I used Vacuum Pressure to fill a PC! Why didn't I do this sooner!?
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- čas přidán 7. 06. 2024
- I finally got so sick of trying to bleed the air out of watercooled PCs that I finally came up with my very own vacuum fill system for PCs inspired by the automotive industry.
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Jay as a physicist I have to warn you about what Ive been seeing. You seem to be going down the "mad scientist" route. Have fun. Let the party begin.
youtubers of the "crackhead engineering" type. Getr styropyro for a collab jayz!
This is the beginning of CZcams fame! ♥
It's the best way for Jay, well, for anyone.
@@0Blueaura screw it fly I did a thing over too lol
@@PinkTuskedMammothnah idat would make a gpu gun, tad too expensive
HVAC technician here. What you created was the harshest water slug machine I've ever seen. When we pull a perfect vacuum (down to 500 microns maximum) we have to let in the liquid refrigerant VERY slowly or else it will destroy the compressor, especially newer ones that have been re-regulated by the EPA to be more efficient in the states.
Waterslugging has the potential to ruin joints, internal mechanisms, and likely your radiator fins. However, you can totally prevent this by pulling a vacuum (with the fittings, because with proper fittings, you should get near a perfect vacuum if your joints don't leak), closing the valve on the tube, removing the other end off of the vacuum, filling that tube with water, plugging the end with your thumb while you push that end of the tube into a bucket of water so that it is completely filled with water, and then CRACK the valve open SLIGHTLY to slowly bleed the water in, letting it flow without much speed so that it gently flushes across your joints and fins.
Edit: actually, it may not be *that* bad considering your loading it into the accumulator instead of directly into delicate points of your water loop, but it's still a good idea to slowly bleed the water into your system.
@@kevinlsims7330 A valve at the end of the hose will still have a few grams of air as you connect the hose to the service valve. ofc my background is an HVAC technician, and so my idea of a perfect job is ensuring there are no contaminants whatsoever.
You ned a 3 way Y splitter with 2 valves one for vacuum and one for fill. The one for the fill will go back to a small gallon bucket with a hole and another fitting with a valve. just before the valve at the Y fitting there will be another fitting with a bleeding port on it so you can pre fill the length of feed hose. Close all valves on the feed side. Open all the valves on the vacuum side and pull a vacuum. Close the vacuum side. Open top valve at the bucket and them open the valve at the Y. Yes some air will get in there, but dam it will work near perfectly. I just got all my fittings in to finish my loop I just may try it. I just concerned I may damage something pulling to m uch of a vacuum. Sory was just thinking out loud when I read your reply. I was a dealership tech for over 20yrs. Everytime I filled a cooling system I pondered this idea and was always surprised none of the big companies had a kit to do this.
Why not do like a wet-vac and pull liquid continuously? - just need two jugs. waterjug-system-vacumjug-pump
@@theluggage7131 That was my first idea to suggest, however there may be air pockets in the system doing it that way and the water will flow right past those air pockets.
I find it so interesting the difference in terminology between industries. I work in materials science and laser testing and for us a "light vacuum" is about 1 micron (I assume we're taking mercury). I actually stifled a gasp when I saw Jay just slam open the vacuum valve like that, I thought for sure he was going to crack something, especially just behind the fill valve.
Yeah, like several people have been saying, a secondary feature of the Aqua Computer Leakshield is to fill the computer by pulling a vacuum. I picked it up for the leak protection but found this secondary feature to be very useful as well.
If possible, add a catch pot between the computer and the pump. You want a place for liquid to stop before it runs through the pump. An old reservoir would be good enough.
You can also pull the vacuum from the fill port while filling from the drain port. You won't need to pull "max vacuum" to get a good fill ratio.
I built a liquid reservoir for doing carbon fiber vacuuming. It's literally just a length of pvc, two caps, and a few holes/fittings. Then you could pull liquid while you pull the vacuum.
I wonder if you could get a fitting like what they use to siphon wine where it doesn't open until you touch the bottom of the liquid container. Then you could pull a vacuum in your fill tube and hold the vacuum until it's in the liquid.
