Horizontal Reservoir on desk mod

[ximenjia]

I am currently building a desk mod, i will have 3 reservoir installed horizontally at the center of the desk while motherboard and hard drives will be installed on the side. The water pumps will be connected directly at the outlet of the reservoirs.

I am now thinking that there will be permanently some air in my reservoir (being the high point and considering i will be connected on the sides of the reservoir) that will impact the amount of water available at the suction of the pump.

If you have experience installing reservoir horizontally, did you suffer from trapped air in reservoir? did it impact flow/reliability of the pump? Would you share any tips and tricks how to properly install these reservoirs (any special reservoirs?)?

 

[rubix_1011]

Why do you need 3 pumps?

 

[ximenjia]

2 parrallel systems/computers + 1 backup as i might not have enough flow from 1 pump so i consider splitting GPU / CPU loop on one of the systems. Anyhow, my question also applies to 1 single horizontal reservoir. I am wondering how to maintain it full.

Thanks for your support.

 

[rubix_1011]

So you have 2 separate loops, but sharing the reservoirs? This looks to be different than you stated above with 1 motherboard and some hard drives.

Curious, what is the purpose for the multiple reservoirs? Are they custom built or purchased?

Do you have any photos or diagrams on what you want to accomplish?

 

[ximenjia]

Sorry, english is not my strong point, let me try to clarify. I will have motherboard 1 and hard drive 1 on the left side + motherboard 2 and hard drive 2 on the right side. reservoirs and pumps are at the center.
For computer 1, i am considering splitting the loop in two (one loop for GPU/HD, 1 Loop for CPU/HD), the other computer will have his own complete loop.
Reservoirs would be purchased on the shelf.

I am still at planning stage and i am wondering if installing the reservoirs horizontally is the best and more reliable solution. I am also wondering if i should not install them with a minimum angle to vent the air out.

 

[rubix_1011]

The idea of venting air shouldn't be an issue if the loop is filled properly without minimal air remaining. A pump should never draw air in to be pushed through the loop. You don't want to 'vent' a reservoir to the open atmosphere on a working basis - only when you're purging excess air from the loop.

 

[ximenjia]

on my two current builds (closed loops), i have noticed a very slow drop of level after some time, i guess it could originate from the porosity of the tube (primochill flex) as i have looked everywhere on these two builds and i do not find any leak anywhere. In the case of horizontal reservoir, i am worried that i would not be able to get rid of the air bubbles that would accumulte slowly in the reservoir.

 

[rubix_1011]

If your level is dropping, there are only 2 possibilities:

1) you have a leak
2) you have air in the system (likely radiators) that is still being purged

Item #2 above is likely only true if the loop is still relatively new. It isn't as likely to be the case if the loop has been running for a significant period of time unless the air is also being re-introduced back into the loop.

When you say air bubbles that accumulate in the reservoir...what do you mean? You add more water to the reservoir to displace the air with water.

 

[ximenjia]

My loop has quite some time already (1 is more than 1 year, the second is more than 6 months). Temperature where i live are pretty high (>35 DegC), level is slowly slowly going down (few mm per month), there are no traces of leaks anywhere. This is the reason why i suspected some porosity in the tubes as it affects my two systems the same way.

My next build will be hard tubing, let's see if there is an improvement.

Thanks for your support.

 

[rubix_1011]

You must have a leak somewhere.

 

[ximenjia]

i will check again. so if i conclude, as long as there is no tiny leak, there is no issue to have reservoir installed horizontally with limited suction head to the pump., am i correct?

 

[rubix_1011]

Correct, reservoir size or orientation should not make any difference as long as air within the reservoir is not being pulled into the loop. (Or any air in general)

When you say limited suction head, what are you saying?

 

[ximenjia]

thanks for your support