MagDrive pump question
 

Ok so I FINALLY got my inline setup primed last night. This was beyond frustrating. During the process I almost picked up a hammer and destroyed everything in the computer. But I didn't. :)

Anyway, the pump is primed, almost all of the air is out. There is just a VERY LITTLE bit in there, but I'm not going to worry about it.

However, I let the pump run for about 4 hours straight just to see if anything would leak. Nothing leaked, but I noticed that the pump had heated up a good bit. Since none of the fans for the rad were on or anything, I also noticed that the waterblock and rad had heated up from the heat the pump added to the system.

Is this normal? It's a good 10 degrees F(maybe more) warmer than the air. I was wondering if this is possibly because of the very very very tiny ammount of air in the system?

I just want to be reassured that the pump is not going to burn up or something. I'm ok with a slight performace loss due to the air in the system, but I'm not ok with my pump exploding and taking everything with it.

I appreciate any help offered.

Jason

This is normal, depending on the pump they actually add a decent amount of heat (look at it's rating), but nothing your rad won't handle easily.

Getting all the bubbles out is easier if you add some water wetter or glycol antifreeze, it seems to stop foaming (and the pump will be quiter too), but you'll never get them all.

Are you by any chance using a Danner MagDrive pump? I had the same experience with a Danner Mag 7: it leaked air no matter how much goop I applied, and consequently it ran hot and loud. I thought, "oh well, not that big a deal." Uh, WRONG!! Eventually the leak got worse, not only allowing air in, but allowing coolant to escape. *All* the coolant. Fortunately my mobo temperature shutdown routine worked and my system survived (the pump and reservoir were outside the case).

I own a mag drive pump too, the first time i brought it it didint leak any water but then i started to play around with it then eventualy it leak on the edege so i used plumber glue to seal all the way around the part and now it seems that no coolent is leaking. If there is bubbles in the system it may be your cooling system is not fuuly tight check your hose brarbs for loose ness
and make sure its all the way tight!
excuse my spelling im not good with english!

I'm not talking about large bubbles, just the tiny ones that are moving so fast there hard to see, that every watercooled system has.

My pump is totally leak free. I actually pressure tested the whole setup in a tub of water (as I heard everyone complaining).

The heat comes from the pump, little heat is dissipated into the air. If you note as the pump size goes up power draw rises faster. This is why I'd recommend 350 max for single setup, or 500 for dual CPU. The pump in a lot of cases adds nearly half the heat the CPU adds.

If you put it together right, it won't leak. Make sure the hoses are routed as to not put excessive pressures on the inlet, or outlets (especially the water block for other reasons), and don't overtighten the fittings.

Fittings should be checked to see if they tighten before they run past the threads in the pump (finger tighten lightly without teflon, then remove, if there's any sign of new threads being cut, or if you measure how far the fitting has to go in and it goes this far before becoming mated, either get a new fitting, or use lots of teflon and do not overthread).

You should use about two wraps of teflon tape applied evenly, and in the same direction as the thread is applied (yes for sealing, teflon tape lubricates and seals contrary to another thread, I sold it for 6 years, but too much is worse also, as it balls up). Again, do not overtighten, pipe thread is tapered, so as you tighten it will mate. When you overtighten you begin to force it appart (increasing chance of leakage), and then start cutting new thread, stressing all the force on one new thread, ultimitely splitting the pump housing (without even feeling "tight").


Just my advice, but I've worked in plumbing and hardware for six years and have lots of experience with people splitting plastic fittings (especially brass into plastic like used in pumps), although it's nearly as common with nylon fittings, as people feal safer tightening.

Excellent explanation of how threads work Guy, thanx.