I dont think hes pulling water thru the pump just creating a vacuum in the pc tank then letting the watter get sucked back in by the created vacuum
I dont think hes pulling water thru the pump just creating a vacuum in the pc tank then letting the watter get sucked back in by the created vacuum
@@richiebricker that's not what they're saying is happening, aside from any residual water that didn't get blown out during the draining step. A large enough reservoir between the drain valve and the vacuum pump would allow him to drain the system into the reservoir by using the vacuum to pull the liquid (by pulling a vacuum on the reservoir, essentially), and then he could refill the system by reversing the order, placing the cooling system between the pump and the reservoir of new coolant, in one step instead of two
Aquacomputer actually has a vacuumpump for a PC waterloop, its called Leakshield. It also prevents small leaks over time by keeping a small vaccum in your PC.
Yup. Filling loops with it is basically all I use it for, too. Such a useful feature.
Watch it Jay is going to be triggered!
I think i remember Linus making a video on that or something like it.
Simpsons did it
A lot of industrial oil lubrication systems use this method to prevent leaks..
the only thing that scares me about this way , is cheap rads or other parts that collapse under the vacuum
A pressure test is fairly easy. Pressurize it to the approximate amount you will use later. If you can, let it sit to see if it will leak over time. Once you know it can handle it, you are good to go.
That was my first thought.
Yes. You should never vacuum your system. Using a vacuum pump to suck in fluid is other thing.
I wouldn’t do this - negative pressure (ie vacuum) and positive pressure cause completely different stresses.
Not a problem at all. The cooling pump itself operates on vacuum, it sucks (and pushes) the depending on what side of the vanes. It will only be the negative pressure needed to draw up the fluid. It's not a pressure system like a car radiator they changed pressure when temperatures rise. It's more like a brake bleeder.
Jay got negative readings because he plugged the inlet, but if you are sucking liquid, it will be like sucking a straw. Benefits of this method vs pressure is it works better at filling the air voids by sucking the air out. Air can compress, so it tends to leave pockets in the high spots, just like when filling a car cooling system.
Interesting for sure, and one I may try if I ever get a user serviceable radiator.
This is how I fill mine using leakshield, essentially. The leakshield prevents leaks by creating a vacuum, it has a fill mode that uses a vacuum to pull fluid into the system.
EDIT: JAY, AQUACOMPUTER BUILT IT INTO LEAKSHIELD. THEY DID IT FIRST.
🥰
$130 vs $60 tho.
@lyianx Active leak protection and warning tho.
@@lyianx You get what you pay for.
Very cool, would love to see you do it again on a hard line system or whatever you can with max visibility of the fluid filling the whole thing.
So there was this product that Linus tested something like 3 or 4 years ago now that was called "leak shield" and basically what it did was it drew a negative pressure on the water loop which helped to fill it this way too. It uses a piezo pump which is crazy in my opinion but that's largely what I want next time I build a PC, whenever that is.
It's being sold since a while now, about 2 years IIRC.
'Aqua Computer Leakshield' (german company). It's main use is drawing negativ pressure while the loop runs which prevents fluid from spilling if there are small punctures for some reason. Hence the name leakshield. Filling the loop by pulling a vacuum is more of an additional use of the system.
Sadly, outside of Germany (and somewhat EU) Aqua Computer, Watercool and TechN are barely known as it seems. Those 3 are german brands with awesome custom loop stuff.
Im currently building a system with a leakshield, that video is what got me into watercooling, or at least gave me the confidence to try it out for the first time.
I have a Leakshield in my system.
My first watercooled system.
It's still absolutely insane how effing sensitive that thing is, you literally lose a drop and it detects it.
Got one. LOVE the damn thing. saved my 7900xtx computer shut down while gaming with all my leds flashing red.
Checked and one of the L connector above my videocard was leaking :P
I'd like to know more about what is causing the noise coming from the radiators while under vacuum. My concern is the fins detaching from the fluid channels and losing cooling efficiency because of less surface contact.
I was thinking the same as Jay mentioned this noise.
Thin metal flexing
My concern is they collapse under vacuum then don't reinflate (or lack of a better way to describe it) when reg pressure is reapplied, so they don't have the same surface area/volume to radiate heat in future
Fins are on the air side of radiators, not in the liquid side.
@@PrepareToDie0 also some of the pipes might be sintered so causing those to flex too much might break off small pieces of metal that will float around.
For what it's worth, Aquacomputer already developed a vacuum system for PCs. Their LeakShield system uses a tiny vacuum pump to both prevent leaks and can also suction fluid into the reservoir. Its just not as fast or as cool as using an automotive vacuum pump. Alphacool also has an external unit call the ES Orbiter that does similar but requires using QDCs; you fill it with fluid, and it pumps it into your system while pulling out the air, and then you quick-disconnect the Orbiter and connect the two QDCs within the PC to themselves and done; air-free loop.
