So I just got a Swiftech H140X open loop for my secondary rig as I want to learn a bit more about water, having only used closed loop before.
Thing is I don't like the standard black tubing so I got some clear tubing and coolant.
So the question is, can I just drain out what's there, attach my new tubes and fill it up again; is it that straightforward? Or do I have to rinse out the hardware thoroughly before I fill it up again?
I am aware that I'll have to run it a bit first and then top it off before installation.
Hi, you need to bleed your system aftter filling, a lot of the air will be forced and trapped in the loop after you fill it.To do that you let your pump cycle fluid for few hours sometimes shaking the whole thing to move boubles and it takes a long while. Adding more fluid when air gets released from loop etc.Air bubbles are bad , can lead to a lot of troubles, high temps, some strange noise in radiators etc Also a good rinse with distilled water will do or run few cycles of regular water( fill with water , let pump run for 15-20 mins, change water and again few times) and last 1-3 with distilled water.
Also it is a good idea to do it with pum connected to psu, only pump , disconnect other stuff well you will wave to do that outside of pc case anyways hehe. use paperclip to short mobo cable and start pump . There should be some youtube tutorials how to fill the loop and jumpstart psu with pump only ! watch them as its easier to understand ! And good luck , I had a leak yesterday, a faulty o ring :(
When doing custom loops, a good rule of thumb is to run the loop with the motherboard etc un-powered and the pump running from a separate PSU for a day or so. That way leaks due to unfastened connectors etc would show themselves and no hardware would actually break.
Right, got this job done yesterday and left it running overnight. I'm quite happy with the results this morning.
Cleaning went well. I used de-ionised water because it was only 2 bucks at the tool store across from my work.
Proceeded to give it a good rinse using the power supply on an old makeshift test bench my friend and I have here.
I put in the coolant and found that the best way to get the bubbles out was to run the pump with the fill port open as suggested and toss and turn the unit to direct all bubbles to the top. It was tricky to direct the bubbles as this design has a small fill hole inside for the reservoir that is separate from the channel to the rad which is where the main fill port is. Then quickly turning off the pump so all the air burps out the fill port. Add some more coolant; rinse and repeat.
I then added the tiniest drop of dish soap and let her run overnight. I came in this morning to see the loop was 90% clear with only a few micro bubbles around where the loop goes back into the reservoir. Hopefully they'll disappear over time.
Many thanks for the replies here guys, I appreciate it. I really enjoyed my first little foray in proper water cooling. As Obi Wan once said, I've taken my first steps into a much larger world :)
