Filling and draining..
 

Hello everyone! I'm a long time lurker, first time poster. I figured I would post this question here since you guys are the Pros of watercooling. If this is the wrong section for this question, then I'm sorry (couldn't find a better place for it). Anyhow, in my newest project I decided to go with watercooling. I have done all of my research, so I'm not really a newbie in the subject. Currently I am using a Danger Den Bay Reservoir, before that I was using a T-line. And I must say, both of them are a pain in the ass when it comes to filling and draining. The reservoir is a pain to fill and drain, but works great for bleeding. The T-line works great for draining, but takes along time to bleed and is a pain to fill. I thought about using the Res. and a T but, that wouldn't solve my filling problem and I would like to have one thing. So the question is, what is the best setup for filling/draining/bleeding? It has to look decent (I can mod it to some extent, but I don't want a bunch of nasty PVC pipe or something) this will be a show case and size could be an issue (I'm using a Lian Li PC-61), so I would like it to be "smaller". Price does not matter, I'm willing to pay a little for my convenience. Thank you for your time, any and all comments, suggestions, or questions are welcome!



Edit: Could a Mod please move this to the right place? I'm sorry, I didn't see that this was a sub-forum. *feels stupid*

I got the Danger Den res and it works well for my needs. I have an external case so it sits in the top and I just pour water straight through the top of the case (have a look at http://wc.i-squared.co.uk). I suppose if you're internal and you have the space you could do the same with it at the top of your PC case?

Yes I had some trouble in the begining with getting a good fill/drain setup. My chiller has 3/4" fittings on it, so what I do is connect one hose to the outlet side and then put a funel on the intake side. It's a big funel so it won't overflow If I put too much in at once. After I fill the res I plug in the outlet connection and fill my "T" line. My "T" is installed between the chiller outlet and the pump intake. I found this was the optimal place to put the fill line as my pump is installed at the lowest point in the system. After this, I useually lift up the pump as it can be moved out of the case at an angle. This combined with movement of the reservoir tends to get a large amount of the air out. After that I turn it on and top off the fill line as neeeded. It works well for my needs.

I will say that I had a bad experiance with putting a "T" line that was installed between the chiller and the Maze 4. When adding fluid into the "T" some of the water leaked out of the funnel and into the insulation. This leaked all the way down twoard the block. After that it leaked out of the bottom of the insulation and dripped onto the UV shield that I keep over my vid card when I am filling my system. Luckily all of the water dripped down onto the bottom of the case. Not the smartest thing I have ever done but a valuable learning experiance.

how is a Tline a pain to fill, just put a funnel in the top and pour?

but thats besides the point

i have a t-line, what i do is take the pump out of the case (it rests on the bottom), put it in a big bowl, and pull the input connection. it drains out the one side, and beyond the pump drains through the pump.

everything else is trickier. to get the block empty, i take the pump off so i have two tubes. i put one in the bowel and blow in the other. of course i get sick from the waterwetter and in a few hours have to lie down for a day or two, but it powers out most of the water. anything else i just blow when possible, tilt when not.

The res is a pain for me to fill because I have to unscrew it, pull it out, unscrew the cap, and try not to spill and water when I tilt my case back. Its kinda hard to get it full. The T-line is hard to fill unless you have two or you leave the cap off of your res. I can't just take my pump out to drain it, everything is bolted down (its a lan/show case). I would like to have something that is fast to drain and fill while being easy to do (I'm complicated, I know). Thanks for the replies!

Mine was piss easy to fill. Just shoved a funnel in the top of the case (see above) and poured in some to fill the pump, turned the pump on and kept filling until the system was full. Then I tilted it around a bit to get all the air out and topped it up - simple. (Although a little scary as this was my first ever mod).

I thought about trying to do that (but use an aquatube or criticool instead of the danger den), but I'm a little worried about having that kind of weight on the top of my case (theres a window) and there isn't much room. I may end up doing that anyhow and having a T-line, or I'll just use my bayres.

BTW, your system looks nice. How are your temps?

http://www.uploadit.org/Starbuck3733T/newres1.jpg
PLUS
http://www.uploadit.org/Starbuck3733T/drain1.jpg
AKA
http://www.uploadit.org/Starbuck3733T/drain2.jpg

Equals EZ-Drain.
See the details here: http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/sho...5&postcount=47

Wide shot:
http://www.uploadit.org/Starbuck3733T/overall1.jpg

Heh, that's a good idea starbuck. Looks good :) That case is really LONG!

Thanks isisfreak. Temps are 33 CPU, 36 NB and 52 GPU no load, and 37 CPU, 38 NB full load after 24 hours (not tried GPU yet). A LOT better than with just my fans :)

Yes, it is. I really do not like full towers at all, but I needed the storage (as you can see, 3HDDs (2 watercooled), 2 opticals, and the dead space at the top is only dead because the radiator is about 2cm too long for those bays to be useable. it does make a nice spot to put my res and custom electronics (still in development)