I have a tool for vehicle coolant systems that does the same thing using Venturi effect instead of vacuum pump it's a bit safer for the rads, just need to start the filling process slowly so you don't damage the delicate microfins of the water blocks by having them get suddenly get hit by a rushing wall of water
You could set up a station for both draining and filling with differnt pumps.
Use the same pump but with a set of valves to selectively open to a vacuum reservoir to empty, then to a liquid reservoir to re-fill!
the vacuum pump should be at the top of the system, and the fill tube be at the lowest. also, you need to run the vacuum pump through a jar, to protect the vacuum pump from sucking fluids. You could use that same jar, to pull clean fluid through the system to flush out the old gunk. < Automotive Radiator servicing>
there is some mist around the pump in the video , @8:45 maybe it is blowing/spraying water out the outlet nipple... not so great for air vac pump for sure, i have same pump and it does not put oil vapors out like stated, makes me think it is water mist...
@@TomislavReskovic This is oil/water vapour that you are seeing coming out of the vacuum pump. This is normal and part of the process of vacuuming as it the water or moisture being pulled out of the loop is being boiled off in the vacuuming process.
🤣 that type of vacuum pump definitely doesn't need "protection from fluids" it's designed to pump either flashed refrigerants or liquid refrigerant (depending on what refrigerant is being used)
Also that "mist" as Jay mentioned in the video correctly isn't the liquid. If anyone was paying attention to the entire process he vacuumed prior to adding the new liquid. ALL of those types of vacuum pumps expell a mist of heated oil out the vent port.
You can just hook that pump up to a bottle for draining, just make sure it sits at the top of your recovery container and that is big enough
Thank you! I have been waiting for Someone in the tech tuber space to tey this! Live it.
Almost all of Jay's best videos stem from the phrase: "I wonder what would happen if....?"
Jay, test some radiators. The thinner walled heat exchange tubes might collapse under vacuum. If not, very cool solution.
Then the solution is to only pull a slight vacuum. Like -.25 atmospheres.
@@avroarchitect1793 Yeah, you don't need barely any vacuum if you connect the pump to the fill port (highest in the system) and the fill tube to the drain (lowest in the system). Then you only need enough to lift the water from the container to the top of the res, 1-2 inHg is enough (1inHg = 345 mm H2O).
Add a catch container between the system and the pump (you could use a spare res using two ports at the top or use a jar and some barbs) to protect the pump and you have a nice system.
@@MikrySoft I have used a large mason jar with a couple of npt-hose barb connections to make a water separator, using a coupling cut in half as nuts for the pipe thread to attach them to the thin jar lid. Works quite well, we use these kind of pumps all the time to pull vacuum on double wall, vacuum monitored fuel tanks. They always have water in them if the seal leaks, or fuel if the tank has failed internally. Neither of which need to go through the vac. pump.
Alternatively, just connect the drain (with a ball valve) to a hose going to water, and connect the vacuum source to the fill port. Then turn on the pump and allow it to pull in the fluid until it's full.
This would allow you to not have to deal with putting the system under an intense vacuum
Was going to say this too. This also guarantees no air in the system
Great video!
Beat you to it Jay, I did this 3 weeks ago to fill, and drain my current system, and like you I love working/building my Subaru.
Mityvac MV8500 Silverline Elite Automotive Test Kit Provides both Vacuum and Pressure
I used this; It does not take as much effort as you think, and also you can reverse the flow vac or pressure, so I made a custom container to hold the liquid, and put it under vac to allow the air to bubble out, and then simply flip the valve to now allow all the coolant to fill the space with out the air issue you had with the fill tube
I make silicone molds to make resin parts for random projects and I use a vacuum pump to degas (remove air and other gases) from the liquid silicone and resin. I also am planning a new computer build and I want to try water cooling...this just made that a bunch easier!! Thank Jay
If your rigid tube system has a leak in a joint during initial testing, you could use the vacuum to pull in sealant. I've seen woodworkers pull glue into a fine crack with just a shop-vac on the opposite side. Brilliant video!
This sort-of already exist but not as loop filling tool but as a leak detector and it's called Leakshield from Aquacomputer.
Leakshield does filling as well. The pump operates both ways
There already is that cute little manual pump for testing a loop, with a gauge too. It should be child's play to reverse it on the cheap... and yes, Aquacomputer's leakshield.
a great way to check for leaks as well, we do the same thing in the automotive industry before filling cooling systems or refrigeration systems.
