Does my reservoir/fill port need to be at the top of my loop?

[GoldieFoxx]

So im building my first watercooling loop, just ordered all the parts.

 

But I wanted to ask, im planning on putting my EK XRES 100 mounted to the middle fan spot on the front of my case.

This means that there will be some tubing and a top mounted radiator above it.

 

When I go to fill the loop, will the pressure from the liquid above it cause the reservoir to overfill? Or will it be ok?

 

IE: Does my fill port need to be at the highest point in my loop? If so, how can I go about doing this since Im going to have a top mounted radiator

[Master Disaster]

Nope, your pump will take care of gravity. I myself have my res and pump below my rad, never had an issue.

 

Its best to allocate a drain port at the lowest point in the loop though.

[Totalschaden1997]

Having the fill port on top helps getting airbubbles out of your loop, so it accelerates the fill-process.

[stealth80]

You will be fine, look at mine:

 

[GoldieFoxx]

1 minute ago, Master Disaster said:

Nope, your pump will take care of gravity. I myself have my res and pump below my rad, never had an issue.

 

Its best to allocate a drain port at the lowest point in the loop though.

Thanks

 

Yeah my drain port Will be coming off the res, only part lower than that will be the lower half of the front radiator but the ports on that will be at the top so I can just take it and empty it by hand after I guess.

 

 

[GoldieFoxx]

Only thing im regretting is not buying a bigger case TBH

 

Building in an NZXT h440 which is a great case, but will make it a bit tight.

 

Oh well, should be ok!

[AV Techy]

On 5/21/2017 at 1:55 PM, GoldieFoxx said:

Thanks

 

Yeah my drain port Will be coming off the res, only part lower than that will be the lower half of the front radiator but the ports on that will be at the top so I can just take it and empty it by hand after I guess.

 

 

Sounds good, only thing I want to add is that when draining the system you'll only need to tilt the case in order to get most of the liquid out of your front radiator (in most setups). Once your struggling to get any more liquid out you can then carefully remove the radiator.

 

Removing the radiator from the case without a fair amount of tilting will most likely get liquid all over the place.

 

On 5/21/2017 at 1:56 PM, GoldieFoxx said:

Only thing im regretting is not buying a bigger case TBH

 

Building in an NZXT h440 which is a great case, but will make it a bit tight.

 

Oh well, should be ok!

And just to add my 2 cents, having a tight water-cooling build generally looks much better than having not enough inside the case. You can always get a bigger case and transplant your current system into that.

 

Good luck with your build, hope it goes smoothly!