Pressure building up in loop

[aeonblack6]

Hey everyone. I'm on my 4th build with full liquid, but it's been my first time using hard piping (Monsoon Hardline). I've noticed overnight that the pressure in my loop is building up, which of course causes the weakest link to leak once it gets too high. I've never needed a pressure relief valve of any sort before, as the pressure has never exceed head pressure of the pumps. I rotated the case, both with pumps on and off, on filling, and couldn't see any entrapped air. I'm using Ice Dragon with Mayhems UV Green dye (could it possibly be a reaction between the hardline and that mix? doubting that, but I've never used that combo before so I'm not too sure).

I'm running a single series loop with blocks on everything, HAF X case, top mount radiator, dual 655 pumps in a dual 5.25" drive bay reservoir. I had the pumps at max speed (5) and had the issue, so i dropped them both down to 3, same issue.

My initial thoughts were entrapped air in the radiator compressing and causing the pressure but, as I said, I couldn't get any more air out of there so I'm not sure.

Also, to be clear, when I open up the reservoir, I'm not just getting a "puff" of air, it vacates the air, and then starts pushing out fluid as well (whether the machine is on or off). So, I know that it's not just pumps pushing fluid out, since it happens when the machine is off (once the pressure has built up overnight).

Anyone got any ideas?

[NKrader]

this is really weird, it shouldnt be able to push more than it pulls, its a loop. are you topping if off when its running and pressurized then turning it off and then it spews out?


not the coolant or the color causing this. dual d5 will have ALOT of pressure.

just let the loop push out what it wants too and dont top it off again higher than that? fixed?

[rge]

you have air in your loop even if you think you got it all out, you didnt. pumps will compress air, no chance of them compressing fluid, and the air compression will be immediate and wont change over time. If you had a cylindrical reservoir instead of bay, you can turn pumps on then off and watch how much fluid level changes on vs off, and that is the amount of air you have.

And what you are describing is normal, I get same issue if fill cylindrical loop all the way up, until all air is gone, though I have a fill line that prevents spillage most of time.

Also if any rad is higher than your bay reservoir when you open it up...then expect some to come out regardless of air.

[aeonblack6]

this is really weird, it shouldnt be able to push more than it pulls, its a loop. are you topping if off when its running and pressurized then turning it off and then it spews out?


not the coolant or the color causing this. dual d5 will have ALOT of pressure.

just let the loop push out what it wants too and dont top it off again higher than that? fixed?

Yeah, I filled it, bled, topped it up and repeated until I wasn't getting any more air into the reservoirs/space to fill.

At that point, I could close it up, and open it maybe an hour later and not get any pressure. But, leaving it running all night, it builds up to a pretty heavy amount of pressure.

I am concerned that the dual d5 might be a bit much, but it shouldn't be causing THIS kind of pressure, unless there is air in that rad that i'm not getting out.

Are you saying I should bleed out that pressure and not put any fluid in there once doing that? Because once I bleed the air (and the accompanying fluid it pushes out), I lose enough fluid that I can see a visible air gap in the return piping. It's pushing that much fluid out when I bleed it after it's overnight pressure build-up.

you have air in your loop even if you think you got it all out, you didnt. pumps will compress air, no chance of them compressing fluid, and the air compression will be immediate and wont change over time. If you had a cylindrical reservoir instead of bay, you can turn pumps on then off and watch how much fluid level changes on vs off, and that is the amount of air you have.

And what you are describing is normal, I get same issue if fill cylindrical loop all the way up, until all air is gone, though I have a fill line that prevents spillage most of time.

Also if any rad is higher than your bay reservoir when you open it up...then expect some to come out regardless of air.

This was my initial thoughts as well (and still the best bet I can think of), but I just can't seem to get any more air out of that radiator. I'll try flipping the case upside down after filling tonight and just letting it sit for a while. With the amount of pressure it seems to be building up, there must be an awful lot of air stuck in there for it to compress it that much.

[NKrader]

This was my initial thoughts as well (and still the best bet I can think of), but I just can't seem to get any more air out of that radiator. I'll try flipping the case upside down after filling tonight and just letting it sit for a while. With the amount of pressure it seems to be building up, there must be an awful lot of air stuck in there for it to compress it that much.

why almost every company in the market removed the bleed screw from the top of the radiator is beyond me.. in my last loop the only way for me to bleed the rad was with the screw on the TFC rad, without sticking it upsidedown in a paint shaker it wouldnt have bled without it.

and no my original post would not work then, dont do what I said. just leave it sealed :P

[[XC] Lead Head]

Air will dissolve into coolant, just what it does. As the loop sits and stabilizes , the dissolved air will slowly come out. Best bet would be to just let the system sit with the reservoir cap open for a few days.

[Circaflex]

maybe something like this would solve your issue? http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=21717 or this one by phobya http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=30645

[aeonblack6]

Air will dissolve into coolant, just what it does. As the loop sits and stabilizes , the dissolved air will slowly come out. Best bet would be to just let the system sit with the reservoir cap open for a few days.

Good call, I never even thought about that, but it certainly makes sense in regards to what is happening (and how it is happening). I'll fill and bleed as best I can and then leave a bit of room in my reservoirs to fluctuate.

If it doesn't do anything too wonky in that time, I'll close it up and try another fill and bleed to see if any more air settled out into the rad.

maybe something like this would solve your issue? http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=21717 or this one by phobya http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=30645

I've seen those before, but always thought that while they most likely work, they don't really address the problem. I'll look into picking a couple up to try out though, couldn't hurt.

[NKrader]

I've seen those before, but always thought that while they most likely work, they don't really address the problem. I'll look into picking a couple up to try out though, couldn't hurt.

it really wont help those relive negitive pressure in the loop. and wont fix the problem

[relttem]

it definitely sounds like air in the system. And, when the fluid gets heated up, which will get the air hot, the air will expand and cause pressure. We have seen that before - so much so that it blew up a radiator. IDC puts a defoamer in it to inhibit air in the fluid. So, it sounds more like you have some air that got trapped somewhere during fill. When we start up new systems we don't cap the reservoir until all the fluid is at its hottest temp. That lets the air expand. Also, we tap on the system with a screwdriver to get all the hidden bubbles out.

[Circaflex]

it definitely sounds like air in the system. And, when the fluid gets heated up, which will get the air hot, the air will expand and cause pressure. We have seen that before - so much so that it blew up a radiator. IDC puts a defoamer in it to inhibit air in the fluid. So, it sounds more like you have some air that got trapped somewhere during fill. When we start up new systems we don't cap the reservoir until all the fluid is at its hottest temp. That lets the air expand. Also, we tap on the system with a screwdriver to get all the hidden bubbles out.

Thanks for providing us with some advice, ill try the above when I fill up my loop tomorrow