What does one do when your primary pump fails during operation?

[Systemlord]

I have had my water cooling system for almost a year now and haven't given it much thought until now, what safe guards are in place to prevent a complete meltdown of one's tubing after reaching 75C water temperature if your pump fails on you? If my pump completely failed I would have no way of knowing until it was already to late, how does one safe guard his computer to prevent a catastrophic failure?

Thank you in advance, Systemlord.

[n00b 0f l337]

Set a CPU or GPU temperature threshold. If the pump fails, the waters going to warm up quickly. If you have a threshold set, the computer can shut off before an issue occurs.

[lowfat]

Hook up the pump RPM meter up to computer. And in case it fails, have Speedfan shut down the computer. At least I think this can work.

[defect9]

or have two pumps in the same loop

what, the other good ideas was taken :D

[Big Elf]

Real Temp allows you to specify parameters for both CPU and GPU temps. If you create a simple batchfile e.g. shutdwon.bat with the following:

%windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -s -t: 0

You can have Real Temp initiate that file if either of the temps are exceeded and shutdown the PC although it can take a few seconds for shutdown to work.

[CedricFP]

Another thing, clamp your tubing. Don't want it warming, loosening, and then slipping off the barb. It doesn't happen often, but I've seen people post about it here before.

[paulbagz]

Set afterburners and photon cannons to 110%.

But yes temp monitoring is the best thing to do to have a safety net.

Redundant pumps etc are all good options to have, alot of the good flow meters that have USB connections will have features that can kick in when things go wrong.

Should have CPU temp settings on by default in most BIOS.

-PB

[Metroid]

You could do all the above or just let it go the way it is, if your pump fails and the temperature is > than what it was set as a fail safe then you system will just shutdown automatically.

[NaeKuh]

I have had my water cooling system for almost a year now and haven't given it much thought until now, what safe guards are in place to prevent a complete meltdown of one's tubing after reaching 75C water temperature if your pump fails on you? If my pump completely failed I would have no way of knowing until it was already to late, how does one safe guard his computer to prevent a catastrophic failure?

Thank you in advance, Systemlord.

There is no "too late" for an intel cpu.

It undergoes whats called thermal throttling, followed by a thermal shutdown once values get too hot.

In short, if your system is rebooting moments after u turn it on, it means something is not right.
And when you see your bios POST say:

CPU OVERHEATING

in the post notes... u know something is mucked with your cpu loop.

[Stealth42o]

Real Temp allows you to specify parameters for both CPU and GPU temps. If you create a simple batchfile e.g. shutdwon.bat with the following:

%windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -s -t: 0

You can have Real Temp initiate that file if either of the temps are exceeded and shutdown the PC although it can take a few seconds for shutdown to work.

This is what I do, very simple and foolproof (I hope)

[Sparky]

I built a controller that would monitor the pump RPM (and display it within 100 RPM) and if it dropped below a threshold it would display a warning and hard shutdown the PC via the power switch. Guaranteed shutoff within 5 seconds, regardless of what the software is doing.

Issue is, it wasn't a finished product, just on a prototype board, and I packed it away for a while and forgot about it. When I found it again I lost my documentation on the display pinout :(

[Systemlord]

Alright I'm going to need some help setting up Real Temp, I went to Real Temp Documention (http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/docs.php) and its just to far over my head for me to understand all of the technical talk about TJMax for starters, second how is this program going to be able to shutdown my computer when I can even install Real Temp onto my computer? I need this to be as simple as possible!


Thanks in advance, Systemlord.

[Big Elf]

Put a short cut to 'real temp.exe' (real temp gt.exe if you have a Gulftown) in your Startup folder to ensure it'll run on when Windows runs.

Open Notepad and copy and paste %windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -s -t: 0 into it and save as shutdown.bat

In Real Temp click the settings button and put a tick in Alarm Temperatures then set the temperature at which you want the shutdown to initiate for the CPU (and GPU).

Click the Alarm EXE button and navigate to where you saved the shutdown.bat file remembering to change the 'Files of type' to 'BAT files' on the dropdown list and select it. Click the OK button.

[Systemlord]

Put a short cut to 'real temp.exe' (real temp gt.exe if you have a Gulftown) in your Startup folder to ensure it'll run on when Windows runs.


Having built computers for over 5 years, I would not know the first thing about how to put a short cut in my Startup folder as this is something I have never had to do before. How embarrassing! :shrug:

[Big Elf]

Drag (left click and hold the button down) the realtemp.exe file from Windows Explorer and hold it over the Start Orb/Start button which after a slight pause will open up, hover the cursor over 'All Programs' which again after a slight pause will open up 'All Programs' then navigate to the 'Startup' folder and drop it in (release the left mouse button). Depending which version of Windows you have and how your Programs menu is setup there might be slight variations on that.

[Systemlord]

Put a short cut to 'real temp.exe' (real temp gt.exe if you have a Gulftown) in your Startup folder to ensure it'll run on when Windows runs.

Open Notepad and copy and paste %windir%\system32\shutdown.exe -s -t: 0 into it and save as shutdown.bat

In Real Temp click the settings button and put a tick in Alarm Temperatures then set the temperature at which you want the shutdown to initiate for the CPU (and GPU).

Click the Alarm EXE button and navigate to where you saved the shutdown.bat file remembering to change the 'Files of type' to 'BAT files' on the dropdown list and select it. Click the OK button.

Alright I did everything you said and things seem to be working just fine, except do I need to Set TJ Max setting? My distance to TJ Max is showing 10 higher than actual core temps, any other settings that needs my attention other than GPU, CPU and Start Minimized? Perhaps a test to see if everything actual shutdown as intended?

Thanks for help so far, Systemlord. :)

[OC Maximus]

You could do all the above or just let it go the way it is, if your pump fails and the temperature is > than what it was set as a fail safe then you system will just shutdown automatically.
:yepp:

[bmaverick]

Well, if the pump did fail and you need a new one, then look for a pump maverick for help. A pump maverick is one of the best sources to finding a replacement DDC-1T pump. :)

[Systemlord]

I performed a test on my GTX 480 graphics card last night while lowering the alarm temp to 47C so I wouldn't have to wait long and like clockwork Real Temp shutdown my computer quite a bit faster than I thought it would! Real Temp didn't shutdown at 46.5 but at exactly 47C, I'm really impressed with how quickly it shutdown everything! Simply amazing software that will save your bacon one day! Wow!

@ bmaverick

I'm a fan of those little powerful DDC-1T pumps, real quiet to! I have mine mounted of that Gel Stuff, I can't hear it at all!