replacing a koolance pump/rez

[RussianBlue]

i have a somewhat 'rare' koolance 3U rackmount case that i use as my daily. it's 3-4 years old and the pump/rez combo is leaking. plastic is cracked and repairs keep deteriorating. i called koolance for a replacement, and unlike last time i dealt with them several years ago, the guy was a complete pri*k. apparently they don't offer a replacement. can't say i blame them but...

Anyway, i use this PC for work, so i really need to be able to swap out the old one as easily as i can. i'd love to get a few recommendations if you can.

the OEM koolance pump/rez is 170x64x125 mm L/W/H

i am pretty close to purchasing THIS (http://www.frozencpu.com/products/6728/ex-pmp-60/Innovatek_Eheim_Circulating_PCPS-Pump_12V_w_Integrated_Reservoir_1104000.html?tl=c1 07s152b22) as a replacement, but would love to get some thoughts from you guys. Thanks again in advance for any guidance you can provide. Cost is not too big an issue as much as ease of install.

here are some pictures which might help communicate what i am dealing with:

http://e28-535i.com/upload/DSC_0449lg.JPG

http://e28-535i.com/upload/DSC_0451lg.JPG

[Naja002]

I've dealt with the same pump/res cracking/leaking. It was in a full-tower though. It already had a dual bay res, so I just tossed the koolance pump/res and replaced it with a MCP350. I still run that setup today.

As far as that particular pump goes...I can't say because I've never used it....or even seen it before this post. What I can say is this:

1) Eheim makes top quality stuff and, unlike most manufacturers, Eheim is honest and resasonably accurate about the specs/capabilities of their products.

2) Since You are using in a rackmount case the 1.6m max head shouldn't be a problem, but keep it in mind...it isn't much, but should be plenty for your situation.


Just wanted to add: Nice Find! :up: I haven't seen that before and it seems like a prefect solution to your problem considering the space limitations....:up:

[RussianBlue]

i think i'll probably give it a whirl. Innovatek seems to make some pretty high quality gear themselves (by reputation anyway) and the fact that they paired with Eheim on this gives me some confidence.

here's what looks like another option:

the other product (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=59_367&products_id=23064) i found this morning was by Magicool, which also may work.

i am thinking that either of these, being aftermarket units, will likely provide a bit more head than the stock Koolance unit. the key thing for me is low noise, and the Koolance is definitely nice in that regard.

[Shocker003]

Why don´t you try this pump/res. out(Alphacool Eheim 600 Station II 12V)
http://www.aquatuning.de/product_info.php/info/p859_Alphacool-Eheim-600-Station-II-12V.html

Please check if it will fit in your limited space. I could cool my cpu + nb + sb with it. Had to use an AP1510, when i added a gpu block to my loop.

[Naja002]

Personally, I would go with the Eheim. It gives you an assurance of quality--long-term quality.

Also, what I was referring to about being honest with specs:

The Eheim claims 250l/h.
The Magicool claims 700l/h.

The way it normally works is:

Magicool's 700l/h claim is with zero restriction--its the best you will never get. :up: Once the pump is hooked up to anything....that figure starts dropping like a rock.


Eheim generally offers their figures based upon real world applications. So, even though you may not get quite 250l/h.....you should be close to it. It just depends upon your particular setup. For $10 difference: Go Eheim. :up:

I cannot speak for Innovatek though......but I would guess that they got their figures from Eheim. Eheim is just quality. You pay more for it, but if reliabilty matters long-term--its actually pretty inexpensive compared to the rest.

That's my opinion and experience....

[dopestuff]

don't wanna puch you into some firection but the alphacool one doesn't seem verry sturdy (thin acrylic) and i can't see a filling hole on it (might be behind the wires though)

personaly i would go whit the einheim for relyability and just product quality :up:

[Shocker003]

Alphacool 600 is made with very durable acylic from one of the best chemical company in Germany and it comes with an Eheim pump.
It has an oil glass refill port, which makes life easy for you when bleeding.

[RussianBlue]

thanks for all the suggestions guys. looks like a fair number of good choices.

unfortunately, the alphacool looks like it is too wide. i only have about 65mm to work with before breaking out the angle grinder...which i don't plan to do. i'm due for a whole new setup in about 6 months (still using socket 939!) so i don't want to put a whole lot of manual labor into this if i don't have to.

i did some recon on the R-PMP01, which is the pump currently inside the Koolance setup. Curious as to how this compares to a new setup in 'real world' terms.

• Model: R-PMP01
• Nominal voltage: 12 VDC
• Nominal head: 1.5m (59” or 2.1 PSI)
• Nominal flow: 1L/min (15.8 GPH)

[RussianBlue]

damn. no dice on the innovatek/eheim pump. it's too wide also. not sure how i missed that in the first place but i did.

NEXT.......

[aspire.comptech]

mcp355 with a res top?

[Naja002]

mcp355 with a res top?

Or just an mcp350/355 with a t-line (or 2 to help with bleeding)....

