Thermaltake Tai Chi Watercooled Problem

[pchan424]

Hello everyone. I just recently recieved all of my components to the new computer i am building and i must say its a beautiful system. Well the Tai- Chi case with pre installed watercooling is what im using for it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811133171
Well i got all the components in, the waterblock installed correctly and i followed all the directions like i should have. Well when i first went to fill the case up i did as it said and filled the resevoir and turned the case on. the water seemed to go through the tubes and i kept filling. Long story short its filled now and should be working correctly but im having a problem. When i turn the system on i can see the water begin to flow because it moves through the tubes a little bit but im pretty sure its not flowing like its supposed to. Im using xp + coolant. Im new to the whole watercooling so im learning as i go. The pump is hooked up and all the leds and fan on the radiator come on. I can tell the waters not flowing though because i can also see air bubbles just sitting in the tube. im pretty sure they should be moving. I also know because the temp on my cpu keeps rising. I always turn the system of when the cpu rises to 60 degrees Celsius though. I mean i havent even installed an operating system or anything. just plugged the case in trying to get the watercooling to work. I usually sit there and watch the temp steadily rising and the alarm sounds at 60 so i figured thats the time to turn it off. PLEASE! someone help me. I really want to get my computer up and runing but like i said im a noob to watercooling. and i just need to know what to do about the pump or maybe checking to see if its working correctly. Of course i emailed thermaltake..... but lucky me the bastards dont have a tech support phone number. email is the only option... thanks everyone

 

[Elfear]

Sounds like an air-bubble like you've stated. I'm not familiar with that Thermaltake system but I imagine if it's all pre-built that hopefully the engineers did a decent job at component placement (waterblock with outlet tube on top, reservoir outlet higher than pump inlet, etc.). What I usually do with my watercooling system is just hook up the pump to an external PSU to get the air bubbles out. That way the rest of the computer isn't powered up.

Also make sure that the pump always has water going to it. If it does, I'm a little confused as to why it's not pushing the water through the loop and thus the bubbles out of the system. Maybe the pump isn't that powerful?? I know mine usually hangs for 10-20 seconds and than pushes the air through the system and begins to function normally. If the reservoir is closed off you could try moving the case around to displace the air bubble. Other than that maybe someone else can offer more expertise than me.

 

[pchan424]

First off let me say thanks for trying to help me out. I really appreciate it. Let me go into a little more detail and post some pics so maybe anyone who wants to help will have a better idea of what im working worth.

First off a pic of the entire system.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/pchan424/CIMG0725.jpg

Now a pic of just the water cooled area. Resevoir at top right. Pump at the bottom left and im sure its pretty explanatory
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/pchan424/CIMG0726.jpg

now the water block
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/pchan424/CIMG0728.jpg

On the waterblock the right hose should be the OUT to the processor from the pump the left hose is IN from the processor to the radiator.

I talked to a guy from thermal take and he said it was most likly an air bubble problem in the black hose right before the pump and that i should turn it on and off a bunch of times as suggested once before as well... well i learned how to hook up and external psu and get it to turn on and off without being hooked to the motherboard. so i hooked it up to the pump and turned it on and off and off many many times. Let it run for minutes and minutes and theres still an air bubble right there in the tube which im sure means its not flowing like its supposed to be

Top hose in this pic with clear view of air bubble. thats supposed to be the OUT hose or waterflow to the airblock
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a52/pchan424/CIMG0734.jpg

Ive tried many things from squezing hoses and powering on and off and all things everything short of unhooking the hoses and such but im trying to avoid that if possible but if thats what needs to be done so be it. I want to get my system up and running so bad. and its close to christmas DAM ME!!! my present to myself heh. Please if anyone thinks they know what it may be leme know and thanks again. Oh yea and just to throw it in whe i was turning the pump on and off and letting it run for a few i could actually here water running in the pump at one time if that means anything. thanks again

 

[mindwreck]

Try draining the system and check out the pump. see if it will run by pumping some water in bucket or something. Its could be stuck or the motor magnet is disconnecting from the the rotor's magnet causing it to just vibrate or not do anything.

 

[pchan424]

I GOT IT WORKING!!! ahh im so happy to have it working. when the water first started flowing i was DAM relieved! Well me and my friend started by unscrewing the nuts and seeing where the water would flow to. with the cap off the water would flow smoothly from the resevoir to the pump and through the waterblock into a cup but something was stopping it so we tried checking the radiator. well after a few times of no luck and one time of fluid squirting and splashing a little onto the motherboard and video cards..... dam glad i bought non conductive fluid xp +..... i eventually turned the pump on and had the in from the proccesor hose disconnected. well i blew into the hose through the radiator and that somehow helped the water go through and start flowing freely. I think it may have had a hard time getting it through the radiator or something. well its flowing freely now and oh so pretty. Again thanks everyone for trying to help.

 

[themusgrat]

That's exactly what I had to do, only for the pump. Good quick fix.

 

[jaguax]

Dude, I was thinking about buying that same case, the only thing holding me back is the price.

What do you think of it? Best case ever? heh

Anyway do you have an AIM name or some other way of contact? If I get the case maybe you can help me if I run into problems. Let me know. Thanks man.