Aquacomputer’s LEAKSHIELD makes refilling easy.
As long as the vacuum isn't too strong it works. Too much vacuum and it ends up sucking air through fittings defeating the purpose. I have that exact same Amazon vacuum but I use it to vacuum out auto AC systems to recharge them for far cheaper than a shop charges.
Hey Jay,
I've been filling my PC with a fluid vacuum hand pump for ages. I used one that is meant to be used to bleed automotive brakes.
I don't pull vacuum on the whole system though, I use the vacuum to pull fluid through the loop at the highest point to ensure a complete fill. This way also tends to pull all the air pockets out as well.
Jay!! Put vacuum pump at top of your system (fill port) and suck in fluid through the bottom (drain)! Love that you are finally doing this!
I was expecting this method to be fast, but DAMN that is SO fast!
But I think pulling a bit less intense vacuum might be better for the parts in the loop in the long run :D
Did you ever tried an Aquacomputer Leakshield? This could also be used to fill the system using a vacuum.
I've always used a tiny aquarium pump. Line in from the lowest point (typically your drain), line out at the highest and that line is ran back into the bucket/fluid source so that the pump can cycle the fluid through the system however long you want it to before closing the loop up. Also works for rad flushing.
same but have been doing water changes on my reef tank.
We used the following pump for our RF systems. JB Industries DV-200N Platinum 7 CFM Vacuum Pump. It can take an hour or two to pull the vacuums on the systems that were built and on some occasions all night.
Jay saying "I'm not sure what I'm doing" means it is going to be science lmao
Yea, science™!
Any DIYer says the same thing when starting a project.
Hey Jay, nice idea, but a litten bit late. Check Aquacomputers Leakshield. It uses a slight vacuum (negativ 300-400mbar) You can use this to Check for leaks in a newly build System, to Fill the system throgh a Port and to degas the system. (As well as a leak protection)
This is a pretty cool peice of kit. Please review Jay
Leakshield is a very nice looking piece of kit, especially with the QoL features it offers!
Shame it doesn't fit on my Corsair XD5 or I'd grab one in a heartbeat for the peace of mind alone.
How does it achieve leak protection? The entire loop can't be of a lower pressure than atmospheric while running, can it?
@@bricaaron3978That is exactly what it does
@@bricaaron3978 Yes, the system runs at low pressure. Mine is currently -316.5mbar ;-)
To evac a system all you need is a container in between the vac source and the cooling system. The vacuum pulls the vac at the top of the container (so that fluid does not get pulled in) and a hose extends to the bottom of the container where the fluid is accumulated. It's just like a one-man vacuum side brake bleed, like a Mityvac which I use.
The beautiful thing about this is that by using a vacuum, you've already pre-tested the system for leaks before even filling it, without having to do a separate pressure test (although it probably wouldn't hurt to do that when building it anyway. A second test also doesn't hurt, sometimes things might ... move between build and first fill, esp. if you have multiple hands on it.) Very efficient
You can use a T with two valves at the end, so you can put one tube to the vacuum pump and the other one to the bottle so that you don't have to take the tube out to the air. Also, a thinner tube would minimize the dead volume of air, but it might fill slightly slower. Going lower on pressure won't help much.
Best would be to hook the pump to fill port and the hose to drain port
Breaking the rule and commenting before fully watching, but if this works... I have a vacuum pump for recharging car AC systems that may find its way indoors on the next loop maintenance day.
I just bought this same case for a new build, I also just installed a huge mini split on my shop. I was literally thinking about doing this with this build. I open up youtube, and here you are in my subs, posted today! CRAZY!!!
Great idea Jay....Excellent!
Actually this is kinda what Aqua Computer's Leakshield does. You fill the loop under vacuum. But it's an expensive gimmick IMO
You could theoretically have another tube in the water with a quick connect on one end and have it above so you can use gravity to fill the tube to get rid of air then switch the tubes
I was thinking something even easier. After pulling a vacuum and shutting the valve, raise the black tube above the connector and pour water in it to displace the air. Pinch or plug the end of the tube and submerge it under the water. Done, little to no air in the tube.
@@CHR0NOMASTER dude, yes way simpler
This is why ive always loved you jay
You may want to look into the following:
A three way valve on the fill side of your rig. It will allow you to switch from the vacuum pump to the fill bottle and have the fill hose as full as possible to limit the amount of air.
