pumps
 

I was originally going to get the eheim 1250 at 317 gph; then I saw ad for via aqua 370 gph pump on this site.

Eheim is around $70
Via Aqua is around $20(and gives more gph)

What is the deal? and what should I do?

Thanks to all for help

well if you buy the viaqua you will look like this: :cry: if on the other hand you get the ehiem you will NOT be a clueless :drool: .


that should about cover it. just remeber in the world of pumps you get wha tyou pay for.

And with eheims you're paying the overseas import taxes and fees.

I'm sure eheim's are great, but danners are really good too, and they cost about 1/2 of an eheim.

danners are a good option as well. good quality from what i hear. course i have an ehiem that has been running almost 2 years straight, so they have certainly earned MY trust. i agree about the price would be nice to see a cheaper model.

The thing with centrifugal pumps is, they are made to be on all the time. Starting and stoppong them can cause lots of problems, including sometimes getting jammed which can burn out the motor if you don't catch it in time (it would have to be jammed for a little while to burn out).

Most non el-cheapo pumps should last a long time as long as you don't turn them off too much. A fish tank friend of my specifically warned me against Rio pumps, so there's one to watch out for.

I've used a danner 250gph up until I switched to an eheim 1048 about a week ago. I have to say that both pumps are very reliable, except you have to seal the danner (and I cracked the intake), and the ehiem is somewhat easier to mount, and smaller. However, the danner spits out a whole a bunch more EMI than the Eheim. At the same distance, my monitor was unbearable with the danner but pretty much flicker free with the eheim. Won't make a difference unless you put your tower on top of your desk

Actually, I'll counter the Rio slam. Ive been running my Rio1300 for 4 months straight. No problems as of yet. It runs silent and puts off no noticable EMI. As long as you dont start and stop your pump everyday, just about any will run for a long time.

Eheims are like the classy cars of water pumps. They are rather bulky and heavy. However, they are dead silent, very reliable, and give off an aura of quality. The via aqua is more like a ford taurus. It is a nice pump, not imported, and gives you everything you need, nothing you don't. I would assume the Eheims are a bit more reliable, a bit quieter, etc. Does it justify the price? Up to you...

...Personally, I am about ready to use a $12.99 mini-jet pump in my computer hehe :).

-Kev

Don't judge a pump by the GPH written on the box for unrestricted flow. Check the maximum head and the cut off pressure; they will show big differences between some of the cheaper magdrives and the higher end ones. I have heard issues with EMI for the ViaAquas (only from one person though with pump near monitor).

Eheim is around $70
Via Aqua is around $20

buy two Via Aqua's, if one dies....tough, you've still saved $30. At least thats my point of view

You guys remember MicroStealth? The computer I gave to my mother for Mother's Day 2001? That computer has been on 24/7 since then, with the little Rio 180, and it's still pumping silently. I also built a friend of mine a nearly identical setup last summer, his is still purring too. We just did some upgrading on it actually. We put on a UnaBlock, and a BlackIce radiator. :)

just remember that the rating on the ehiem's are in imperal gallons not us gallons. im pretty sure that a imperal gallon is more than a us gallon

Um, no. Eheims are rated in Liters per hour, and that rating was converted to US gallons. So they ARE rated in US gallons. :)

woops after looking at the ehiem webpage again i see


1250...Centrifugal pump
Pump output 1200 l/h 264 lmp. gal./h. 7317 U.S. gal./h.
Delivery head 2,00 m/wat.col. 6 ft. 7 in./wat.col.
Power consumption 28 W
Hose connection (suction side) Ø17mm (3/4")
Hose connection (pressure side) Ø13mm (1/2")
Dimensions: lenght x width x height 180 x 95 x 120 7.1 x 3.8 x 4.7 in.

must be a misprint on the us gallons per hour

so i was wrong(theres a first time for everything):cry:

I've been running a Via Aqua 1300 for 1 Year now with no problems. I picked it up a http://waterchill.com. They have a lifetime warrenty.

Exactly. Plus the el-cheapo pumps are smaller and fit into little nooks and crannies.

Life-time warranty doesn't really matter on a $20 pump, it breaks, your CPU (much more expensive) is probably gone (if you dont get to it within reasonable time).

not if you have a lowly p4 like me!

also, Dave33, glad to hear your success story. I'm about to order a viaaqua, but probably 480 model. plus, me and leufken got into it over another forum, so i won't be ordering from him hehe.

if you have a large enough block like the maze2, it will take quite some time to actually get hot enough to start frying stuff. If you're infront of your computer then you will notice the temps going up. I wouldn't trust it 24/7 though with noone there

The Eheim specs for the 1250 should read 317 US gallons per hour, not 7317.

http://www.eheim.com

I was all set to buy an Eheim, and even saw a 1250 that was on sale for just a couple of dollars more than the 1048, until I read about the Rios...

