Aqua Coil + Dtec Heater Core in Parrallel....
 

Has anyone tried this before.

I am sure I am going to get a lot of people telling me to ditch the AquaCoil........however it does seem to do an decient job (and it is already hard moded into my case :)

What I am thinking about is taking say a Dtek Rad and placing it behind my Aquacoil, running the two in parrallel, and having a fan and shroud after the Dtek.


Diagram:

:FAN:: AQUACOIL:: DTECK RAD:: SHROUD::FAN:
------>-------------->---AIRFLOW--->-------->------->

(the coil has a good enough shroud built right into the casing)
The fans will probably be the same as the one I am using right now, Sunon 120mm 136CFM.

Has anyone tried this? Does anyone think it will work? I know some people will think I am nuts!

Well its a though. I am still planning out what kinds of updates I will be doing to my cooling rig and system.

Thanks for your thoughts in advance (constructive thoughts only!)

Hmm that's in series, not in parallel ...
The airflow will get killed badly. You should try to put em "in parallel" ie each one with its own fan and own airflow.
For the water it's a good idea, in parallel the flow will get divided -> low flow in rads = good thing.

Right on.
Parallel would be two fans shrouded side-by-side to both rads side-by-side. The baffle mod would have to be put in though (to increase airflow), so they might as well be seperated, it's the same thing.

About that Aquacoil... I'd bet it would perform better if the fan wasn't mounted right up against it, because of the center dead spot of fans.

If there is any way... you could try building a shroud to lift the fan about 2 inches away from the Aquacoil. That should be about optimal.

Also, if you've got the time and the tools, you could re-arrange the coil so that the coolant flows through it in parallel, not in series: it would perform better as the coolant flows slowly, and would be less restrictive, which would make the WB perform better.

the aquacoil does have a shroud, and it uses 2 copper tubes in parrallel (its been modified. the older version only had 1 length of tubing).

hum... I see! (looking at becooling). In a twin pipe, it should perform nicely.

What I was trying to say is that the fan should be 2" away from the rad, not right up against it. I don't know, maybe it doesn't matter.

but its not right up against it lol

http://becooling.safeshopper.com/images/bu1e770a.jpg

Boy! You gotta look real close!

Cyco-dude has it right on.

The coil does come with at least a 1" clearance between the fan and the fins so it effectively acts as a shroud at the same time without any additional moding.

With my original message, I forgot to point out that i will be running the WATER in parrallel but the RADIATORS in series. Reason for this is simple..........NO ROOM! :) The coil takes up the large empty space in the top of my tower case and fits perfectly there. My temps are adequate but I am seeing if I could do better. (FYI my temp delta is 6C-7C from ambient case temps.

I want my system to be completely portable for the occasional LAN party that I attend.

Granted the radiators in series is not the ideal way to get maximum cooling from them because one will drop the warm air into the other but since I am hurting for space, it may be my only option. Plus the air that comes out of the rad doesnt even feel warm at all and has a high CFM out the back (can feel the air against my hand from almost 5 feet away from the back!)

One other thing I was thinking about was that the coil was designed for low pressure drop where a heater core design inherantly has a pressure drop value. So running the two in parrallel, most of the water will flow through the coil and some will flow slower through the heater core, thus extending the time required to release the heat.

This is still in the evaluation stage so please tell me what you think. BTW thanks for the great feedback thus far, been helpful.

To keep the airflow from being too restricted, you could possibly(depending on space available) add a fan in between the two rads.

Cramped for space? What's your setup gonna look like?

You could always (with T&T - tools and time) extend the tubing and run 2 of those back-to-back...

Here is a quick pic as to what I am dealing with...

Maybe someone has an idea of where else I could put the extra radiator...http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~jtroutma.../waterpic2.jpg

Well, here's an idea, but it'll need some work:
setup the rads like I said above, cut the back of your bace, and slip it in. It should stick out by 1-2 inches.

Then... drop your CD/dvd's down by one, and put a 5 1/4 res there (made with TLC!).:D

Nice idea BigBen2K......one problem though...... those 5 1/4" bays are all full :)

Those empty looking bays below my CDROMS hold 3 of my 4 HDDs that incompass my RAID setup :) The other thing is that those HDD allow for a nice opening in the front of the case to allow air to come in (cooling the HDDS in the process) for the radiator fan just above.


Anymore ideas?

lower front of case. you can make the rad fit in between the chassis and bezel to save space. you'll have to move your pump towards the rear of the case a bit. you figure the tubeing out.
number one, make it so!

Acutally after reading your post again.... I think you and I have almost the same idea in mind.

I was thinking about puting the heater core inside the back of the coil and then simply running a hose to the outside of the case to get water to the heater core. THe line comming from the WB will be split just before the coil and one will go to the coil and the other to the heater core.

The heater core should stick out a bit in the back. THen putting a shroud after that and another fan to pull all the warm air between the radiators out, almost creating a sort of wind tunnel.

I am suspecting the fan will stick out about 5" out the back of the case.

Was that what you had in mind also BigBen2k?

Cyco Dude:

Would the fan be pulling into the case or blowing out?

Right now the pump is cooled by the case fan that is already in that area.....

have the fan suck cool air from the outside and pull it thru the rad. yes, this introduces somewhat warm air into the case as a result. find a way to duct it out, or add another intake / exhuast fan. maybe one of those slot fans that go in a spare expansion slot or something; u finger it out :p

also, isnt a 6x7 HC bigger than that rad youve got in there now?

One other thing..... I am trying to make the system so that there are no "water wells". As in, when I drain the system, there will be no pockets where water will sit in the tubes, block, or rad.

That pic is a bit out of date..... I have removed the chipset waterblock since then and replaced the MB since then but everything else is mostly the same.


I make things very complicated !! :D :D :D

dont drain the system then. use a valving system to flush / refill the coolant.

here, take a look @ this if you havent already to see what i mean. its the same system Swiftech uses on their watercooled cases.

before we get into mounting it all and stuff, why don't you try it first, and see what your temps are like with it outside the case, then consider mounting it in your case

Essentially, yes. Actually I was thinking about 2 aquacoils, I have to pay more attention! 2 Aquacoils, soldered back to back, cut the back of the case open, then slip it in. The shrouding could be trimmed, and with any luck, it wouldn't stick out all that much. Alternatively, you could slip a fan between those coils.

You are really cramped for space. I can see you have a big case, but it looks like it's not as deep as you need it to be.

I'll mention a blowhole, even though I don't like them myself. You could cut out the top of the case to fit a big mamma halfway down, then stack fans either on top of it, or under it.

I don't know, my first priority would be to try to eliminate that bottle and replace it with a res, but since you're changing your configuration, it just has to be last.

eh, OCWC made the big mammas (just another modified heater core like what Dtek and DDen sell). just setting ya striaght :p

Hehe... well that bottle is my res. and it works pretty dang well. Even better is that the bottle is not preventing me from extending anything from comming out of the case behind the rad. You cant see it in the picture, but the bottle is on the corner and the radiator is on the other side.

Yea I could put another Coil in but I am wondering how well a heater core would work compaired to the coil. With both in the system, I could theoretically get the best of both worlds. :) Must say though I have not been disapointed with the coils performance (just disapointed with how it looked after USPS got done shipping it!)

I think Brad does have a point about trying it outside the case before commiting myself to modding it into the case. I just hate wasting money on parts that I may end up not being able to use..... go figure.

Need to think about this one some more..........