If worried about pulling water into the vacuum side of the system, install a fluid separator to keep the liquid from the vacuum pump.
What you should do is put a fitting on the bottom of a bucket of some kind so you can full the bucket with coolant and plug the hose going to the bucket fitting. If the bucket is on a stand above the fitting in the system all the air in the hose will rise into the bucket. This would also be a good setup if you need to fill a bunch of systems really quickly. After the system is full you can just move the hose to the top of the system to top off.
Oh so essentially custom rigging a fill station reservoir, that's pretty dang smart.
And if he has a closeable valve on the bottom of the hose, then the hose will also stay full of liquid if any is left and not have air in it either that could be pushed into the system.
haha ! I just suggested the same thing !
topping off the res seems a lot easier.
Jay, to expand on the use of automotive tools and making this a bit more reachable, how about a "mighty Vac" hand pump like you would use for bleeding brakes? Especially if you adapt a larger reservoir to hold the old coolant, it could be a one step solution. Also you could add a tee fitting and 2 more ball valves one to your vacume, one to the new fluid this would then allow you to not have the air introduced from the new fluid line.
That's what I use. It works very very well. A big system is rarely more than 2 liters and a hand-vac is more than plenty to purge it in a minute.
You could create a manifold with a fill side and a vacuum side that would permit you to remove air from your fill before you open the system. It would only require a couple of additional values.
Loved the memes in this vid gold editing Phil!
I've been wondering why no one has done this yet, coming from a mechanic standpoint. This is how I've been doing car radiators for years so you can make sure there is no air behind the heater core. Great video Jay
@JaysTwoCents you should take one of your radiators sitting around to see if the vacuum is actually doing any damage to the rad, otherwise this is actually a good idea
Also, they make automotive reservoirs that are made for vacuum evacuation that separate the air flow from the fluid.
This was part of my concern as well. PC components (for water cooling)* are not designed to operate under much pressure, much less a vacuum. At -29 psi, though it may not seem like much, is actually enough to implode containers you might not expect to do so. I'm sure there are plenty of videos to demonstrate this. A steel drum for instance will withstand multiple atmospheres under pressure, but will collapse under less than one.
This is what makes CZcams stand out vs the crap that's on TikTok or Insta or whatever.
Informative content which is actually useful. And entertaining at the same time.
Thank you!
If you have another port you could use as a “bleed line” you could fill your system using one of the methods we use with aircraft brakes. We hook up a pressure pot, essentially a garden sprayer with a connector on the end, and then pump fluid through the system which forces out all the air
Positive pressure, like you're already doing with the air blower, will be much more effective at fully emptying a system than a vacuum. Both options might be similar when the system is full, but if you want to make sure you get every last drop at the end, go positive pressure.
For filling, vacuum like you've found is the way to go! You don't need a full vacuum (and your current reading of "-25" is because you're only plopping the tube onto the flare fitting, that's your main leak). There's plenty of ways you can set up a liquid reservoir at the start and an overflow reservoir at the vacuum and just pull the liquid in with a mere "-1" (or so, still needs to combat the restrictions of tubing resistance and liquid viscosity but that's just extra science)
-hvac tech
As someone who has a custom, compact loop built around EK-MLC Phoenix modules, this just made my life so much easier. It essentially doesn't have a reservoir, other than an extremely tiny one built into one of the rads.
Tomorrow I'm going to finally do the purge I've been avoiding and pull from the highest point with a catch can before the pump.
10:51 "no one is selling a vacuum kit!"
Aquacomputer: Hiiiiii :D
I'm glad you said something cause dayum is that thing sexy...
Dang, Jay... You just revolutionized PC enthusiast building. Well done JayzTwoCents team!
One of the coolest tricks I ever saw working at an auto shop was an old timer putting a vacuum on the oil fill port on top of the engine while I changed the drain plug without losing a drop... wonder if a similar gag could work for quick repairs or modifications on a system without having to drain it completely
technically you could use a oilexchange machine to change the water in the loop with brand new water and or fill it! maybe worth taking a look at jay
jay never heard about leakshield from aquacomputer
I used a similar technique working for Moog to fill sealed electrical cables for undersea use. If you add the coolant slowly thru a needle valve you will put less stress on the mechanical components.
This is wild. After watching what you went through on the NR200 Max build you did, and knowing I'm working on a full loop NR200P system, and being an automotive tech in the past, I have pondered doing this EXACT thing. You good sir, have absolutely confirmed what I was thinking! Well freaking done!
