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Radiical Three port Radiator and Bleeder Wick

Log Date:July 21, 2006

One of the most vexing problems with installing water cooling components is the need to bleed the system as components are installed or changed. The same problem faces the average water cooling enthusiast who, having setup their water cooling system for the first time, requires a method of air bleeding which will rapidly reduce and ultimately remove the air trapped in the cooling loop. For those of you who are unaware air trapped in the cooling system reduces cooling efficiency and can become irritatingly noisy as the trapped air bubbles circulate repeatedly through the pump and radiator. The importance of air removal cannot be underestimated. Air trapped in the pump housing at startup can "run the pump dry". This lack of coolant can lead to the pump overheating effectively rendering an expensive pump useless.

Several solutions to filling and bleeding cooling systems have evolved over time. There is the tried and tested reservoir in its many and varied shapes and sizes. The basic idea behind the reservoir is a storage point for coolant. The storage area should provide enough volume so that there will be sufficient coolant available to fill the system. Another function of the reservoir is to provide a place in the loop where the coolant flow can slow to a point where the release of air bubbles trapped in the coolant can occur. To do this the reservoir must have available space left inside it to accommodate the air being released from the coolant. Failure to provide the air space will simply force the released air back into the coolant flow again.

The are a few problems associated with reservoirs. One of these problems occurs when the pump suction is too powerful for the size of the loop. As a result the coolant flow will not slow down in the reservoir and instead a vortex will be generated sucking any air trapped in the reservoir back into the loop. The result of this vortex development is the repeated circulation of small air bubbles, often referred to as micro bubbles, throughout the water cooling loop. Usually these bubbles will collect in the next area of low flow, say in the header tank of the radiator, where they will sit until detached by mechanical means such as movement of the radiator or by contact with the coolant flow. When detached they will make periodic and noisy trips through the system.

Not surprisingly a lot of air can be caught up in the header tank of some radiator designs. In a worst case scenario the top tank of the radiator can become only partially filled with coolant significantly reducing the efficiency of the system. If sufficient air is present in the end tank the coolant pump has to work harder to push fluid against the trapped air. Anyone who has wrongly fitted a reservoir by trying to pump the coolant through the reservoir, rather than draw it from the reservoir, can attest to the significant drop in flow rate when one of these little pumps tries to push against trapped air.

Although reservoirs are a very good way of filling and bleeding air from the system they occupy valuable internal case space which could be used to house other hardware. Having to rearrange internal components to make room for a bay reservoir or floor mounted reservoir can significantly impact on the available internal case space available. To reduce this impact a number of water cooling kit manufacturers have moved to smaller "micro" reservoirs to conserve case space. Even with these smaller reservoirs the issue of additional space utilization remains. Placing the pump inside the reservoir or the reservoir on top of the pump housing are some of the other space saving methods which have been used.

The other air removal tool that has become popular over the last few years is the T-line. The basic T-line is usually made from a plastic or brass "T" fitting. For those of you who are not sure what a T-line is imagine the letter T inverted so that the stem of the T is pointing upwards. The horizontal part of the inverted T is connected to the flow pathway and the upright portion of the T is connected to a length of tubing placed in a vertical or near vertical position. The vertical portion of the T-line acts as a riser for air bubbles to escape.

The major advantages of the T-line is cost. They are very cheap to make but like the reservoir they have faults. T-lines are slow to fill the system and they can increase the risk of pump failure by reducing the available coolant supply in those first few vital seconds of first use pump operation unless care is exercised. With perseverance and care the system can be filled through the T-line and the removal of unwanted air can be accomplished albeit slowly. Even though the T-line has a high level of efficiency it will not ensure the removal of air trapped in such places as the radiator header tanks. To remove this air the radiator has to be tilted and mechanically agitated to drive the air back into the line.

Recognizing that system filling and bleeding are important elements of setting up the water cooling loop we here at Radiical have been working on methods which would simplify the filling and bleeding process. During the last twelve months we have been developing a method to accomplish all of the basic functions, namely filling, bleeding and draining of the coolant system, so that the whole process of cooling loop setup can be sped up and simplified. In addition to those design parameters of filling and bleeding we also considered how best to reduce the need for space occupying reservoirs and their associated tubing.

