A simple DDC cooling mod

[jetroho]

I've been water cooling my pc's since the 1.4ghz t'birds . I switched from homemade ghetto stuff to real water shortly after I found the DDC pumps .
Something that has always bothered me is the heat that either the 10 or 18 watt pumps make . Yo , put an 18 watt heat source into a 60 x 60 x 19 mm box , it's going to get HoT .
About a year ago I decided to make a new pump housing out of aluminum with fins and vents to cool the the damn things . So as I'm measuring the original housing ......... eureeka .. Idiot , why don't you just cut some vents in the original base ? So heres what I did .


The slots are 1/8 x 5/8 inch . Make sure you put the slots below the ledge that the main pump body sits on . The upper slot's in the above picture .





To test what this mod did . I set up a loop with a rx 120 rad , ddc 3.1 modded to 3.2 ( 18W ) and about 8 feet of 1/4 x 3/8 hose . No fan/s . I let the loop run for 24 hrs at room temp of 24c/75f average ( central ac ) . I used an ir temp gun to take the temps .
Stock unmodded base housing :
Room temp 24c / 75f
Top tank of rad 30.5c / 87f
Bottom of pump 33.8c / 93f
Took the loop down . Modded the housing . Same deal 24 hrs at 24c ......
Room temp 24c / 75f
Top tank of rad 25c / 77f
Bottom of pump 26.9c / 80f
I took the loop back down and cut 3 more slots above or below the ones in the picture and 2 short ones along side the wire opening . Redid the 24hr test. It really did not make a mearsurable difference .

Some thoughts :
These tests are definately not gospel . Your results may differ . But It will lower your pumps temps by a large margin . One nice thing about the mod is if there is no air flowing around the pump you can feel hot air comming out of the vents . In my setup there is air flowing and the pump base mearsures between .5 and 1c above ambient .

This mod will void your pumps warranty . Probably won't use the warrany if your pump is not baking in it's own heat .

Will the mod make your pump louder ? I have no clue , I can't hear a ddc unless I put a pair on like head phones . Several years of nitromethane and 500 ci , sprint cars ....whatever hurt my hearing a bit .

For safetys sake when draining or filling your loop and leak testing tape over the holes . To keep the wasser ous . If your pump leaks the slots will let the water out to keep the electrics from taking a pond bath .

I milled the slots in the housing . You could use a dremmel or a drill and a file to make the slots . I showed this to a friend and he just drilled 1/4 inch holes where I put the slots , claims it works great . Who knows what method is best ...... just put some holes in that sucka and let it fly......

Happy Modding

j