Aquacomputer Leakshield

[kamikazi]

I guess I'm necro'ing a little here. I've been looking hard at Leakshield for the last couple of days as I'm going to rebuild my computer on a Primochill Praxis Wetbench SX. That means tubes out in the open and I have a cat that has been known to chew on random things. I'd have to buy Leakshield top and an adapter ring for it to fit my Aquacomputer Aqualis Eco 100ml reservoir. Total cost with shipping on those two items is going to be around $200. Problem is, from what I'm reading in the literature, Leakshield will only work as a leak detector if your pumps are greater than 470 mbar (4.7m head) as it's limited to 450 mbar of vacuum. I'm running a dual DDC setup where each pump is 5.2m head. I see that soulesschild was going to run a 3 pump set up. I'm guessing that this would only be an issue when you were running full tilt. Usually, running full out means your actually at the computer doing something, so you could take care of things manually if you had a leak. While the computer is idle most of the time, most of the time the pumps would be running slowly and the high pressure wouldn't be an issue. My other concern is false positives on leaks when the pressure gets too high if you are running hot and the pumps are maxed out. Am I over thinking this?

 

[Tsumi]

You probably are overthinking this. Also, not sure if you're reading things wrong, but the Leakshield most likely will not work, at least fully, if your combined head pressure is too high.

The leak detector won't work if the leak occurs in a spot where the pressure in the loop is higher than the vacuum. Pressure is highest directly after the pump and before the first component. Also remember that it is a flow/pressure curve. As flow increases, pressure decreases, given the same pump. A low restriction loop likely won't generate enough pressure to cause the leak detector to not work, though unless you have pressure gauges throughout your loop, the only way is to experimentally find out by loosening a fitting.

I don't see why air would get in when the loop gets hot unless you built something wrong. The Leakshield is measuring airflow going out, and if there is no air to go in, there's no air to come out. You'll get small bits of air coming out as the air expands due to heat, but it will be gradual as the loop warms up and certainly nothing like an actual breach in your loop.

 

[kamikazi]

You probably are overthinking this. Also, not sure if you're reading things wrong, but the Leakshield most likely will not work, at least fully, if your combined head pressure is too high.

The leak detector won't work if the leak occurs in a spot where the pressure in the loop is higher than the vacuum. Pressure is highest directly after the pump and before the first component. Also remember that it is a flow/pressure curve. As flow increases, pressure decreases, given the same pump. A low restriction loop likely won't generate enough pressure to cause the leak detector to not work, though unless you have pressure gauges throughout your loop, the only way is to experimentally find out by loosening a fitting.

I don't see why air would get in when the loop gets hot unless you built something wrong. The Leakshield is measuring airflow going out, and if there is no air to go in, there's no air to come out. You'll get small bits of air coming out as the air expands due to heat, but it will be gradual as the loop warms up and certainly nothing like an actual breach in your loop.

When I said running hot, I just meant that the computer is working hard and generating more heat, causing the pump RPMs to ramp up. I was thinking that would be the time when the pressure was too high for the leakshield to work. But, you reminded me about the relationship of pressure to flow.