For having a dual rad loop ( top and bottom ) in an NR-200P it's not that hard to fill manualy assuming your loop planning is half decent . Personally i have a distro pump/res combo from barrow DC-17SBD ( had an EKWB FLT-120 prior to that but it started cracking after couple of months so i turned it back ) along with two torque drain valves from EKWB and it's been easy to fill the entire system. Hit me up if you want pics of my loop or any help .
Pulling inspiration from the auto field is brilliant! I recommend putting a vacuum trap between the drain and the vacuum pump to protect your pump from stray drops or schmoo in the system. To go EVEN FASTER, you could hook up a tube, valve, and jug to the fill port too. Apply vacuum, close one valve, open another, FWOOSH!
Fwoosh are all the entrained microbubbles of air just put into your system!
I was literally looking this up last night! Thank God the water cooling guru is on it!
I can't believe I missed this video. Most water loop components can handle up to 1 Bar of pressure (14.5 PSI). Inversely, the components can handle up to -1 Bar of vacuum (-14.5 PSI). Wouldn't it be better to not allow the vacuum to go past -14 PSI? Perhaps that was the reason you could hear the radiator pipes and fins collapsing, like the bulkheads in a submarine. Next time try to only reach a vacuum of -14 PSI and see how well that works for you. I am currently working on a similar project, and that is how I found this video. Great job as always, guys!
Those are the kind of pumps used in fabs and semiconductor labs to pick up packaged parts with little suction cups to move them around from trays to systems, etc.
The reason you can't pull the vacuum past 24" is because of the water left in the system. Water boils under a vacuum which will cause the pressure to rise. On a new build you might hit 29" but it might require running the pump for 24 hours depending on the humidity in the area.
I'm pretty sure the fact that he's just plopping the tube over the flare fitting is his main reason to only hit 25", as that's sure to be a vacuum leakage
This makes sense, you can see some vapors coming from the pump too
I mean, its not like he needs to get system more sealed. If anything its better to pull just enough vacuum to fill the system so that you don't break anything.
Correct. As soon as the gauge stops dropping, fill it up. I was just explaining as to why Jay couldn't get to 30" of vacuum.
30" would probably cause damage to some of the components, mainly o-rings not designed for a vacuum.@@BunzJackson
Tell me your HVAC without telling me your HVAC.
Maybe you want to pull the vacuum at the highest point, i.e. the Phil-port, so you could prime the original drain port with fluid while under low vacuum, then increase the vacuum and phil the system all the way. You might want to include a small reservoir in front of the vacuum pump, so that it cannot suck liquid. But that is just my two cents. 😎
Hay Jay, you can improve it: if the vacuum pump was hooked in a place of the topoff screw plug instead, with additional overfill bottle in that line (hose from the topoff hole goes to the bottom of the bottle, vacuum pump sucks the air from the entire system through the lid of overfill bottle), and the drain pipe was dipped in the new fluid, filled already, sucking in air from the drain pipe like at 5:47 would't happen. Before vacuuming the loop, a bit of fluid could be sucked in up the drain pipe through the drain valve, than after closing it off, we create the vacuum in the loop through the topoff hole. When vacuum is achived, the drain valve will be opened until the fuid will reach the overfill bottle. An overfill valve, placed instead of the topoff screw plug, would stop the overflow, than drain valve would close off the fully filled cooling loop. For the finish, you just unscrew the hoses from valves, and the overfilled fluid goes from the bottle back into the storage container.
I did try doing this a year ago because I was doing a build in an ncase m1 with a t-line instead of a res. But since I am not a car person I must of messed something up. (I ended up just filling it up normally)
You are the first to do it successfully though
Hey Corsair and EK, I think you just found a new feature for your water cooling solutions.
Only Aquacomputer has it first
linke?@@tomkeating65
I cant say with 100% certainty that Jay was the first to vacuum fill a system, but he was the first publicly documented one at least, and first ive seen or heard, so thats pretty cool
This is a game changer! I was so fed up of the fill process on my custom loop that I completely did away with it all and went back to an AIO and fans... But now I just might have to rebuild a loop.
