Pump position

[gzipper]

Hello.

I'm new to WCing and waiting for my last components. I bought a 355 and now considering the position of it in my case. Since, design wise, its better for me to position the pump high up (mounted horizontal) in my case but doing so all of the components will be lower than the pump. I'm doing WC for performance and not looks (OK I don't want it to look like a complete mess ). Will this hurt performance? The manual says the recommendation is that you mount your pump at the bottom of your case, and why is that? For now it will be a single loop.
Setup:
CPU: GTZ (QX9770, yeh restriction)
GPU: EK-FC4870x2 (warp issue )
NB: NBMAX (yes I know...)
RAD:120.3
Pump: (Swiftech) 355 with XSPC top w reservoir.
Loop: Reserv-pump-blocks-rad-reservoir

Thanks for any info.

[Bobly]

The inlet has to be fed by a reservoir or t-line that is placed above the pump so that when you start it, gravity will ensure that water is fed into the inlet, which is why you want your pump at the bottom of the loop.

[mpilchfamily]

Basicly you want the pump to be at the low end and the res up high. If the pump is higer then the rest of the system then there is a good chance that an air buble will build up in the pump rendering it useless. So its best to have the pump as low as possible. It certaily shouldn't be the highest point in the loop. Otherwise you will find that your res is full and the pump has all the air in it and nothing is getting circulated.

[Bobly]

Wrong again is a bit harsh :P The basic principle that I said in my first post holds true, you want your res to be higher than your pump, if you have a res-top then wherever you place your pump the res will always be on top as they're attached so go for it, mount the pump wherever you want (Just not upside down :P)

[Utnorris]

I have both of my pumps with the XSPC Res tops at the highest point in the loop and because of the design of the res top I had absolutely no issues bleeding. In fact it took less than 2 minutes to bleed. If you did not have a res top it would be different, but since the res will always be higher than the pump you will not have any issues.

[septim]

mpilch your suggestion holds true if the OP would be using separate pump and res, generally preferred that the res is a little higher than pump. now with the xspc res top, you may now position the pump with aftermarket res top on the highest part of your loop order with no issues with regards to bleeding...

[Waterlogged]

Gee, I had a pump above the res in one build and it worked fine. All I did was tilt the case a little so the water would run towards the pump to bleed. When it was full enough to continue pumping on it's own, I set it back down and continued filling until full. The air will always eventually get trapped in the res and stay there. Myth debunked!

[AndrewZorn]

These aren't 'myths' or right/wrongs.

To 'guarantee' that the pump is fed and to do the best job at removing the possibility of bubbles, keep the pump at the lowest point in the loop.
If you want to do otherwise, simply be sure the pump is fed and/or bleed the loop properly.

[Waterlogged]

These aren't 'myths' or right/wrongs.

To 'guarantee' that the pump is fed and to do the best job at removing the possibility of bubbles, keep the pump at the lowest point in the loop.
If you want to do otherwise, simply be sure the pump is fed and/or bleed the loop properly.

Andrew, this whole "pump below res" thing applies only to filling the loop. Once the system is filled, it doesn't care where the res or pump. . ....or even the rad is for that matter. It's a myth that has been told countless times that if you put the res lower than the pump, all the air will go elsewhere. It simply isn't true.

[AndrewZorn]

If the pump is in the middle or something, before the loop is FULLY bled, there's the possibility of air getting in it. I had that battle. I thought the T-Line was supposed to be the lowest point. No idea why I let that make sense to me at the time.

So it can happen... and the thing with FULLY bled vs "all the water is in" is there's all the little bubbles that sometimes you can't even see that often amount to significance.

All I was trying to say was Safe/Easy = Lowest. It's not a law, but more like a suggestion.

[gzipper]

Thanks for the responses! Nice to know.
RealRedRaider don't worry, Im not going to mount it upside down And Im still trying to figure out a painless refill/drain/maintenance system as Im planning on not using any additives, but plain dist/de-ionized water. Three metals is going to be used, copper blocks, brass and nickel plated brass (the barbs, hopefully I don't need to use the nickel ones) and starting from there. Was thinking of getting some silver into the loop but less things floating around the better IMHO. I'm really looking forward to assemble it and make it work. I already have plans on a second loop if its needed and mounting/modding the first with that in mind. Hopefully it will look nice too, but I doubt it.

[AndrewZorn]

Bitspower was supposed to start making silver-plated barbs that would handle the whole thing quite nicely, but I haven't seen any.

The best idea for a drain I've seen was from Naekuh. For a drain valve, he just has one end of a quick disconnect. Take the other end and put a tube on it. When it's time to drain, get a bucket ready and plug it in. There would be water spilled from UNplugging, but I'm sure there'd be very little, if any spilled when plugging them together. That's just one small connector at the bottom of your loop. That's what I'm doing next time.

[gzipper]

Yeah, saw that solution. Since I didnt want to spend too much money on stuff like that (atleast for now), I'm going to make a reverse Y at the lowest point in the loop, hopefully it wont kill performance too much. It will act like a drain (maybe a rough filter). Hopefully it will turn out OK. Any suggestions?

[Big_Daddy]

For the easiest, make sure you mount a drain valve somewhere in your loop, then you can get the adapter that goes from the top of the res and run a tube to the top of your case. Drain and refill without even taking off the sides.

[AndrewZorn]

If I don't go with the super-modular quick disconnect idea, my drain valve will be at the bottom, with an inverted fillport. I'd rather tip it over the edge of a table than turn mine upside down!