The Block and Plumbing
This is my water block
As
you can see it has several rectangular water passages that are 1/16" tall with
1/16" between the water and the heat source. It is also the perfect size for
a 40mm peltier element. The passages are symmetrical, which I hope will promote
equal flow across the face of the water block, if it does not work out that
way, the copper construction will take care of it. Another innovation (if I
may be so bold) is it's soldered construction. It is an easy way to join the
two pieces, and is less likely to leak than setscrews or pipe plugs and Teflon
tape.
Other
people use blocks with two or three holes drilled in them and a few setscrews
to seal them up. These work well. My design is untested, but I believe that
it will be better. When I get all of my parts together, I will do a test and
another article about the results. If you don't want an experiment, or you don't
have the machines necessary to build one of these water blocks, by all means
go with something that is proven to work.
Now
the pump. I prefer the inline because you don't need a reservoir which could
spill or leak. I specifically like the danner model two pump. It is an inline
mag drive pump. It has only one moving part which means that there is less that
can go wrong. It also has pipe threads on the inlet and outlet which makes leak
resistant connections easy. Last but not least it flows 250 gallons per hour.
Of course the water block and radiator will restrict the flow, but even after
accounting for the restriction it should pump plenty of water.
I
paid $34 at petsmart.com, but it was back ordered so it took several weeks to
arrive. Since the rest of my system is not complete yet, it did not matter,
but it might be a factor for you.
Now
that you know what you need, you should know how to put the pieces together.
The most important thing is to keep track of any air that is in your system.
It will collect in any place where it can't float up to the top of the system.
As
you can see in the schematic I have the water level above all of the other components.
This will make it very difficult for air to get down in to the waterblock, pump
or radiator. The pump and water block would be the worst place for air pockets
to form, so keep them as low as possible, and at the same time, raise the water
level as high as possible. When the system is being filled for the first time,
there may be some air pockets that will not fill with water. Try to figure out
where they will be and install bleed screws to remove the remaining air.
