if ur willing to pay an arm and a leg.... any place that sells WC stuff should sell some FluidXP, which is a non conductive liquid, so if you get a leek... its not as big a deal...

other than that, id just make sure u use some metal screw down clamps, & plenty of them if you want to avoid leakage....
Click to expand...

At a fairly major cost in preformence too..with alto fo Air cooling setups rivaling water cooling, i think ofr the price of FluidXP you should get a good HS and fan
 
No fail safes, never had a problem to warrant one.

Lots of people overestimate the dangers of watercooling.
 
I know that some of the new dc pumps have an rpm sensor that can be hooked up to the cpu fan plug. Turn on the cpu fan halt error in the bios and set an automatic shutdown temp. Short of a catastrofic leak that soaks your components that should keep you fairly safe.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Im not worried too much about leaks (I use hose clams anyway) But rather the pump cavitating or failing when I am not here.

Of course ill have the usuall temp alarm installed on the block, but I was just wondering if there was something to shutdown the computer when im away if the water stopped flowing.

The RMP sensor sounds like a cool idea. I remeber seeing an in-line one that hooked into a fan header ($50 if I recall), now just to figure out how to get the pc to shutdown in it goes to 0 rpm. Ill have to look into that more.

I AM still working on putting everything together. This is going to be one unique system :p
 
I use a flow meter with an analog output to a panel meter. The flow meter also has a built-in relay that triggers a loud piezo alarm once the flow drops below a preconfigured value. The panel meter provides an easy and convinient way to monitor the flow through the loop.

10_resize.jpg


07_resize.jpg
 
Wow that looks great rezistor.

I take it you built it. Would you mind telling me the parts I would need to make such a piece of equiptment? Or at lest where you got them from.

If you bought it, then where did you get it at?

Thanks!

EDIT: It looks like you bought it from the stickers on the meter itself. Please let me know where you got it, or what model etc. it is.
 
The flow meter is Proteus Flow Meter 200 that I got from Ebay. There are other, more modern and streamlined version of such flow meters and flow switches from different manufacturers such as Omega, but most of these models were developed for industrial applications. I've seen a model built for computer watercooling that has a tach output to a motherboard fan header, thus giving you a real-time indication of water flow.
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Great thank you very much rezistor. That's exactly what I was looking for!

Oh one more thing. Now that I know what flowmeter to get, how do you have the rest hooked up, meaning the LED readout, and the buzzer alarm? A picture or drawing may help.
 
You are overcomplicating it. If you get a decent pump, it will last forever basically.

Pump failures are rare, and if they do happen your computer will turn itself off anyways. Nothing overheats and catches on fire anymore like the old days, its kinda sad actually.

I'd be more worried about leaks and stuff. A flowmeter is just one more thing to leak. Eliminate it, and buy good plastic hoseclamps, seal all your threads with goop, use only plastic barbed fittings, and dont get any lexan topped blocks or the old style plexiglass bayreseviors.. If you follow these guidelines you will never have a leak.
 
killernoodle said:
You are overcomplicating it. If you get a decent pump, it will last forever basically.

Pump failures are rare, and if they do happen your computer will turn itself off anyways. Nothing overheats and catches on fire anymore like the old days, its kinda sad actually.

I'd be more worried about leaks and stuff. A flowmeter is just one more thing to leak. Eliminate it, and buy good plastic hoseclamps, seal all your threads with goop, use only plastic barbed fittings, and dont get any lexan topped blocks or the old style plexiglass bayreseviors.. If you follow these guidelines you will never have a leak.
Click to expand...

I'll post one scenario when my flow meter gave me a nice warning that there was no flow in the loop. The dumbest thing happened - the contact became bad with the molex powering the Laing D4 pump, and so all of a sudden the pump was shut off. Immediately, lack of flow triggered the relay inside the flow meter, which subsequently triggered the buzzer. I could respond to this alarm far more in advance than waiting for the cpu to overheat. And regarding the leaks, my advice to all would be to use Plumber's Goop on all barbs!
 
DaRkF0g said:
Great thank you very much rezistor. That's exactly what I was looking for!

Oh one more thing. Now that I know what flowmeter to get, how do you have the rest hooked up, meaning the LED readout, and the buzzer alarm? A picture or drawing may help.
Click to expand...

The flow meter model that I'm using comes with a built-in relay with a customizable set point, as well as an analog voltage signal ranging from 0 to 5V DC that corresponds to no flow to full flow. The panel meter is basically a voltage meter that can display the input voltage with multiplication adjustments. For example, full 5V DC signal from the flow meter gets translated by the panel meter to 100, as in 100% full flow. This is a pretty simple indication of flow rate without actually knowing the exact gallons-per-hour rating of the loop.
 
I cant bring myself to water cool. I dont see how pipes and stuff can be 100% leak free. working on plumbing and stuff often at home, I know that is not the case....

Its something I just cant do.... So I will go all out and Vapochill however.
 
USMC2Hard4U said:
I cant bring myself to water cool. I dont see how pipes and stuff can be 100% leak free. working on plumbing and stuff often at home, I know that is not the case....

Its something I just cant do.... So I will go all out and Vapochill however.
Click to expand...

Well the reason that they don't leak in your computer vs the stuff you use at home is simple. If you used the stuff you used in your computer to route H20 through your house you would have one very expensive plumbing system. :eek: However, it wouldn't leak :D

You can build a very elaborate system with the use of electronics and rudimentary electrical devices to completely eliminate the danger of overheating, loss of flow, or leakage. Now on the other hand you are just asking for water problems when you go with a phase change unit. What do you think happens when you super cool a metal part? Besides getting cold it also sucks moisture out of the air and turns into ice which then melts all over your nice new computer. ;)
 
Indeed top nurse!

COndensation will turn into ice and will quickly buildup.

Rezistor, how much did the flowmeter itself cost (the ebay price you got it for)? And thats the 200 series, right?

Thanks for lettting me know how it works, online manual is poor. 5VDC LED readouts are easy and cheap these days.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top