Where to put the fillport and drain line???

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eclypse

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I have a thermaltake core x9 case and I'm going to install a 120.3 rad in the front and I'm going to use a ek pump/res combo model 140 I believe along with only a single cpu block.

For the life of me I can't figure out where best to put the pump/res?? At the bottom, top or it don't matter?

Also I'm trying to install all of it so I can easily open a fillport at the top or res top and open a drain port and have all the coolant run out completely so I can easily drain and fill when needed.

So there's the tall question.. in order to do this shouldn't the ports on the rad be at the bottom with it vertical??

Normally I would run it with the ports at the top so air can't get trapped but I can't see how one could empty the rad without removing it to drain it.

Obviously a fillport at the highest point correct? The highest point would prob be the cpu block since the mb is horizontal. So some kind of T or Y connection before the block?

I've spent hours today starring at my rig trying to figure all this out before I hit Mc for parts and never left the house as it was too late! Haha.. time flies when your racking your brain over this puzzle.
 
I'm not familiar with that model. Does it have a return line in the base, or is the return line at the top of the res? If it has a return line in the bottom, the easiest way is usually to just use that for the loop to return to the res, and use the top port of the res as your fill port. Thread a fitting with a temporary tube in there for filling purposes and stick a funnel on the other end of the tube.

If you need to use the top port as a return, it gets a little bit more complicated, but you can figure out something with a Y or T fitting. If you share the top port for return and filling though, just remember to seal it before starting your pump, or you will wind up with a geyser.

Might not make sense to have a bleed port somewhere in the top of your loop as well, but if it is a simple loop, the fill port on top of the res can serve as both fill and bleed port, if the res is near the top of your loop.

For a drain port I just used a line off of one of the extra ports on my lower radiator, but you could do it many ways, like a Y or T fitting connected to your return line to the pump, or anything like that. You might want it at the lower point of your loop for simplicity's sake.

As far as where to put the pump/res combo in your loop, it really doesn't matter, as long as the reservoir is over the pump, such that gravity pulls the coolant into the pump. You don't EVER want the pump to run dry, even for a second. (ok, it might survive a second or two, but still, better not to risk it).
 
The ek pump res has and in and out port on the side only. D5 pump is at the bottom. There is a single fill port at the top but they advise not to use it as a inlet.

The thing with using the fill port with the pump/res at the middle or bottom of the case is that I'm thinking if I open the fillport on the top of the res it will depressorize and the coolant will rise up and out of the top of it.

So thinking if I was to do it I'd have to have a barb attached to the top fillport and a tube connected runing to the top of the case which would look ugly.
 
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eclypse said:
The thing with using the fill port with the pump/res at the middle or bottom of the case is that I'm thinking if I open the fillport on the top of the res it will depressorize and the coolant will rise up and out of the top of it.
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This SHOULDN'T happen unless you also open a vent/bleed port up top. Anything is possible I guess, and caution with water cooling is always advisable, but this seems unlikely to me.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
This SHOULDN'T happen unless you also open a vent/bleed port up top. Anything is possible I guess, and caution with water cooling is always advisable, but this seems unlikely to me.
Click to expand...

OK thanks.. will try it without and see first.
 
I never bother with fill ports nor drain ports and I've built plenty of mega buck loops.
 
Here's my last epic over the top build I did back in 2012 when I had too much money to play with.

My 7970 Quad-Fire Build

Pics suck as it was too hard to get inside pics of all the rads and the 2 sets of 3 pumps. 4 rads jammed into a huge mountain mods case.

In the end when it was time to drain everything there was a lot of water left over in the rads cause the ports were at the top.

System didn't last long anyways. Sold it all to upgrade the home theaterror.

Now I wana make sure when it's time for maintenance, it's important that I can easily remove the fans from the rads to vacuum out the rads ans easily drain all the coolant to add fresh stuff in 10 months or so without having to take everything apart.
 
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thesmokingman said:
What's more funney is that you think the water just pours all out if you open a port.
Click to expand...

I've used a large ek res in the past and when I opened the fill port at the top the water line would raise a few inches as it would depressurize.
 
thesmokingman said:
What's more funney is that you think the water just pours all out if you open a port.
Click to expand...

Well it starts dripping almost instantly for a little bit, then mostly stops until you open a vent plug, then most of it runs out, but a bunch still usually stays around the pump.
 
So much pressure with the 6 pumps that I cracked 2 large ek resivors..

The red tubing was the worst. It eventually lined the blocks red. Was something else to clean.. so yes whatever they used to make those tubes red released in the distilled water. Your hands would even turn red touching the lines.

The black fittings from black sucked too. The black power paint would also rub off from inside the fittings.

I'll never use colored tubing nor painted fittings again.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Well it starts dripping almost instantly for a little bit, then mostly stops until you open a vent plug, then most of it runs out, but a bunch still usually stays around the pump.
Click to expand...

Qdc plus datavac equals water evacuation asap. But lately i just have been doing active flushes. Using the qdcs and extra plumbing and some large water jugs i flush out the old crap while filling in fresh distilled. I used to run nearly 3000mm of rad surface lol so replacing water was a fucking ordeal till i figured out how to do a flush like a tranny flush.
 
In order for water to come spilling out of your system, something else has to take its place, primarily air. If there's no path for air to get in, water will not spill out of the system. Submerged ports in a reservoir are not valid pathways for air to get in.
 
Tsumi said:
In order for water to come spilling out of your system, something else has to take its place, primarily air. If there's no path for air to get in, water will not spill out of the system. Submerged ports in a reservoir are not valid pathways for air to get in.
Click to expand...

OK, so it's like getting a cross wind in a house. With just one window open little to no air will enter. When you open 2 windows then you'll get a nice breeze as air can enter and exit.
 
eclypse said:
OK, so it's like getting a cross wind in a house. With just one window open little to no air will enter. When you open 2 windows then you'll get a nice breeze as air can enter and exit.
Click to expand...

It's like sticking a straw in a glass of water, covering the top of the straw with your finger, and pulling the straw up, and watching the water inside the straw come up with it.

You may have a little dripping, but until you open the top the water will largely stay inside.
 
And that sounds what I was originally talking about. Like in the straw the water level will level out with the water level in the glass.. but like you said hold your finger over the straw and it will hold cause of single one opening. :)

OK all good.
 
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