What's needed in a resorvoir?

yagga

What do I need in a reservoir? What size do I need and any thing else. I do not know how much liquid I'd be using, but I'd guess more than average, and overdoing anything is perfectly fine with me. Also, is this reservoir supposed to hold ALL the liquid when powered down? If so the ones I've seen don't seem to be that big. Lastly, does the liquid sit anywhere else?
:bringit:

Nive11en

When you turn off the WC, its supposed to stay where it is. It's not supposed to flow down to the reservoir. I think the most preferable point for a reservoir is where you can easily fill the system and also make it act as an air trap - the bigger the reservoir the more water. The more water, the bigger the so called thermal capacity for water, and so it can hold more warmth in it. So if you do have more water in your system, your temperatures should be lower, not by a lot though. It's more important to buy a better water block or pump than a bigger reservoir.
http://www.overclockers.com has some good articles about reservoirs. But what you want in a reservoir is two holes where the water goes in and goes out, and preferably another hole at the top where you could fill the system. The input and output of the reservoir shouldn't be at the top of the reservoir. The 3rd hole for filling, etc should!
I'm not using a reservoir currently and I don't complain. If I ever did I'd want one that fits into the CD-rom bays, or maybe even large enough to take up two cd-rom bays.

yagga

*yagga starts checking out site... *yagga thinks "wish they would organize site better"... *yagga decides to move on...

What would be the best way to air out a system with reservoir (s)? Would one big one, or maybe a smaller one at top and bottom? or maybe just something at top? I was thinking about a drive bay one, but I might not have enough room, plus putting it in the compartment with the pump seems like a good idea to me.

Now questions:
Do the valves/openings HAVE to be closed while the pump is running, or will gravity keep the water down below the holes if the openings are the highest point? Also, I thought I read that bleeder holes don't work if they're "in tube" which I would assume is just a T-splice with a bit of hose stickin up. Any comment?

Oh, forgot, the reason why I wanted a reservoir at the bottem maybe is to have a drainage spot.




MY BIG AWESOME IDEA is to build a cabinet to house the pc case, water pump (and reservoir), and the radiator in one unit, but separate (separated with wood and buffer) sections. It would house 3 different areas, the front with the case, the back top with the pump, and the back bottom with radiator and fan. All this would make one quiet system, which is lockable, and that holds everything nice. The cabinet would be custom built by me, and I am working on design as we speak. The only drawback is that I cant set up lights too much, but maybe that's a good thing because I can pick any kind of case I want, and I can also wrap foam or whatever buffers inside without a care in my eye. ...unless, I put a window in the wood, but I probably won't go that extreme.
---dyn's dynasty

Nive11en

The best thing to do is just look at forums with what other people did and how they did it:

I found these on madshrimps.be I think - don't remember who did it, but its pretty nice!
http://nive11en.futuredt.com/img/wc/otherdude/pict0191.jpg
http://nive11en.futuredt.com/img/wc/otherdude/wc.jpg

Sorry can't post images here other than links it says:

Mackanz

I'm sorry to say it, but a reservoir is just useless actually. I hate to sound negative, but reservoirs are very overrated. Join a "T" connection just before the sucking part of the pump and put a coupe of inches of tubing on that "T" instead. Works brilliantly both as a "reservoir" and a airtrapper. As long as that extra tubing is at the highest point of the loop, the air HAS to go there sooner or later. You should never have to refill a watercooling setup either. If you have to, it means it leaks somewhere or the tubing is "sweating" (which is common with silicone tubing)
The best of all is that it doesn't cost anything. Well, it'l cost you a "T" and 3 inches of tubing, but it sure beats a $30 reservoir which you still have to put at the highest point for best performance.

Nive11en

That's true, I originally bought a reservoir but it sucked (the design of the reservoir was bad and I was a total WC newb)
So I just resorted to the T method and it works great for me too.
http://nive11en.futuredt.com/img/wc/v11/02_front.jpg
Here's a picture of my wc, you can see the T right after the exit from the WB, its best if you place right before the sucking in part of the pump though.

yagga

okay, I was wondering about that T setup, Do reservoirs have a spot on top to connect tubing? or is it an odd designed hole for filling? Maybe I could have a little reservoir with the hose sticking out of that, maybe. Also, if this hose is the highest point will water spash out when the pump is on? or does gravity overpower the pumps push / the pull of the pump counteracts the push. I would guess if the hose was opened at top all the time it would work much better at removing air.

Nive11en

You are thinking too much! Just buy WC, hook it up, and it'll work