Today we are able to announce that we have completed that development task. The outcome of our prolonged testing is the creation of our Patent Pending "Radiical Three Port Radiator ©" and "Bleeder Wick©".

Okay so what is the Three Port Radiator© all about?

The simple answer is that we have integrated the reservoir into our current radiator design by introducing a third port. In the picture of the 120 mm single radiator shown below the impact of the third port on our smallest radiator can be seen.

The three port design can be used with any of our radiators. In our CM Stacker Makeover Project, for example, we used the triple version of our Three Port Radiator©. That project can be found here.

With the Three Port Radiator© design the whole radiator now acts as a large reservoir for coolant. The inclusion of the reservoir into the radiator has also removed the need for a T-line or any ancillary reservoirs. The result is an effective method for filling, bleeding and draining with a considerable space saving inside the case.

The Radiical Three Port Radiator© has been tested successfully with a wide variety of pumps of differing power. Even pumps like the Alphacool DDC Plus One fitted with Alphacool's own reservoir top is tamed by this new radiator design. This radiator design will work with single, dual and triple fan radiators irrespective of them being dual pass or single pass radiators. The only caveat is that the air bleeding process will require the radiator third port to be placed uppermost in a vertical position. Once bled of course the radiator third port can be sealed off using the included sealing plug and the radiator placed in whatever position is required.

Please Note; Some service and monitoring functions may be lost when the radiator is placed in a horizontal position.

The third port of the radiator also constitutes a drainage point for the radiator so a timely warning is needed here;

Warning; Under no circumstances should the third port be left unplugged if any service is too be carried out on the cooling system. The sealing plug should be reinstalled in the third port prior to the removal of any tubing within the system. Failure to follow this warning will result in the third port carrying out its secondary function of draining the system. Do not over tighten the third port plug when fitting it into the third port as this will void the warranty.

There is one further inherent function of the Three Port Radiator© which will be discussed at a later date.

So what is a Bleeder Wick©?

The Bleeder Wick© is a water valve which acts to contain fluid but permits air to rise out of the coolant solution. The Bleeder Wick© is the natural developmental progression of the T-line. The Bleeder Wick© is attached via the third port of the Three Port Radiator©. It is used as a fill point for coolant and a draining point should it be needed. Once bleeding is completed the filling Bleeder Wick© can be removed and the radiator returned to its native state with the use of the included air tight seal. Should the user wish to retain the Bleeder Wick© in position a more petit version of the Bleeder Wick© can be used. The retention of the Bleeder Wick© permits the monitoring of pump activity (by observing the water pulses) and acts as a maintenance portal for topping up coolant as trapped air is released from the system.

Application;

The Three Port Radiator© and Bleeder Wick© have universal applications across a range of equipment where air removal is required.

The Three Port Radiator© can be used in conjunction with pumps that have difficult to bleed reservoirs attached such as the Alphacool DDC pump reservoir.

The Three Port Radiator© can be added on to an existent system to replace an under performing reservoir. This will, of course, increase the existent radiator cooling performance and at the same time introduce the fast bleeding capacity inherent in the Three Port Radiator© design.

The Three Port Radiator© can be "added on" to a standard radiator system to replace a "T" Line to provide fast air bleeding capacity thereby dramatically decreasing the set up time.

Filling and Bleeding Testing

We have conducted extensive testing on both the test bed and with the computers used here as we changed them over to the new radiator design using the Three Port Radiator© and Bleeder Wick©.

One such test evaluated the single pass triple radiator using our own CPU (WHX) and GPU water blocks on the test unit with 7/16" tubing. The pump used was an 18W DDC-1 plus pump fitted with our Turbo Head but without any attached reservoir. Filling and primary bleeding to the point where the computer could be started took a mere 6 minutes. That is, from a perfectly dry unit to a filled and operational system took 6 minutes. It is important to note that while the Bleeder Wick© is in use the remaining micro bubbles and adhesive bubbles within the system are constantly being carried out of the loop. It should be noted also that during the course of this extended bleeding period a surprisingly large amount of air will be released. There will be a need to top up the coolant as required.