That Rio 180 is actually more energy efficient than the 1048, and can be had for less than 10$ :eek: !!!

So I figure, since I was willing to fork out 60$+ for the Eheim, then I should be willing to get 2 Rios... and try to setup a redundant system.

But a lot of people say it's poorly shielded, and I can't find anywhere where it says that, even though it's submersible, it can be used in-line (a.k.a bone-dry). Anyone?

I'm not concerned about the shielding, but I am about the submersion.

That's true. If it does fail you could have a problem. I have a motherboard bios setting that will shut down my pc if the temp reaches 140 F.

I think that using MBM is just a reality that we have to accept. Since all AMD CPUs now include a thermal diode, and mobos are able to read them, it just makes good sense, water-cooling or not. I'm sure that MBM isn't CPU intensive at all. It's even better when mobo manufacturers understand that!

But still, just for good measure (but mostly for the fun of the exercise), I'm putting a flow sensor in my rig.

I'm also going to put a number of temperature sensors, just because I want to measure how the system is performing (and share some figures with ya'll !).

And since I'm an electronics amateur, and not willing to buy a Digidoc5, I will build my own interface: probably an internal circuit that hooks up to a serial port. I might add a display (like an LCD) but that would use another port, so I just might put the whole thing on USB.

One thing I will build, is a controller for the Pelt, because I just don't believe in wasting power to cool a CPU below the temperature it will reach at full load.

Lots of planning...

damn guys... your not supposed to be your computer's bitch... you make it work for YOU

put some type of automated shutdown system on there if you are worried about a pump failure... there is plenty of free software out there to do autoshutdowns when the temp gets high... software not reliable enough??

there are several hardware thermal shutdowns... my favorite would be a DigitalDocs with a rely on the PowerGood line. (its a little more complicated than that because the DD5 trips every channel for about a second when it turns on... but you get the idea)

It works for me, it entertains me!

Electronics is a hobby of mine, you see...Gotta stay sharp!

thats what i wanna hear!

And you don't get grease under your fingernails!!!

BigBen2K:

About running Rios in-line; yes there is a way of doing it. I have a Rio1100 and modified it to run in-line and it's been chugging away for almot 7 months now with no signs of death in the near future.

All i did was went to the hardware store and got some brass fittings, sand paper (250grit) and 2 part epoxy. Sanded out the intake and the exhaust lines until the brass fittings slide in snug and then sealed them in there with a nice serving of the epoxy. It has never lost a drop of water for 5 months now (even with a slightly cracked intake housing :)

Dont have pics avaiable right now but can get them per request.

Mine barely gets warm to the touch running in-line but then again I have it right in front of my case fan (not my radiator fan). Some air flow around that type of pump would probably not be a bad idea.

BTW many people have said that Rios are POC pumps and that they die often. Well this may be true again if you turn your pump on and off twice a day. Mine has it's power cord going right out the back of the case into its own power outlet and runs 24/7. So far the only time it even makes noise is when I change out the coolant and get some bubbles in the system.

From my experiences, they are decient pumps (not the best but decient enough to work reliably for 24/7 operation)

Thanks for the tip Jtroutma.

Thniking about it though, I'd setup 1 or two pumps, submerged, in a res, above the PSU, along with a chiller. All of this in a tower case, of course!

This res would trap air, be easy to fill, quiet, and take up a minimal amount of space.

Hum. I'm starting to like the submerged pump!

But I don't intend on leaving it on all the time. My usual pattern is to leave it on for a couple of days, then turn it off for half a day. So now I'm thinking that the Rio might not be such a good idea.

I think that those people that slammed the Rios are just running a rig with a lot of flow resistance, and it kills their pumps, simply because it was under-rated for the purpose.

DC's seems to be running fine, and I'm sure he doesn't have any kinks in his tubing... ;)

I've only heard of Rios from a friend of mine who does a lot with fish tanks. He's had them freeze up for no reason before, after months of running just fine. When they freeze up, they burn themselves out, and heat up the water like crazy.

Still, if you're using monitoring software or happen to have a board that does the temp monitoring/shutdown for you, it shouldn't be too bad.

You just have to weigh the tradeoffs I guess. My Danner pump was less than $30 (though I might've done some coupon-trickery to get it...).

i thought most if not all of the amd mobo's do not read the diode.