waterpump problems

The alternative to direct air cooling

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
JaRoD
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2006 11:18 am

waterpump problems

Post by JaRoD » Sun Dec 24, 2006 7:39 am

So, I have a alphacool watercooling kit that use a Alphacool AGB-Eheim 600 II pump/reservoir but now the pump is making the most noise in the system :( Right now I have it standing on the floor and it only seems to get louder if I wrap it in sound damping material. It just seems that anything I wrap it in starts vibrating too...

And it also affects my crt monitor, seems like the pump emitts a strong electromagnetic field even if it's about 50cm away from the screen. Same thing when I the pump in the case. So any ideas on how to shield the pump?

Szandor
Posts: 11
Joined: Sun Jun 18, 2006 7:10 am

Post by Szandor » Mon Dec 25, 2006 4:37 am

Sounds like your pumps bearing/bushing might be wearing out

You might want to replace the pump

Otherwise look for EMI shielding foam

It can be found at www.mcmaster.com

Wrap your pump with that

There are other suppliers of similiar products which you should be able to Google up

You can use heavy-duty velcro to attach a sound damping pad to the bottom of the pump & then attach it to your case floor, this should help with reducing the vibration induced noise

Good Luck!

Regards, Szandor

JaRoD
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2006 11:18 am

Post by JaRoD » Mon Dec 25, 2006 5:47 am

well, I just got the kit 2 days ago so I'm not so sure the bearings are worn out :D but who knows... And it didn't cool that well either, about 3c better than air and with more noise...

Think I'll just sell it and get a huge aircooler instead. After doing lots of research I've realised that I can probably get it more silent and better cooling with a 120mm tower heatsink. Guess water just isn't that good anymore compared to highend aircoolers :?

zds
Posts: 261
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2004 1:26 pm
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Contact:

Post by zds » Mon Dec 25, 2006 3:40 pm

JaRoD wrote:Guess water just isn't that good anymore compared to highend aircoolers :?
It all boils down to selecting quiet parts. The water itself is not going to make any mechanical part quiet, you need to pick quiet components, just like in air cooling.

I have Laing DDC pump and it's damn quiet. No way to hear it from inside a working system.

The kits are just that, kits. To get just perfect fit for your needs you need to spend some time and select individual parts that suit you.

But yes, often it's easier just use air, less parts to pick.

JaRoD
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2006 11:18 am

Post by JaRoD » Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:01 am

This kit was customizable so I took a 24x12cm radiator instead of the default 12x12 one. Even with two 75 cfm fans blowing air through the radiator the temp was 39 compared to about 42 with aircooling that's a lot more silent... With the fans at 5v the temp was 41 so basically same as air.

Btw, how much a difference does hose size make? There were only 6mm ID hoses in the kit.

JaRoD
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2006 11:18 am

Post by JaRoD » Tue Dec 26, 2006 10:29 am

I've been doing a little bit of testing so I'll just answer my own questions :wink:

Flowrate with eheim 600/waterblock/125 cm hose = 1.6 liter/minute

With radiator+about 40 cm extra tubing in the loop = 1.4 liters/min

Just waterblock + 55 cm tubing = 1.9 liters/min

With a sicce nova waterpump (about 800 liters/hour compared to eheims 600) and 40 cm 10mm tubing flowrate was 3.3 liters/min :D

So I should be able to shave off about 2 degrees with larger tubing and the nova waterpump and that one should be alot more silent too. Guess I'll have to go hunting for some fittings and 10mm hose this week then.

jellybeard999
Posts: 15
Joined: Mon Jun 12, 2006 3:22 pm

Post by jellybeard999 » Tue Dec 26, 2006 12:44 pm

As all things, can get good kit and bad kit...

Just because the radiator is a dual 120mm model doesnt make it good, fin density, core depth, no of passes ... theres lots to consider.

Good waterblock - MP05 LE, Storm, NexXos
Good pump - DDC (with top)
Good rad - Thermochill PA (whichever size suits) with a 7v YL or Nexus

Most important are the pump, rad and fans, since they are the ONLY things that can make noise...

Flow isnt everything either, amount of head is more important

zds
Posts: 261
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2004 1:26 pm
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Contact:

Post by zds » Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:39 pm

jellybeard999 wrote:Flow isnt everything either, amount of head is more important
And for running system silent, actual flow isn't that important either. If the pump has enough pressure head to make the water move at all, it's often enough. If you want M4d overclocks, you need to squeeze every last degree of Celcius out of the CPU, but other than that, doubling the flow is rarely really needed..

ToasterIQ2000
Posts: 36
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2005 10:36 pm

Post by ToasterIQ2000 » Sun Jan 07, 2007 3:24 pm

If the EMI iterference is really that bad I'd guess that there is something seriously amiss in the pump or its' power supply.

I'm not familiar with that particular Eheim.

If it is like the 12 volt 1046's, it has a DC to AC inverter in the package. Trouble with the inverter such that the inverter is putting out bad power could make the pump noisy. Is this pump native 12 volt?

If the pump is like other Eheim fish tank pumps that I've used, it can be dissasembled and cleaned easily. Some tiny speck of plastic from manufacturing or assembly stuck in the pump can make them nosier.

For myself, if wrapping the pump in common tinfoil solves the EMI <> monitor interferrence I'd RMA it.

JaRoD
Posts: 53
Joined: Sat Dec 16, 2006 11:18 am

Post by JaRoD » Mon Jan 08, 2007 2:02 pm

Well, it seems like the noise must be from the pump vibrating against the reservoir since it's silent in weird positions like if I put it on the side... And I got a thermaltake bit typhoon heatsink instead so I'll be selling the watercooling kit. With that I get maybe 1-2c higher temps than with water and I don't have to worry about the pump either. And if I go insane with fans I can keep my 2.7ghz althon64 at 34c running prime95 :shock:

But that's with two 140mm 75 cfm fans... Not exactly silent :roll:

Post Reply