Does anyone use a filter in their waterloop?

[miptzi]

but by design, it acts as a filter too, right?

[Conumdrum]

I don't think so, it's got huse holes. It's for bubble reduction.

[Rubycon]

You won't see a restriction when using one of these:



Those "whole house filters" have a 3/4" NPT inlet and outlet and can be inserted anywhere in the system using 1/2" ID tubing with a 1/2" x 3/4" NPT barb fitting, commonly available.

All other "filters" shown here are far too coarse to act as water polishing devices. Problem is given their size if one was to use media capable of removing micron sized particles they would offer very high restriction initially which would only worsen. The large size of a proper filter is acceptable since this is only to be used on a temporary basis. Remember unless you can guarantee your coolant will stay sterile these will become a breeding ground for microbes and the system will foul. Kill coils may not be enough, we're talking 150,000 µW/cm³ UVC irradiation levels or O3 injection! Implementation and/or proper monitoring of these techniques are beyond the scope of most hobbyists or at least have the "why bother?" factor coming up quickly once discovering what it takes to (properly) implement them.

When starting up a new loop filtering to polish is a good idea. Otherwise you will need to clean out your cpu blocks in a few weeks. It's better off to use the filter for a few days first and have a clean system.
NO system should have particulate matter - whether intended or not - running continuously through it. The long term effects are unknown honestly (potential impact on plastic parts unknown) and it's certainly not going to make cooling performance better!

[NaeKuh]

in my 10+yrs of LCing not once have i used a filter.

Not once will i use a filter as it adds unnecessary restriction.

And if my coolant gets bad to a point where i need to use a filter, i'll flush.


this is a PC using distilled.... if your internals arent clean... well, you need to clean more.
If the system is sealed, it wont get mucky unless u have something nasty inside your loop.
Then at that point it should be flushing... not trying to filter the nasty gunk out.

[TJ TRICHEESE]

I once used a koolance filter in one of my loops, but it didn't catch anything as i didn't have any leaves or other objects in my loop

[Rubycon]

in my 10+yrs of LCing not once have i used a filter.

Not once will i use a filter as it adds unnecessary restriction.

And if my coolant gets bad to a point where i need to use a filter, i'll flush.


this is a PC using distilled.... if your internals arent clean... well, you need to clean more.
If the system is sealed, it wont get mucky unless u have something nasty inside your loop.
Then at that point it should be flushing... not trying to filter the nasty gunk out.

A properly sized filter will introduce no appreciable flow rate decrease in the volumes used in PC watercooling.
Flushing reduces but does not eliminate contaminates. Remember if you have 900 gallons of clean water added to 1 gallon of dirty water equals 901 gallons of dirty water.

A filter is NOT a bandaid here, it's used to pick up things that would otherwise get picked up by parts inline in the system.

[NaeKuh]

pressure scales with how powerful your pump is.

That means the higher flow one has, the more back flow your going to get.

In all i hold one of the best LC temps on this forum, and i am not using any filter.

To be honest, they were worthwhile when rad makers were barfing the cleaning process.
Now i believe they dont have that much of a problem.
And even then a good flush of the rad over a sink and time will cure that issue.

But once again.. if ur fluid is to the point where it needs the filter, you need to flush my friend... not add a filter to clean up that mess.

"Sweeping" the problem under the rug wont help... lol... because all that particulate will clump on the filter and cause it to clog up taking u back to one.

Personally id rather flush because ur gonna have to sit and scrub your blocks down anyhow. No filter will save you from that, because injectors can act as filters as well.

[Rubycon]

I understand the relationship between pump capacity and head pressure. The filter I picture above has 3/4" NPT ports and can pass 10gpm at 60psig with less than 5psig drop! With your tiny water cooling pump it's not going to matter. With filtering if you want to pull single digit micron range particulates from the filtered medium and don't want excessive pressure drops you increase surface area. Simple as that. Most PC watercooling add ons are mere toys in comparison and when they are deemed an utter failure everyone wants to forget about it.

Fact is a filter when beginning with new components is a good idea.

The purpose of flushing is to remove a pollutant or when it otherwise has been fouled. Filtering / conditioning makes little sense here since capacities are tiny and it's easy to drain, fill, repeat as desired.

Filtering makes no difference in your temps but it will remove remnant manufacturing junk that every new part (particularly rads and some reservoirs) has.

[stangracin3]

the ONLY time i can see a filter being useful is with a new rad where you have no time to flush it yourself. So you set up a small loop res>pump>rad>filter>res

[NaeKuh]

I understand the relationship between pump capacity and head pressure. The filter I picture above has 3/4" NPT ports and can pass 10gpm at 60psig with less than 5psig drop! With your tiny water cooling pump it's not going to matter. With filtering if you want to pull single digit micron range particulates from the filtered medium and don't want excessive pressure drops you increase surface area. Simple as that. Most PC watercooling add ons are mere toys in comparison and when they are deemed an utter failure everyone wants to forget about it.

no ruby because were not dealing with the 1000000000000000000 gallons of chilled liquid u are running inside your ship. DONT SCALE UP PLEASE!!!!!!!!

^ guys im not kidding about this statement with dawn as she is a good friend of mine and one of the smartest Females i have ever gotten to know.


But dawn honestly in a vol of max sub 1L... if flushing is that much of a pain... you shouldnt be watercooling..


lolz.. next thing im gonna hear is lets bust out fish canister filters with UV steralizers built onto them and run them in loop!!!
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...lerid=33027683

How much more overkill can we get?

[defect9]

its easier to pre-flush parts before installing them into the loop. get all the crap out FIRST so you don't have to pull blocks later.

especially radiators. flush them buggers real good out of the gate and save having to dig out of your blocks later (some radiators are cleaner than others).

[Rubycon]

no ruby because were not dealing with the 1000000000000000000 gallons of chilled liquid u are running inside your ship. DONT SCALE UP PLEASE!!!!!!!!

^ guys im not kidding about this statement with dawn as she is a good friend of mine and one of the smartest Females i have ever gotten to know.


But dawn honestly in a vol of max sub 1L... if flushing is that much of a pain... you shouldnt be watercooling..


lolz.. next thing im gonna hear is lets bust out fish canister filters with UV steralizers built onto them and run them in loop!!!
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.as...lerid=33027683

How much more overkill can we get?

If it's about overkill...you got it! :P

Aquarium filters and uv sterilizers are something you definitely do NOT want in your loop. Two problems here. First of all you want the water to be sterile. In aquaria the water MUST contain beneficial bacteria so the UV sterilizer cannot be too powerful. Aquarium canister filters while providing mechanical filtration also provide copious space for bacteria to live. These nitrosomonas and nitrobacter are essential to marine life in a closed system. This is exactly what you DON'T want in a water cooled system. This is why a large cartridge style filter I pictured above should only be used on a very temporary basis. I guarantee you if you flush your new rads for over an hour and put everything together and ran one of these filters you would be surprised at what they're pulling out! I know because the builder I deal with is doing just that and it's scary. Some of use don't have the time to tear everything down on Friday night to clean out or look for crappy plating peeling away. Now that is something a filter isn't going to help you with but that's another thing altogether. Easy fix though. Get all copper blocks, problem solved.

[Tex707]

I use a large canister filter with built-in pump in my loop for a few years now and consider it mandatory, since jets in my waterblock are less than ID=1mm and prone to clogging. The loop works perfectly with this filter and I have never had a single problem with it.

[Tackleberry]

Filters in closed loops are the stupidest idea ever. if you get a block in the filter you build up pressure and mess up your hole system.

I have to go with Mick on this one.