Water loop not draining

[xXCapAwesomeXx]

My water loop only seems to be draining less than half way. I have a drain port at a relatively low point and I open up the top of my reservoir but the coolant seems to get stuck in the top of the loop which doesn’t make sense to me. Any ideas are much appreciated. 

[Enderman]

That's because the top of the reservoir is not the top of the loop...........

 

Do you know what a vacuum is?

And no, not the one that plugs into a wall.

[Windows7ge]

Ideally you would open a port on the top of your top mounted radiator but I don't know if your chassis allows access to that.

 

I also second that your problem is that their is a vacuum. Air isn't able to fill the void in the top of your loop so the fluid isn't draining.

[Firewrath9]

Tip the case

[NickPickerWI]

Yep, you have a vacuum issue.

 

Tip the case with the valve open, and make sure the drain tube doesn't fly all over the place.

[xXCapAwesomeXx]

Any ideas on how I might be able to fix the vacuum? I been tipping the case and it just takes a really long time and I was wondering g if it might be something that I am able to fix. 

@NickPickerWI  @Windows7ge

[Windows7ge]

Open a port on the top of your radiator. Your other option is to force air though the loop to push the fluid out. You'd have a few options there. Some advised some not.

[NickPickerWI]

If you open a port on the top radiator, it has the risk of spilling all over the place.

 

If you blow into the top/inlet of the reservoir, you're introducing bacteria to the loop. Not sure if you were going to deep clean the loop before refilling or not. Also, you don't want a mouthful of old coolant.

 

I'd recommend closing your drain, tipping and propping the case up so the open side is facing down, then opening your valve. Obviously, you'll want to make sure it's not propped in a way that it will drop. I've done this in a tub barefoot, just holding it between my legs.

 

Gravity is working hard to not let that vacuum go because the tubing and radiators are much higher than the drain. Reducing gravity by getting all the liquid and tubing close to the same plane will help.

 

If it still isn't draining well, keep it on its face, get some towels, and unscrew the outward facing radiator tube from your top radiator (again, maybe over your tub). It will spill out like crazy from that tube, but away from the electronics, not onto them. You might want to take out your power supply and the rear fan just in case, and stuff a towel over the components.

 

For the future, you can install a bleeder valve somewhere inline towards the top of the loop. I make it a habit to mod my cases with a top port in the case frame, under the plastic shroud, just for this. A bleeder valve will work wonders without having to do all of that extra work on an existing system.

[Alok Pandit]

Just put the case on its back (open side up), open the drain valve and blow air in (if it doesnt pull in air automatically).

Make sure you connect a long pipe to the drain and keep it high.

[xXCapAwesomeXx]

I have an idea for a different air intake port that ill post on here later tonight, I'll take some pictures and see what you guys think. Thanks for all of the suggestions so far.