[Eddie3dfx]

how big is the spot. I can measure my eheim-innovatek resevoir-pump for you. 7" long (pump + resevoir) slightly bigger than 2 1/4" wide.

looks like a hardrive is 6" long, so is that an extra inch you have there?

[KaptCrunch]

the best suggestion koolance using 3/8, 10mm barbs ?

mcp355 with a res top?

+2 :up:

Or just an mcp350/355 with a t-line (or 2 to help with bleeding)....

rack case should bleed easy ;)

[NaeKuh]

http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=296

(6.3cm x 9.8cm x 8.3cm)

uses the DDC3.2 18W.

Should be a drop in replacement to your pump fixture:


I would keep koolance on koolance in order to preserve warrenty. Also seeing how the rest of your system is koolance as well.

http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/images/more/tnk-400_p0.jpg

uhhh if you do order it, can do tell me if it really comes with a red ddc impeller? That means its a DDC-2, and I might actually be interested in it:
http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/images/more/tnk-400_p1.jpg

Other option would be a DDC-3.2 with a res/top.

[aspire.comptech]

There's a guy in the bst section selling a ddc 2 with a petras top for 65 shipped.

I already bought the stock one :)

[Rise]

I have the same exact case & pump that I might be willing to sell... it's *never* been used as I was too much of a wuss to hook up my water cooling at the time :rofl:

see this thread: http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=203824

[RussianBlue]

strange. i wasn't getting notified of all these awesome responses.

thanks a million.

anyway, here are the measurements i am dealing with. i'm going to
look at some of these suggestions here and evaluate....

http://e28-535i.com/upload/RM3b.jpg

[Eddie3dfx]

It saids you have 2.5" while the 355 pump is 2.4"

Why not use an alphacool-micro-res? with the 355 Not sure about the res width on that one.

The innovatek-eheim-resevoir won't fit, as it's 7" long.

Like so.

http://members.shaw.ca/rain.maker/build2007/RainMaker226.jpg

[xb1]

You can always try fixing the leaks with epoxy. I doubt that the cracks are in high pressure areas, so epoxy might work even though it doesn't chemically bond to acrylic or PC. You'll need to sand the crack a bit to make a valley for the epoxy to fill, kinda like filling a cavity on a tooth.

edit: And any place you used an adhesive with methyl ethyl ketone, you'll also need to "drill" and epoxy over it.

[RussianBlue]

methyl ethyl who? i think my grandmother had a friend with that name!

just kidding. actually, i have been partially successful with epoxy repairs to date, but i'm afraid i'm just not getting a good seal where the drain plug screws in because the crack traverses the threaded socket. i have since 're-tapped' the epoxy but the seal is just not as good as it should be, leading to significantly faster evaporation.

exacerbating the issue is probably my WCG crunching that runs from 7pm to 7am every day along with the fact that the building turns off the A/C after hours. So it's getting damn hot in the room as well.

right now, i've got the pump upside down because the leaks are on the bottom side. i don't want to turn it over and risk anything oozing out. i have slathered epoxy to no end, but seemingly have yet to isolate the leak.

i think the first crack started at some point with my trying to remove the drain plug a tad...er....violently, and/or re-tightening it in excess.

[RussianBlue]

from the options mentioned here, my very first choice for ease of install would be the Koolance TNK-400 mentioned by NaeKuh.

however, it's PRICEY. seems like if i could find some combo of pump/top/rez utilizing the Laing DDC series, if it would fit...would provide much better flow for an even smaller price.

http://www.dangerden.com/store/files/images/pumps/ddc/rev3/ddc32_size_750w.jpg

[aspire.comptech]

from the options mentioned here, my very first choice for ease of install would be the Koolance TNK-400 mentioned by NaeKuh.

however, it's PRICEY. seems like if i could find some combo of pump/top/rez utilizing the Laing DDC series, if it would fit...would provide much better flow for an even smaller price.


You realize that's exactly what the TNK-400 is...

It's an 18W DDC3.2 with a pump top/res...

Several other companies sell both the pump and various tops/reservoirs combo's for it.

[sniperbob]

i have the exact same pump in my Koolance PC2-901bw case. About half a year back the pump/res started to weep/leak. After trying all sorts of epoxy's and what-not, i finally got desperate and used some JB-weld after sanding down the troubled area with a coarse grit sandpaper to give the putty more surface area to adhere to. Well needless to say, i have zero pump/res problems to report to this date. Everything is tightly sealed. So if you are looking to fix the existing pump/res, i would recommend some JB-weld

[NaeKuh]

You see the funny thing is tho...

if he pieced it out any other way its still gonna cost the same.

DDC-3.2 = 64.99 <--- cheapest...
Top = On average 20-50 dollars.

Replace DDC-3.2 top = Warrenty VOID 85% of the time. <only way is to get the vendor to warrenty it>

Koolance pump unit dies = Koolance Warrenty replaces it, cuz oh dear lordie! that entire setup is koolance!

