Refilling aio water cooler

[lukas.a.rytz]

Hey

I've had a liqtech 240 aio cooler for three years now. It worked fine but the cooling power started to deteriorate these last months. I thought it was the thermal paste that had dried so I changed it but that didnt help. In the process of trying to find the fault I moved around the pump and rad to the point where cooling stopped all together. My guess is there is alot of air in the rad which prevents the pump from pumping the liquid (i can hear alot of air in the radiator). Ive tried letting it settle and shaking it and everything with no result. I'm now back on air (which honestly isnt too bad). But since I know have an aio with no warranty I thought id give it a go to try and repair it.

I opened this thread because i couldnt find alot of info out there on how to refill an aio water cooler. I will share my progress for others who might be in the same situation.

What I will do:
1. I bought new liquid with biozid and anti corrosion.
2. I will unscrew the bottom of the pump, clean it and try to empty it as best I can.
3. I will fill it with the new liquid and try to get all the air out of the system.
4. Closed again, I will leave it running outside my system to check for any leaks.
5. I will remount it to the system and run some tests to see how it performs.

Now my main question is: How do I find out if the pump still works? (It makes sound, the LED is on and I can feel the vibrations so Im guessing it still works)

Any insights you wish to share are welcome.

Chrys (next update in 2 days)

 

[Lutfij]

You can cut the tubes half way on the AIO and with a syringe have some distilled water pumped into both the tubes of the AIO's pump module. You could also add a reservoir to the AIO in hopes of refilling the loop and also removing the air within the loop. Some people go for clear tubing at this point to show off the coolant.

Examples.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

You can do it the way you described - you are not the first. it will be slow and painful process to get rid of all air.
The way Lutfij described is more safe and much easier. You can monitor the liquid level and add as needed in future.
The problems with your plan:
1. you definitely lose the warranty (with any approach)
2. the loop is mixed metals - aluminium and copper. The normal "anti-corrosion" additives to a normal coolant might not be enough to prevent fast galvanic corrosion. Liquids used in AiOs are much more aggressive than what you normally use in custom loops.

You can tell that the pump is working by slight vibration of the CPU block/pump combo. It also should return the RPM signal to the fan header it is connected to.

 

[lukas.a.rytz]

Thanks for the suggestions. The warranty is already void (it was 2 years) so Im not worried about that. I had thought about cutting the tubes but:
1. Im worried about leaks so I wanted to go the least invasive route.
2. I dont want to invest too much in an aio i might never use again.

Tonight I will try to open up the pump and see how it goes. I might be able to get the tubes out via some screws i found hidden under the mounting system.

I read about galvanic corrosion and know it could be a problem but there is not much I can do about that. I bought some EKWB premixed fluid that should give me my best shot at trying to fix the cooling problem.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

you can not unscrew the tubes, don't even try

 

[lukas.a.rytz]

Sorry for not answering for so long. I took the bottom of the pump apart, emptied it, cleaned the heat sink (where the coolant flows through there was a lot of copper "powder" build-up) it and refilled the loop. It took me about 5 hours with a lot of shaking to get as much air out as possible. The loop had indeed been full of air and with very little coolant left. It has now been working great for the last three month. I will take it apart again in June to check for corrosion etc.

Thanks for all your help

Chrys

 

[n0ns3ns3]

if you have used pre mixed coolant, you can wait a year or two before taking at apart again.