Cooling Pump issues...

So I saved a bunch of money and got myself a pump gifted to me by my fish-loving boss. It's fairly quiet, a bit heavy-duty, mag-driven and only has one problem...

It has a flow rate of over 58 lpm. Yes, that's right...not lp H, lp M. This puppy moves water like no tomorrow, cause it's built for a 100-150 gallon saltwater fishtank. Its threaded ends are 3/4" just for starters.

Overcompensation is an understatement here...but what I'm wondering is if this could present any problems for a system if I funnel this bad boy down to 3/8" inner diameter tubing. Perhaps I could develop something similar to a dimmer switch to slow the pump down?

It was free, and I figure I should try to give it a go...but does anyone have an idea of if this is perhaps TOO strong?

 

I can see maybe the water eventually heating up just because it doesn't ahve time too cool down, but that would be probably negligable unles your running it full out for 24+hrs.
other cinsiderations are the rad, can it handle that much pressure? and on that note I guess the whole computer... when you turn it on I can see it actually moving with that much force moving through the tubes.
don't know if this will work or matter, but maybe pumping it through a large res befoer it goes to anything might reduce the presure. \
but since its good for a 100gal tank it would have to be one big res.

 

Hmm, perhaps I should run it this way:

Pump --> 10gal fishtank --> reservoir --> different 10gal fishtank --> Istanbul --> cpu block --> rad --> pump



Or maybe I'll look harder at that dimmer switch idea. Where's coolmiester when I need him!? Or haddy? they always have good ideas...

 

What pump is it???

12volt or 240volt??

An Eheim 1260 is rated at 40 LPM (2400 LPH) so you may be able to put it on some kind of rheobus.

Really need to know what pump it is TBH

 

A 10gal fishtank isn't a big enough res?

lol

then again Istanbul should cover you pretty well. I'd bet you wouldn't even need a rad since there would be so much water to heat in the system.... it might make a cycle once every week

 

So you all have some idea of what I'm dealing with, I filled up my kitchen sink and put my pump in it...it shot a 3/4" stream of water up to my ceiling with no intention of slowing yet...

 

hehe, take some pics mate ... stick it in a bucket outside and film it

 

You have to have the reservoir before the pump not after (If you think about it, the pump can't push water through the reservoir. so you then have the conventional:

FishtankRes-> Pump-> Rad-> Blocks->


Now if you decide the pump is wasted on your 3/8iID loop how about the dual loop version:

Fishtank->BigBadPump->BigLongTube->huge scary radiator and fans somewhere ouside the house out of earshot->Fishtanks

and then:

Fishtank->VaguelyNormalQuietPump->Blocks->Fishes

 

Hehe...thanks for the correction on that, Risky.

This is going to be interesting...and don't worry, fivecheebs, there'll be pictures...it'd almost be sad NOT to have pics of this. I wish my digicam recorded video, though.

Ya know, some people suggest a fishtank computer...but can their watercooling setup power a fishtank AND a computer? I think not...

 

Pictures are a MUST

 

Coolmiester,

It's a 110v (remember, I'm stateside) MAG-Drive aquarium pump. I guess that's the name of it...I can post a picture if it would help. We have a very large fishtank in the office and our aquarium guy recommended a backup pump "just in case," but then he moved to a different type of filtering system altogether.

So the 1260 does 40lpm? There's hope, then... I was figuring on using an actual light-switch dimmer for my rheobus, like one would use to control their dining room lights.

 

So you ever gonna give us those pics?

 

Getting there. Haven't had a whole lot of time to mess around with it at home recently, and the missus is giving me a honey-do list a mile long. :

They'll get here, though...

 

tbh thats prob too much pump for any water system, what sort of current doe that beast draw? it may even end up hindering performance mate if it disspates to much energy into the water

whats its power rating?

 

You fail to mention the 2 most important criteria for a pump: Head pressure and Power comsumption

From your description the pump sounds like a very bad idea for use in a closed loop system. It may have a very high flow rating but i doubt it as the head rating to match and its the head which is the important bit. Without head pressure the pump will never get near to achiving the high flow.

The other point is to get all this extra flow it takes energy. for a high flow pump the power comsumption goes up a huge amount. However most of the power dosent get you anything, most is just dumped into the loop as extra heat! (a very bad thing, obviously)

The Eheim 1260 is a great example of this, Its got a very high flow rating and a pretty good head rating but the power consumption is through the roof! It makes so much heat it cancels out any small gains from the extra flow and means it attuly performs worse than a lower flow rated pump (1250 etc.)

slater..

 

The only time i've found a 1260 to make noticeable heat is when you restrict the inlet barb to 1/2" which is essentially making the pump work harder than it should and even then it is no where near the heat output of a Laing D4.

The 1260 is a great pump if for example your considering running a system from another room maybe a garage below an office which one of our customers has been doing successfully for over a year.

 

look above bro... He put it in the kitchen sink and blew water to the celing withought any pipes...

i say use the pump but keep it in a separate case along with a full car radiator off a economy car or something and large 1-2galon water tank... In that config it should cool any cpu and gp[u and chipset and hdd on the market pasively withought any problems...My two cent.

And the pump is a mag drive pump? then thats the brand as I have heard of mag pumps and they are badd a$$ with a capital S.. But be warned that they run a bit warm but nothing that should hinder your performance.

 

Wow, another room? So I guess it's safe to assume that either the EHEIM 1250 or 1260 pumps are over-kill for a 1/4" ID watercooling system...even if it's running two blocks away...

 

Your case is an exception in which the problems are reduced due to a exeptionaly large radiator. However its still overkill im afrade.

Its proven the 1260 is a bad pump for watercooling, huge powerconsuption, huge cost, huge size etc.

D4 = Power Consumption: 24 W, Maximum head 10 ft
1260 = Power Consumption: 65 W, Delivery Head: 12ft 1"

Its obvious just from the figures

slater..

 

I'll make sure to go nowhere NEAR the 1260 I agree, I think it's pretty obvious, looking at the 1260's size, that it's not efficient for comp. water cooling.