One of the most popular radiators for high performance systems is the triple fan dual pass radiator. The major problem with this size of radiator is the difficulty in bleeding the system. The difficulty increases when the radiator barbs are placed in a downwards orientation to permit ease of entry for the tubing into and out of the computer case. Up to this point the problems of bleeding such large radiators has put people off using dual pass triple fan radiators in favor of single pass triple radiators where a fitting is placed at either end.

The problem of bleeding any of these radiators ceases with the introduction of the Radiical Three Port Radiator©. Bleeding of dual pass triple radiator with the barbs place downwards takes slightly less time than the single pass variant (5 minutes instead of six).

Pumps

We tested the Three Port Radiator© and Bleeder Wick© on the DDC-1 plus pump based Alphacool reservoirs as mentioned above. The results were very good with the reservoir being cleared of any major air bubbles within about 3 minutes of use. Extended bleeding to clear accumulated micro bubbles took 15 minutes. These were static test involving no manipulation of the radiator. The same process was applied to the Eheim compact stations and our own Evolution kit pumps all of which have inbuilt pump reservoirs with the same results.

Warning; Do not remove the filler plug from any reservoir based pump with the radiator third port plug open. Doing so will drain the system through the filler port with the potential for severe leakage to occur. Always re-fit the third port plug before carrying out any service on the cooling system.

In fact the Radiical Three Port Radiator© and Bleeder Wick© was effective on every pump we used including the AP1510 Alphacool pump.

Eheim 1250
Eheim 1048
Eheim 1046 12 volt
Eheim Compact 600 and pump station reservoir
DDC-1 10W pump
DDC Plus One 18W pump
DDC Plus One 18W pump with Alphacool pump top modification
DDC Plus One 18W pump with Alphacool pump top and reservoir fitted
DDC Plus One with Radiical Series 2 Turbo Head
MCP 600 pump
Laing D5 Vario pump
Alphacool AP1510 pump

Draining;

From the warnings contained above it should be clear that the third port will assist in draining the system if any tubing or filler plugs are removed while the third port is opened. With large radiators the system can be drained to manageable levels using the third port as an exit for coolant. There are two forms of draining that we tested to be satisfactory.

The tilt and clamp methods.

Tilt Method;

Using the reverse process to filling the Three Port Radiator© is simply tilted and the coolant contents poured out through the Bleeder Wick© into a suitably sized container. It may be necessary to dismount the radiator to remove all of the contents using this method.

Clamp Method;

Using the clamping method the tubing is clamped off and removed from a component placed in the lowest section of the loop with the third port sealed. This will usually be the pump. Clamping of both sides of the tubing, that is inlet and outlet, to the pump should be completed before removal of the third port plug. Using the dual pass radiator it will be necessary to apply this method to both outlets.

The tubing can be removed from one side of the pump and at the appropriate time the third port sealing plug can be loosened and the coolant will flow from the tubing when the clamp is removed.

Before the question is asked. Yes, if you just wanted to use the Three Port Radiator© as a method of draining the system the simplest way would be to invert the radiator and with the third port at the bottom fit a suitable tap.

Monitoring;

The Bleeder Wick© can be used as a sighting line to monitor fluid levels in the system. As fluid fluctuations are shown in the clear tubing the level can be monitored at will. Pump activity can also be seen in the fluid movement in the clear tubing of the Bleeder Wick©

Conclusion;

Initially we intend to offer the Radiical Three Port Radiator© in our Extreme and Triple Ultra water cooling kits based on the Laing D5 pump.

So there you have it the Radiical Three Port Radiator© and Bleeder Wick© . If I was to add a summary it would be that we here at Radiical feel that the Radiical Three Port Radiator© and Bleeder Wick© are very timely progressions.