That was really cool. nice experiment. Looking forward to the long term use... with how you like to refill systems often that IS additional stress on the system.
in the automotive repair field, there is a piece of equipment for draining and refilling cooling systems using vacuum. it's strong enough to collapse radiator hoses and fill the system about 80% in seconds.
as long as PC components are robust enough to take the vacuum, it'll work, but there will be some air.
you should take a look at the leakshield from Aquacomputer in Germany, that uses a vaccum pump for preventing leaks but it has a vaccum fill mode just like this combined with a leak test
The two valve system you have is a great idea. I have a vacuum pump. I have 2-24mm vacuum gauges with thumb screw needle valves, that way I can control the amount of vacuum can be pulled. It works great and works kind of like a little fail safe.
I also use a weird method that everyone scratches their head at when doing clutches and break systems; I will prime the system with fluid and then I use a sink drain plug with a small hole drilled in it with vacuum line going inside of it. I will slap it ontop of the master cylinder reservoir and pull vacuum, this pulls all of the air out of the top. If anyone who's a GM Tech will know this is how GM did most of their hydraulic systems for decades! Works great for removing air out of a system, going through the top of the reservoir..
10:50 - You might wanna retract that statement... Google Aqua Computer LEAKSHIELD
i've never even touched water cooling, but i have always wondered why Jay never applies more automotive stuff to his builds.
Most PC cooling is copper or nickel-plated copper. No reason you couldn't use a car radiator, but you'd then need to make sure everything else is compatible and won't turn itself into a battery and corrode over time.
He plays with cars but he’s not a tech. Back before water cooling became mainstream we use to use automotive parts to cool our PCs. I remember using a transmission oil cooler from a minivan (trans coolers are the most efficient and the smallest) and than I used an aquarium pump to move the coolant. For a water block I cut up and soldered up an old air cooler, the heat pipes go right through and touch the plate so it worked mint. Of course it wasn’t as efficient as todays blocks with the separator plate and micro fins, but it was way better than air cooling. I use to do all kinds of stuff like that but it’s just cheaper today to buy dedicated parts. As an automotive tech and a shop owner I still come up with things and currently me and my buddy who works with industrial refrigeration are talking about a mini refrigeration system instead of water, either a chiller or a full on cold plate. The hardest part is trying to find a small compressor to move the refrigeration, the condenser and evaporator are easy enough to solder up and so are the high/low side lines. Of course it’s completely useless for a daily pc but it would be fun to build lol. To many other projects and hobbies on the go so probably never build it haha. But yea I agree, jay should be doing more automotive features in PCs, he built the channel off custom water cooling and has gone away from that. It was always about bios overclocks and crazy water cooling and now seems like an add campaign. Was looking forward to seeing that mock up V8 engine build but he gave up on that thing so fast and never seen again.
It seems jayz never heard of Aquacomputers Leakshield, what exactly does the same but is even much more advanced as it helps you protect against leaks and could even remove the water again.
Great vid!
Just have to note.. Used to work in HVAC, and we didn't use vacuum to fill refrigerant - but to ensure there was no moisture in the system. Certain compressor oils would become acidic and you could ruin the compressor pistons if there was moisture in there. The capacity of the moisture filter of the system is just meant to handle the last residues after vacuum boils any water away inside the system.
This is also what might break internal components if you have a leak on the return side, as moisture would be pulled in and react with the compressor oils and make acid.
5:54 Phil's reaction was my reaction word for word, same cadence, same tone. I am shocked at how effective this was. Jay better get royalties for this. This was shear genius.
Edit: Apparently, there is a device from aqua computer called LEAKSHIELD that uses a concept similar to what was demonstrated in this video. It uses pressure to fill the loop, monitor's the loop's atmosphere in real time, and adjusts pressure to minimize or neutralize leaks. Linus did a video on this 2.5 years ago.
That said, I still think this method is faster and less proprietary. I still love your idea, but check out that LEAKSHIELD from aqua computer and perhaps give us your thoughts on it.
Prior art; he is repurposing existing auto tech. Plus Aqua Computer's Leakshield, which uses the same principal, as referenced above, already exists. Jay's giant shoulders are atop the shoulders of previous giants. Fantastic realisation of a=b and b=c, therefore a=c, though.
Pfftt.. Aquacomputer LEAKSHIELD... been using it for 2 years.. its 2023 Jay not 1980..... i fill with -450 Mbar
performance-pcs sells it..
