Thermaltake Aquarius III hates me.

SlickSlick Upstate New York
edited March 2005 in Hardware
Well my problems started a while ago when I bought my Aquarius III watercooling system. That was my first mistake. I had my new system running for maybe 4 or 5 months stable. I added anti-freeze to the water because I read you can do that. It started to clump up with teh water immedietly. It looked almost like orange juice pulp. Then some weeks later my system started overheating and I figured maybe the anti-freeze had clogged somewhere or teh pump had broke. I decided I would drain the current liquid and fill it with clean water to rule that out. Well here was a problem. I took the "out" hose off teh back, and stuck a canister underneath it to catch the liquid. I turned the unit on, liquid came out for maybe 2 seconds then stopped. I did this repeatedly with teh same results. I sent it back to thermaltake telling them the pump was broken. They sent to me, a unit that looks to be brand new, and I am extremely mad because it has the exact same problem. This leads me to believe the problem is probably with other parts of the system. I don't know what to do.

I think either #1 water within the waterblock is clogged, but that wouldnt explain why some spues out when i turn teh unit on.

or #2, there is a power problem that only gives some power to teh unit on start up then stops supplying power. The thing about this system though is that power is supplied through the computer power supply with no additional plugs

Please please any input would be apreciated :).

For now I am on my old dell with a KVM hook up but its kinda lame.

P.S. The computer can't run more than a few minutes without overheating so it isnt really usable.

Comments

  • SlickSlick Upstate New York
    edited March 2005
    It would be great if someone could reply. It has been like 4 days in the emergency forum.
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    Have you removed the water block from the system and checked it out to see if it's clogged? It could be quite restricted, causing your problem. I'd disassemble the whole system and clean everything just in case it was full of gummed up antifreeze.
  • dragonV8dragonV8 not here much New
    edited March 2005
    Not familiar with the Aquarius III, however i would expect it to have a radiator. I would be inclined to check that as it may well be (partially) blocked, causing the over heating.

    Buddy Jesus,s advise is sound as you really need to eliminate all possibilities of restrictions.
  • BuddyJBuddyJ Dept. of Propaganda OKC Icrontian
    edited March 2005
    Providing there aren't plastic parts, I'd clean it out with some laquer thinner once it was removed. Again, just some thoughts.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited March 2005
    You can also try blowing through the tubing with your mouth and see if the system feels like it's clogged up. You might have to take the pump and set it to suck clean water from a bucket or something to move all the bad stuff out. Remember, that water pump won't pump air worth a darn; it needs some clean water going in for it to move the bad stuff out of the rest of the system.
  • SlickSlick Upstate New York
    edited March 2005
    Ill prolly try cleaning the whole tubing and waterblock. As for anyone thinking about buying this unit. Don't. Just go with air, its so much easier, and the performance of this unit is only mediocere.
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited March 2005
    I don't understand why you used antifreeze with the thing in the first place.
  • frogsterrfrogsterr
    edited March 2005
    That's weird.. I got my aquarius III last may and its working like a dream so far. I use anti-freeze and all. As to your problem, I don't know how it's possible to receive two faulty units in a row..
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited March 2005
    TheSmJ wrote:
    I don't understand why you used antifreeze with the thing in the first place.
    I've never watercooled, but my understanding is that it supposedly provides better heat transfer and less scale and corrosion.

    Having said that, I worked in two nuclear plants and we never did any such thing there... :cool:
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited March 2005
    From my understanding, anti-freeze thickens up the medium quite a bit, and will hamper cooling performance. Ideally, you should use a proper inhibiter, such as swiftech's fluid-xp or water wetter. I find that the ratio of inhibiter to water suggested by manufacturers is much too high, I use just a very small amount of swiftech's juice in my system, and it's working like a dream. Its really not expensive either, only about $3.00 for a small container, and you need less than 1/4 of that for the loop. Antifreeze is mainly only for sub-ambient loops, and not necessary for traditional watercooling.

    /me looks for any nasties growing in the loop.. nope still clean :D
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