Pump Ports / Drainage

Hey -- I'm going to rearrange some of my loop despite only completing it a couple weeks ago. I have a few noob questions.

 

1.) I'm moving around the drainage line, and I'm curious if I can put the drain line directly from the pump if I attach a ball valve fitting onto the port adjacent to the solitary outlet port. The reason I'm curious is because the manual says that this port is an INLET port. I don't see a reason why it wouldn't be able to drain from this port (or any of the bottom inlet ports for that matter)... does anyone know of any problems or shortcomings with this?

 

2.) The coolant (corsair clear) I'm using has only been in the loop for a couple weeks as I mentioned. Is it a problem if I just re-use this same coolant as long as I put it inside a clean container while its out of the loop? I still have the original bottle it came in and could drain it into that. Don't think this is a problem but I also don't want to make assumptions.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

AB

1) Yes, but you won 't be able to "pump out" the coolant. This will mean it is a manual drain and works through gravity alone. In really big loops this can be difficult to get it all out. Make sure you take off the top fill port on the reservoir when you want to start draining. I have the same problem in a 011 and do not have the space to do what I want. The drain port is just a ball valve and cap off the side of the XD5 and I need to tip the case to bring the bulk of the coolant back to that point. Note: if you used the vertical panel for a radiator and were forced to put the tube in/out on top, that coolant is not coming out this way. Only way to completely remove it is careful pumping or removal and drain.

 

2) It should be fine. I have done this on quick partial drains were I needed to rapidly swap something in and out. I would not put it back in the original bottle. Keep that pristine. Use a clean glass measuring cup or whatever is available. Don't go crazy on thinking you need to sanitize it. Extra cleaning chemical residue is far worse than dust.

Thanks for the quick reply and advice.

 

Can you really “pump out” the coolant? What I mean by this is, if you’re draining your system, the pump is not going to pump air through the radiator to push the coolant out. So aren’t you stuck with just gravity anyway? I do have one of the rads vertically mounted with the ports at the top like you mentioned. Unless you’re flushing your system with distilled water and then replacing with coolant, I don’t think “pumping” the old coolant out would work. Am I wrong?

 

My drainage line is at the very bottom of the case. So, I *think* pumping anything to it is irrelevant. Could very well be wrong.

 

AB

It possible to design a loop with bypasses or other elaborate means of pumping the coolant out, but it is not common, not something most people should do, and that was not really the point. It was general reminder not to run the pump when doing this. Too many people don't visualize the process correctly and wind up running dry in less than a second.