| Building a PVC container for the water pump |
The most suitable pumps for use in a watercooling system are small 500L/hr (130gph) to 2000L/hr (530gph)
submersible pumps for fish tank use. Often used brands are EHEIM and Sicce. Both brands use
a magnetic drive system, and are fairly cheap, extremely reliable and very silent.
Personally, I use an 800L/hr (210gph) Sicce Nova pump which can be used either inline
or submerged. Since I need a coolant container anyway I decided to submerge the pump
into the coolant. The added benefits are a more silent operation and reduced overheating
risk.
The container which houses the pump also provides expansion room to hot coolant and air,
and it acts as a coolant bleeding/refill/measuring point.
To keep the housing simple, cheap and strong, I decided to use standard PVC parts available
in the local hardware store. The housing is made of a piece of 125mm diameter threaded PVC,
a glueable end cap, and a threaded end cap. All these parts are used frequently in sewage
systems, and are available everywhere. Coolant connections to the outside world are made
of standard 12mm copper piping which is glued into the threaded end cap with 2-component
epoxy. This piping happens to allow a good connection to the 10mm innner diameter PVC
hoses I use throughout the system. Then, the pump's
outlet is connected to the piping with a piece of garden hose. This allows the pump to
float in the coolant, which reduces vibrations to an absolute minimum.
For refilling/bleeding the system and measuring coolant temperature, a brass nipple with
end cap is used. The nipple is also glued into the PVC end cap.
The electricity is fed through the end cap using a standard plug designed for that purpose.
To be sure no coolant passes through, both sides of the plug are sealed with some silicone
sealant.
The inside of the coolant container.
The outside of the coolant container.
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