Xtreme Triple PA120.3 Cooler

[clone38]

sweet

[F1ZZY]

Xtreme it certainly is...nice work.

[CyberDruid]

Thanks a lot guys....the response is enheartening. Still have a long way to go before it's what I am envisioning.

I'd been planning a dual PA120.3 set up, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to overbuild. If I ever build a rig that exceeds the capacity of this unit I'll be really surprised. I might even try out some peltier effect cooling...

[The Shooter]

Show us more pics or I will kill my self!

[atomman]

so this is why everyone seems to be out of the pa120.3's

[InfamousChu]

wow thats frickin awesome! could probably replace my central air with that thing!

[phelan1777]

U r a modding mania guru.


I want your work shop in my back yard :p.

[Waterlogged]

Cyber, You sir, are Xtremely disturbed

Amazing work!

[begrip]

insane with three rads, what you gonna cool with that thingy?

[-Evo-]

Great work. Sub'ed so I don't miss the rest of the project.

[atomman]

How effective is that Sonex mini? Where do you buy it?

[CyberDruid]

I had to purchase a butt load of it to get it at a decent price.

You can get it here

[biftek.]

bah hate to go off topic in here...
But I was gonna ask if you could stock the natural grey Sonex mini?

And Sonex seems to have taken it off their main site...


Also how easy is it to "squish" the foam? is it really soft or firm?

[CyberDruid]

It's firm and I plan to re-order. I'm low. I thought about the grey...it's more though.

[biftek.]

lol no worries.
okay, now back to you regularly scheduled modding.

[m^2]

Didn't you think about putting a one big fan on it?
Something like a 36cm from XClio case?

[CyberDruid]

Yah right...more like cut the grass, mend the road, take the trash to the dump, watch the kids while wife shops then back to modding

[CyberDruid]

Didn't you think about putting a one big fan on it?
Something like a 36cm from XClio case?

I have no experience with that fan and don't know it's pressure and flow characteristics.

S-Flex however I do know and they are a good match to the rads.

[systemviper]

I see one of you main components is angle iron/alum.

That is great, with that you can just about build anything,


I love it....

[septim]

yeah another definitely PIMPed out mod...

[junkun13]

Pa120.3x3 :d

[Pedalmonkey]

cyber, if you have any extra rads, cases, or skill just laying around which i bet you do, wana send um to me but seriously man, you take the word extreme to a whole new level.

[CyberDruid]

Mounting the PSUs on the rails


Fan wiring completed


110VAC attached to both PSUs


Fan Test


Getting ready to fit the pumps


Note Rheostat, Pump Kill Switch and Strain Relief. Pumps rest on the foam strip.


Ek reservoirs mount to the Alphacool 1510 pumps with G 1/4 adapters


Pump gets secured with a clip and a hole in the top. The tube presses the pump firmly into the foam lined rail.


Test fitted and plumbed.


Filling is extremely simple. Bleeding took less than 5 minutes for inital fill.


Obviously any leaks would be a bad thing...yet despite their proximity the PSUs are positioned away from any actual barbed fittings.


The side panels are off at this point so I can observe the operation.


The panel monted above the rads stops any air from recirculating. Removing the panel yields access to the bleeder screws.


I used some Storm waterblocks to give a bit of restriction.


The side panels will be routed to make triangular exhaust ports.


Through the sides I can access the PSU trimmers, wiring, and pumps


Almost immediately this pump was leaking from a misaligned O ring in the pump housing. Draining the loop was easy. I refitted the Oring and after a few moments noticed a weepage from the outlet fitting. The leak was from the metal to plasic connection. Alphacool uses a hard epoxy-like gap-filling hard sealant that is a transparent green ion color to mate the metal fitting with the plastic. These fittings are not designed to be tightened, loosened, removed...nothing. They are permanently glued in place.

The smart thing to do would have been to pull the pump rebox it and send it back... instead I carefully freed the metal fitting and cleaned out the sealant and packed the threads with Pipe Paste and after three attempts got something like a leak free fitting...although I have my doubts about how long that would hold up. A better choice for repair would have been "Goop" which is like a super thick contact adhesive: rubbery and flexible yet tenacious.

After a few more minutes I saw a similar weepage from a second pump.

I tried to attempt the same repair but broke the pump instead.


The plastic alphacool uses is thin and brittle. For instance you can easily deform the housing, by pressing on the outlet, enough for water to leak by the o-ring.

I am not impressed by the build quality or choice of compounds and materials in these pumps. They are very powerful...but 2 out of 3 pumps leaking is terrible...

I have to question why Alphacool would design a pump with problematic areas like metal to plastic fittings with no compression or O-ring to seal them?

This makes the pump impossible to service without breaking it. Simply using a flexible adhesive would make more sense...or an Oring.

Needless to say this project is on hold until I can decide whether I am using RMAed pumps or simply going to a different pump style altogether...

[[XC] NetburstXE]

[tiro_uspsss]