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Do I need a reservoit with a DIY loop?

Discussion in 'Watercooling' started by Colonel Sanders, 10 Apr 2019.

  1. Colonel Sanders

    Colonel Sanders Minimodder

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    Here are the cliff notes: A couple years ago I saw a local craigslist ad for some "water cooling equipment", I knew it was all junk and I didn't really want any of it, but the seller had a peltier and I said "can I buy a peltier for $5 from you?" and he said "you can have the whole lot for $5". That is how I ended up with 5 peltiers (unknown wattage/specs), 2 120mm radiators, and 2 12V DC pumps for $5.I didn't even want 9/10 items but here it is occupying space in my basement.

    Fast foward to today, I purchased a 220W TDP AMD space heater a couple weeks ago. Next I ordered a Noctua DH-14 cooler for this CPU, and my CPU didn't melt when it idled in the BIOS. I haven't yet installed an OS and tried any tests like video encoding or prime95 since I'm still kinda nervous about the idea of having X many pounds of gigantic Noctua CPU cooler strapped to my motherboard. I'm nervous about the stress of the weight of this cooler hanging off the side of my board and the impractical way I can think of to relieve the strain is to douse this CPU in water.

    I know have a "ZKSI" brand DC30A-1230 pump, an AGPtek radiator, some vinyl tubing from Home Depot and a $2 aluminum block from Ali-Express.I do not have any sort of official radiator, and I am attempting water cooling the cheapest way possible. Things are going to go wrong.

    That said, is it 100% necessary to include some sort of reservoir in this cooling setup? I'm totally with buying a cheap reservoir, but I think AIO coolers lack reservoirs so surely I can test this setup without a reservoir? I do not believe my low budget parts will sufficiently cool this CPU, nor do I expect to not have leaks, but thus far I have invested ~$10 in all of my water cooling parts and I'm hoping to have a proof of concept that I can upgrade in the future.

    Just how terrible of an idea is this? Actually, I'm not sure I want to think about that. Is a reservoir 100% necessary or how can I get away without using one?
     
  2. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    You can use a fill line tee'd into the system as a reservoir. It would just be more awkward to fill. Also water can dissappear over time in a loop. So you would have to check the fill line to ensure the system isn't running low on fluid
     
  3. Colonel Sanders

    Colonel Sanders Minimodder

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    Thanks Shadow! Do you by chance know, how do AIO coolers pull this off? Or do they also suffer with water dissappearing over time in a loop? Do you know what causes the water to dissapear? I will search google a bit for how to use a fill line in a water cooling loop.
     
  4. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    I don't know the physics behind it to be honest. Here's a link though:
    https://www.overclockers.com/pc-water-coolant-chemistry-part-ii/
    It might just be stuck air that works its way out over time, rather than the water level actually decreasing

    I believe I noticed the water level drop in my loop over time when I was watercooling. I never topped it off though, because I had a reservoir. AIOs probably use materials and/or construction techniques to where its a non issue. But again, I don't really know why or how it happens.
     
  5. Colonel Sanders

    Colonel Sanders Minimodder

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    Thanks! I must admit I kinda skimmed over your link since it looked like it was mostly about the proper additives to prevent corrosion and bacteria growth, if it had a section on water disapperance I must have missed it.

    That said, I did find another link from google: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/water-cooling/45909-water-disappearing-loop.html one specific post: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/water-cooling/45909-water-disappearing-loop.html#post543955 is from someone who claims to work with dialysis and says that it is totally normal for closed systems to loose up to 5% of their volume per month, perhaps because tubing might be porous. I didn't find a definitive answer, but apparently gremlins stealing the water is a real thing.

    Unfortunately when I went to buy tubing at my local hardware, I swear I grabbed a roll from the right box for 3/8" ID (9.5mm) but when I compared it to my pump and block fittings I immediately realized it was too small. Then I read the tag - either I'm dumb or some ignorant customer grabbed a roll of 5/16" ID (7.9mm) tubing and "reshelved" it in the 3/8" box. Judging by how often I see stuff mis-shelved, I should have known better and I should have looked at the tag when I bought it but here I am with a 20ft roll of 5/26" ID vinyl tubing that will be utterly useless for my cooling needs. I will take the pump or block in with me next time to actually make sure that I can buy the right size tubing.
     

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