So koolance TP-400= Win expecially since the extra head output and pressure from the XSPC res top wont help you JACK cuz you have a koolance block. :rofl:

So get the TP-400 and have warrenty on the entire unit. My 2 cents.

[RussianBlue]

yeah, i went for the Koolance setup because it was all-inclusive...quiet, and allowed me to achieve my overclocking goals, and mounted in my server rack.

often thought about upgrading everything but at this point will wait until i get a new mobo/cpu setup as well.

i actually have some JB Weld i use all the time on my custom turbo car. stuff is MAGIC! might give that a whirl, but it's looking like the TNK-400 might be the ticket.

i'd order a new Waterblock along with it, but i'd have to take out the motherboard....no time to do that right now.

[NaeKuh]

russain, the increased head output wont help ya, unless u get a better block.

Its seriously the no brainer, no headache solution to your problem, and gives ya warrenty to protect yourself since you do use other koolance parts.

:up:

[RussianBlue]

it just bums me out because i have my cart prepped on the Koolance site with the necessary nozzles etc to make a drain valve and added in some coolant and a couple lengths of that anti-kink spring stuff and i am up to $167 BEFORE shipping. I'd love to put the $190 (after shipping) toward a new system instead! but here we go again...keep what you got or upgrade. I fell into this with my car and have forever looked back on what could have been had i just junked my car and bought a new one!

any all-in water cooled systems out there worth taking a look at that are under $400?

[NaeKuh]

any all-in water cooled systems out there worth taking a look at that are under $400?

shiet for that price you could peice out one. :X

[RussianBlue]

seriously.

[NaeKuh]

seriously.

dead serious.

[luxbel]

Without being biased on products, yes. You can easily get a pretty good system in for less than 400. A MCR rad would be about 50. the MCP355 pump is max 75. the xspc top everyone talks about is about 20. the swiftech micro res is about 20, or the alphacool res for shuttles is about 30. add in a cpu block, for let's say tops 75, and you're at abouts 250 for a basic system. add in fittings, tubing coils and bling to your heart's content with the remaining 150.

[Spankyfart]

Eheim/alphacool compact (res/pump in one) are pretty good for small w/c setups.
If you don't have the room, bend a small piece of aluminium in an L shape and mount it at the backplate of your motherboard.
I don't have any pictures but I did that with my ex's htpc.
http://www.thecoolingshop.com/images/prods/600StationII230V.jpg

[NaeKuh]

lol which is why i said dead serious. :T

[RussianBlue]

heheh... i should have been a little more clear in communicating my actual voice inflection, but note that there was no question mark behind my "seriously".

regardless, i love the suggestions here. what's CPU block du jour these days? one of the latest Apogees? and is 3/8 tubing sufficient for a middle of the road setup?

also, how do you keep from getting killed on the cost of fittings, valves, clamps, etc? do you guys just use brass stuff from home depot? tygon tubing recommended or the nylon stuff like the Koolance blue tubing i've got now? not sure what's so special about that.

also, can i just use anti-freeze instead of the Koolance stuff as long as it's compatible with the metals i have? the Koolance stuff ends up being $50 a gallon. BTW, any of you guys use Evans NPG+ (http://www.evanscooling.com/html/npgPls.htm#review) ?

[RealRedRaider]

If you buy a MCP355, then go with the XSPC reservoir top $40. It is superior to the regular XSPC top + Swifty reservoir. :up:

[luxbel]

And by superior, R3 means: less than 5% difference (http://www.martinsliquidlab.com/img/DDC32TDHPumpTopsComparison2.png).

You've got 170x64x125, so you have plenty of space to choose what kind of top and res you would want based on your routing choices.

as far as blocks, if you're not looking for crazy temps, or overclocking the living daylights out of the chip and want something cheap, martin did a really good review on the OCZ (http://www.martinsliquidlab.com/OCZ_Hydroflow_Review.html). have to admit, for $40 bucks, you can't really beat it. others might suggest an EK Supreme, or a Fuion, or a GTZ or my personal opinion, a MC-TDX with a copper top. they perform better than the OCZ, but they're all more expensive as well.

I personally use 3/8ths as tubing. it's flexible, requires less space, and the primo-flex lrt stuff is pretty cool. it's a preference thing, more than anything else. flow impacts from one size to another isn't noticeable in the typical implementation. fittings aren't that bad anymore, and if you're looking at the XSPC res top, you don't need many fittings. 2 for the CPU, 2 for the rad, and 2 for the pump/res top. Bitspower or dangerden (it's the same fitting) is a popular choice with fittings, 6 of them, will run you about 50. Not sure about feser. koolance's fittings are not bad as well, and they're slightly cheaper, like 45.

if you don't use mixed metals (and in the case of using an MCR320 rad and any of the blocks i mentioned, you wouldn't) you don't need any additives. just a biocide - like PT Nuke or anything like that plus pure distilled water. the koolance stuff is a anti-corrosion mix because they do have aluminum parts in their kit. since you'd be running a pure copper rig, no need for a anti-corrosive agent to help slow down the process.