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Watercooling Vibrating Pump creating a lot of noise

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Lankuzo, 23 Jan 2012.

  1. Lankuzo

    Lankuzo CPC Refugee

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    Hey people i have a custom loop with 120.2 + 120.1 a phobya pump and bay res.

    Im having issues getting the pump quite. i have it on the floor of the case with lots of padding around it but its still vibrating enough to make the case side panels shake and become rather irritating. The vibrations seem to carry all the way up the tubes to the res which is also shaking a little. the pump also seems very noisy and has been like this since installation.

    is there any way i can stop the vibrations going through the loop and case?
    Can i safely run the pump on a fan controller without it burning out. i had it on the motherboard headers but they seem to be stuck on full whack now.

    any help would be great thanks
     
  2. IvanIvanovich

    IvanIvanovich будет глотать вашу душу.

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    Yes you can run it off a fan header if wanted, but there is no advantage as the pump is not really variable... might as well connect it to the psu. Well it's supposed to be, but I never had luck with mobo controlling it, I suppose it worked fine with a manual fan controller.
    I didn't like that pump at all while I had it (well I had the ddcpx which is the same thing). It performs ok, but the mount is ****. How I used to have mine was connected to the res with a male male fitting, and let it free hang off that. Stopped the noise.
     
  3. Lankuzo

    Lankuzo CPC Refugee

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    The motherboard fan headers run full whack and I havent got a cable to run straight from psu. I've tried it with the 2 fan controllers I have. Both controllers seem to get very hot. Scythe one has no heat sinks how ever the rheobus one does but is internal so can't change pump once installed.

    I'm going to run a but load of temp comparisons with all diff kinds of fan configs and pump speeds
     
  4. feathers

    feathers Minimodder

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    There is one type of foam that absorbs the vibration very very well. It's the low density stuff used for pond filters. I have it around my pump. I tried many other materials and nothing worked. The foam is very good at stopping vibration.

    http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FISH-POND...den_PondsWaterFeatures_UK&hash=item2a07f84a40

    I used the blue foam for it in this kit.
     
  5. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    I run my pump off of my lamptron fan controller, tis an ek punp (same model as the phobya ones).
    Also have a small bit of foam underneath it, now can't hear it, although ofcourse my pc isn't silent
     
  6. feathers

    feathers Minimodder

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    I got the EK DCP 4.0. Vibrates but powerful pump. Thinking of buying a second and having push pull.

    Should not be run from motherboard fan header.
     
  7. GeorgeStorm

    GeorgeStorm Aggressive PC Builder

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    Yeah that's the one I've got, I can't remember if I ever ran mine off of a motherboard header, think I used to run it off the PSU, but when I got my FC2, and had a spare channel, thought why not.
     
  8. Blarte

    Blarte Moderate Modder

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    Feathers, got a EK pump on my gaming rig and its so noisy, but I suppose once you start gaming you can't really notice it ..
     
  9. feathers

    feathers Minimodder

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    Do you have foam around it? My suggestion would be to make some little enclosure for it and line it with the foam.

    Unfortunately many computer cases serve to amplify vibration. My EK isn't in my case, it's about 1 metre away with the res and radiator. Even so it used to vibrate where it was located until I wrapped the blue foam around it.
     
  10. Lankuzo

    Lankuzo CPC Refugee

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    i have foam just like the one linked and it still vibrates the hell out of the case and whines like a dog. its allot quieter now ive moved things around. think it may be because the tubes are so tight.

    cooling seems to be allot beter now aswell
     
  11. Tangster

    Tangster Butt-kicking for goodness!

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    I've got my pump suspended on thick elastic bands. No vibration noise at all.
     
  12. Bloody_Pete

    Bloody_Pete Technophile

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    I have a D5 mounted on one of these and it is completely silent! Are you guys sure you don't have air locks in your pump?
     
  13. Blarte

    Blarte Moderate Modder

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    I've mounted it on the thin ally drive bay wall, which acts as a amp for all vibrations, however, its mounted on rubber dimple type mounts and the case has foam glued to the walls. Still.. it works perfectly well and I can live with it .. if I couldnt I would have swapped out my d5 vario for it by now .. Least I know the pump is working lol (pc situ is under the desk)
     
  14. Big Elf

    Big Elf Oh no! Not another f----ing elf!

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    The only way I got both of mine to run quietly was by using them at 5V even with a 'Shoggy Sandwich' similar to the one Pete is using. I did use it with a Lamptron FC2 without problems but I also used a Zalman Multi-Connector that gives a 5V feed. They're great pumps but noisy. If you've only got a couple of blocks in the loop 5V will be enough.
     
  15. Lankuzo

    Lankuzo CPC Refugee

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    Looks like my pump doesnt like being slowed down. It's killed the fan headers on my motherboard and now one of my fan controls on a scythe controller.

    Ive stuck it on a 4pin molex now so is running full speed. I'll be having a rebuild of my rig in march so will try some more foam and placing the pump after the res and not before.

    Anyone know how I can slow it down without killing something?

    Thanks
     
  16. feathers

    feathers Minimodder

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    Looking at the Phobya pumps, even the smaller one uses 1 amp which is at the limit for most motherboards. You should never power a pump from motherboard fan header ever. I have a friend who bought the same pump as me (EK DCP 4). It uses 1.8 amps but comes with a 3 pin mobo fan connector and no warning from EK that it will kill your fan header. I warned him not to connect it to mobo for power but he didn't listen. Within 12 months he burned out the fan header on the mobo.

    If you try and reduce the speed off a pump powered from mobo fan header then you actually increase the current draw and will exceed the 1 amp. If your phobya was the 1.8 amp version then it was doomed to kill the mobo fan header anyway.

    I have my DCP4 mounted by window alongside rad and res. The pump sits on low density foam (the type with the bigger holes used as pond filter).

    Suspending the pump on thick elastic bands as Tangster did is a good idea.

    "
    Anyone know how I can slow it down without killing something?" - if you're having to slow it down to stop vibration then better to find another pump or try a different mounting system.

    Slowing a pump down is like slowing a fan down to reduce noise, you lose cooling so you might as well have gone for a smaller pump or variable in the first place.

    I have to ask what coolant you're using?
     
    Last edited: 15 Feb 2012
  17. .//TuNdRa

    .//TuNdRa Resident Bulldozer Guru

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    Tbh; You can slow them down, but most pumps are unhappy at less than about 9V, or they just outright stop at that. I reccomend doing it if you find that full whack creates too much turbulence and noise, but still.

    Feathers; You run your cooling fans at 40% to reduce noise, following your logic; should you not have bought much worse fans and just run those at 100%?
     
  18. Big Elf

    Big Elf Oh no! Not another f----ing elf!

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    Zalman Multi-Connector as I mentioned above.
     
  19. feathers

    feathers Minimodder

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    That is a good point however, my fans speed up and down according to temperature. That would be fine for a pump too but I wouldn't want to run a fast pump at reduced speed constantly.
     
  20. .//TuNdRa

    .//TuNdRa Resident Bulldozer Guru

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    Then what of this scenario? I don't really need the full 18W of my pump, I could probably run it at closer to 11W and still get the flow-rate needed to keep it all cool, I bought it simply because it was the best deal at the time, and it was certain to be future proof (To an extent) I'll only need to upgrade when I start to have too much restriction, at which point; i'll need a D5, which will cost a fortune.
     

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