Help!! Millions and millions of tiny air bubbles in my Water Cooled setup

[stockjock]

OK...my setup is this:
AquaXtreme 50Z-DC12-T Mag Drive Inline Pump with 1/2 OD tubing to a Swiftech Apogee Extreme Performance Universal CPU Water Block which goes out to a Danger Den VPU water block then to a Thermaltake CL-W0002 12cm Big Radiator and up to Thermaltake CL-W0031 AquaBay M3 Liquid Tank reservoir and then back to the pump. All tubing is the same size 1/2OD 3/8ID. I recently put this new pump on and its a much heavier duty pump than my old Thermaltake pump and right away after priming it I noticed million of tiny air bubbles. It seems that there are so many that they don't have time to bleed out when running...it almost seems like the water is being pushed through so fast it doesn't have time to bleed out into the reservoir. If I turn off the system overnight the bubbles are gone but come right back once the system is up and running for a short time. It seems they come from the Reservoir...now, there are no leaks. Can it be that because the Reservoir has 1/4ID/3/8OD tubing coming in and out of it and I've got 1/2OD couplers on them to accomodate my tubing that the reservoir can't keep up with the pump? Help, whats the use of a water cool system if its full of tiny bubbles...last thing, I don't understand bleed lines and how they work...maybe thats what I need...suggestions???

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Your res intake needs to be the top line and your res exhaust needs to be the bottom line. How long have you run the system? In some setups bubbles don't completely disappear for a day or two of constant running.

Also keep in mind that the rad is a BIG storage of air bubbles because it's hard to flush out all the air bubbles at once out of its fins. I would suggest jostling the rad a bit to dislodge some bubbles.

I personally just use a T-line. Simple, cheaper, lighter, and IMO bleeds just as well as a res.

Lastly, make sure that you've got all your junctions sealed nice and tight with hose clamps. Check for wetness around the connections.

EDIT: A T-line is just that: an (inverted) T. You fill and exhaust water from the system at the top of the inverted T, and bubbles that pass through the arms of the T get trapped and float to the top of the inverted T.

 

[stockjock]

I'll double check to make sure I have the res. exhaust is the higher of the two. It's been running like this for a 2 weeks now...so, its been way long enough for the air to bleed out.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Hmm... yeah, two weeks is real long. So you're thinking that right now the velocity of the water is too fast and it's not giving enough time for the bubbles to bleed off in the res?

Why did you choose to mix up tubing sizes anyway???

 

[stockjock]

I didn't choose to mixup tubing size...its what I was dealt. The Thermaltake Res. came with either 1/4 ID coupler or 1/4ID to 3/8ID coupler...so, in essence I didn't change anything. All the tubing is the same size throughout the setup...it's just that the exit and entry tubing is 1/4ID going into the res but both have a 3/8ID coupler on them....hope that makes sense... here is a LINK to my Res. maybe that will make more sense.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Yeah, it makes sense, but it's stupid that Thermaltake did that

They're basically throwing in an unnecesary bottleneck right there.

 

[stockjock]

OK...Intake on Res. is the higher of the two. I'm noticing the fluid like is turning to foam...it's just weird...

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Are you sure you even have enough water in the system to start with? When filling a system you have to put water in successively because like I said before, the air bubbles in the rad are hard to dislodge. Once they get dislodged, you have to put more water in, and so on.

 

[stockjock]

oK...think I got it...I took the fill cap off the res. and kept adding more liquid which basically forced the bubbles out of the Res. I thought the res. was filled to the top but it wasn't...and because the pump has such high pressure I think it was basically causing any air in the res. to mix with the liquid and turning the liquid to foam. Forcing extra liquid into the res. had to displace the air that was trapped in the res out of it.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Yay!

 

[stockjock]

Thanks for your help fuzzybabybunny. I think I would've figured it out eventually but you pointed me in the right direction. I'm gonna keep the fill cap off for a bit and keep forcing more liquid in to get rid of all air.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

No problem. Watercooling is all mechanical anyway. I've been doing watercooling for, eesh, going on 6 years now? They definitely have their quirks. And spills...

One thing that I highly recommend having around is a supply of 6 or so rubber stoppers, so that if you want to rearrange your tubing sometime in the future, as soon as you disconnect a tube you can plug it up, which prevents water from being flung everywhere.

 

[stockjock]

OK..millions and millions of tiny bubbles are officially gone! Been one hour bubble free!! yay!

 

[stockjock]

24 hours and still bubble free! man...what a dummy I was...I used the coolant to push the bubbles out of the res.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Yay! I bet it's also a whole lot more quiet too