Leaking pump? Help!

[Abaris]

Hello, everyone.

 

I've been running this rig for quite a while. Almost 2 years ago changed from Monsoon Modular Reservoir System to this Bitspower Reservoir with MMRS casing. Due to the changes, I had to mount the pump elsewhere so mounted it horizontally. I've had zero issues whatsoever until this morning stumbled upon a small pool of fluid under my pump. Upon investigating further I noticed the pump is slowly leaking from the o-ring at the bottom part of it. 

 

After a week of troubleshooting I found that whenever I am filling the reservoir past certain limit (almost completely full), the pump starts to leak from the rear. Meaning it breaks the o-ring seal.

 

Since then I have replaced:

O-ring

Rear mount of MMRS pump cover.

Brought reservoir a bit lower.

 

The last test lasted for almost 2 hours until I filled up the reservoir. Immediately it started to leak.

 

I need a fluid dynamics expert to tell me why this is happening.

I don't want to go back to MMRS because it is a pain to mount.

 

Watercolling parts listed below:

2 rads - one on top and one on the front.

EK cpu block.

GPU block.

D5 vario pump.

D5 Monsoon MMRS cover.

Bitspower hexagonal reservoir.

Alphacool tubbing.

EK fittings.

 

I appreciate any help!

[-rascal-]

The documentation on the D5 Pump cover...is like non-existent...just a bunch of pictures.

You need to find out if it's leaking from the pump cover, or from the pump itself.

Is the nylon pump body cracked?

Is the leak coming from the housing/body of the D5 pump?

 

Also, did you buy the proper replacement sized o-ring?

 

Did you see any signs of corrosion on the aluminum?

Mixing aluminum with copper in the same loop is NEVER a good thing....

 

[Abaris]

12 minutes ago, -rascal- said:

The documentation on the D5 Pump cover...is like non-existent...just a bunch of pictures.

You need to find out if it's leaking from the pump cover, or from the pump itself.

Is the nylon pump body cracked?

Is the leak coming from the housing/body of the D5 pump?

 

Also, did you buy the proper replacement sized o-ring?

 

Yeah, I used the proper size oring. The first one was a little deformed, but the replacement works great. Tests with the second one were a lot more successful.

 

The leak is occurring between the nylon casing and the pump. There's like a 5mm gap between them. Picture 2 should show the gap with the fluid coming out of it.

The pump body is okay not bend or punctured. The nylon casing is not cracked, and the metal "screw" casing is also good.
 

I also replaced the metallic "screw" part on the casing to one that I had lying arround, and it works better than the original.

 

However what I am most interested in is why it starts leaking after I fill the res over a certain limit. Doesn't make sense to me.

[johnno23]

you might have tightened things a little too much. O rings act as a seal but if you compress them too much then you can create an issues where it leaks. Sounds counter intuitive but the threading is not a perfect flat circle as the point where the thread starts is actually a fraction lower than the reat of the threading. over tight an O rings and you flatten it as opposed to using its abilty to fill the gap between the two components.

A D5 should operate perfectly fine at any angle as the inner part should always be filled with water and it does not have any form of over flow etc. That it takes a while to occur seems logical as the system when on the pump creates a little pressure so that over time it works its way out. 

[johnno23]

hmmm you just posted as i posted.. the nylon can also leak if over tightened as the threading can be stripped away just enough to have an issue.

if it is the nylon threading quick easy test is dissamble ad a layer of the white plumbers tape to the threading on the res and reassemble. if the leak stops you save time to save up and replace.

[Abaris]

30 minutes ago, johnno23 said:

you might have tightened things a little too much. O rings act as a seal but if you compress them too much then you can create an issues where it leaks. Sounds counter intuitive but the threading is not a perfect flat circle as the point where the thread starts is actually a fraction lower than the reat of the threading. over tight an O rings and you flatten it as opposed to using its abilty to fill the gap between the two components.

A D5 should operate perfectly fine at any angle as the inner part should always be filled with water and it does not have any form of over flow etc. That it takes a while to occur seems logical as the system when on the pump creates a little pressure so that over time it works its way out. 

This makes quite a lot of sense. Inwill try to loosen up a bit and add white plumber's tape. It should probably be fine after that.

Thank you!

 

I will test this tomorrow and post an update with my findings.

[Abaris]

Quick update:

After using white plumber's tape and losening up a little bit the grip on the pump, it performed worse. Started leaking after 5 minutes.

 

I think I will replace the pump and the casing.

I am thinking on a Corsair Hydro X series.

Would love an EK combo, but those are way over my budget.