LOL even my whole loop is at -300Mbar 24/7 buy one mess with it, could be fun :P
And the "crackling" you is is the radiator tubes getting loose from the louvers (yeah breaking it)
I've been meaning to get a vacuum pump to create a vacuum pot chamber for removing air from epoxy projects. Then today, I found out you can pickle foods under vacuuming instantly, rather than waiting weeks/months/years. And now I see this. It's really time.
as a refrigeration engineer in the uk, you have sparked my geeky interest 😀use a set of 4 port refrigeration (HVAC) gauge set, you could have a small tire inflator on one port, vac on another, drain on another and system oulet on another 🥰
I do this for draining the system, although far more rudimentary. I use a EK fill syringe on a piece of tubing at the drain port, and build pressure with that. At some point, I'll crack the fill port once enough water has covered drain port and repeat as necessary. I have an O11 mini with one bottom and one side rad with a distro plate so it's very difficult to drain with gravity.
We used to fill closed water cooling loops this way like 25 years ago back before resevoirs were common, probably can still find old archived posts on HardOCP explaining the process if you look long enough.
Heyo, I'm updating some parts later today and I'll also replace my coolant. Seeing you use the blower to get the rest of the fluid out already made me go "Hah! Great, thanks!" but then seeing how the loop just filled itself there made me laugh out loud this early in the morning. That was such an amazing thing to see because I feel like everyone struggles handling those huge heavy computer cases to get the air out.
Thanks for showing us this, you guys. I wish I had seen this video sooner. lol
thats a very nice system. love it.
That was slick AF!!
I want to see this in every build video from now on jay
This is GENIUS!
I wanted to do this years ago. Never did it. Beat me to it Jay. You win this round.
I am excited for the possibilities with this
Okay that was sick. I feel like you could do a second valve disconnect point on that line. vacuum seal and shutoff point one. then point two. power off. disconnect and drop that open end into the fluid 💆🏻♂️
Nick: "Do it again" lol. This is awesome. I am about to try my hand at my first custom loop. I'm also doing a hardline instead of soft tubing.
Hi Jay.
I work in the HVAC industry. i use vac pumps all the time. Ideally you'd need a manifold that you can vacuum down and charge (fill). Before you charge, you need to purge so you minimise air getting back into your system. In the automotive industry, you can fill your brakes this way too, much faster than the pump and bleed method. They use a bleed line into a fluid catch bottle (resevoir) which is then connected to the vacuum pump. That way to you empty your brake system of fluid and also fill it.
E.g. Brake fluid bottle feeding brake fluid resevoir, bleed line to catch resevoir connected to vac pump.
i siimilar inline system can work for PC watercooling.
Alternatively, HVAC style would be:
-Drain port connected to gauge manifold (so you can open and shut the line), vac/charge line from gauge manifold to catch resevoir then connected to vacuum pump.
-When system is empty and holding a vacuum, shut off gauge manifold valve, disconnect vacuum pump and catch resevoir.
-connect new fluid bottle. Seal it if possible (could be a bottle cap that you could modify with a hose that goes through it).
-raise and invert new fluid bottle so it is above the lowest point of the gauge manifold and purge the line of air by cracking open the fill line/hose on the manifold end. this should leak out some fluid pushing air out.
-place fluid bottle back on the table.
-you should be ready to open the gauge manifold vavle to the system and charge (fill) without air bubbles.
i hope that works.
That is pretty much a simple way that we use in the HVAC industry.
Recover, Vacuum, Purge, Recharge.
Though we vacuum down to around 500 microns and check to see if it holds that for at least 15 minutes. Air in a HVAC system is really bad. Less air in a water cooled system can't hurt either, just like car radiator systems, less air, less problems with air locking, steam bubbles, pump airration etc.
I filled my first water cooled system this way with a hand pump break bleeding kit back in 2007. And with the break bleeding kit you could use it to finish getting all of the air out using the catch reservoir to catch water before it gets to the pump. A large enough one could catch all of the fluid in the system and be used to drain the system as well.
i want a montage of you just filling every one of your systems this was, this was very satisfying
Like a vaccum brake bleeder. My MightyVac hand bleeder has a bottle that will pull all the fluid through without sucking fluid into the pump. Nice seeing it done on a computer. Also I believe the vapor you see is water boiling out of the system at low pressure.
A vac (separation) flask would work great for vac assisted emptying of fluid.
The same could be said for flushing, although you'd need a few of them to ensure as much air is removed as possible while flushing / refilling the loop.
See, this is the water cooling stuff I subscribed for all those years ago. Thanks.
I have a Mityvac Vacuum Automotive Coolant Filling Kit that generates vacuum via compressed air. I'm going to try and make up a hose/fitting combo to see if I can use it on my water cooled rig.