Should I add a 2nd pump?

[gethyn85]

Hey everyone,

I'm after a bit of advice...

I have a very custom water cooling setup - which is far from ideal. It all seemed a great idea at the time

As you can see in the photo below there is an alphacool distro plate with VPP Apex pump, which is probably in the middle of the setup give or take. There are 2x 280mm radiators at the bottom right, so in theory it takes the heat from what is normally inside a cupboard and moves it away. It runs "ok" to an extent, as in it does a reasonable job of cooling everything. But...

I recently pulled the system apart to re-route some of the pipework, and I also put a new 3D printed radiator mount in. This helped remove a couple of issues I was having with some kinked pipes where I'd put some bends that were too tight in. The problem is I put even more 90 degree connectors in, and two 180 degree ones, and my flow rate went down from about 120 l/h down to 80.

So I started thinking about getting a better pump - it's working pretty hard as is and this leaves me with some options, should I:

• Replace the VPP APEX with something like the VPP655 to get more flow
• Add a 2nd VPP APEX somewhere near the current one (exact location to be worked out but "make it fit" springs to mind)
• Add a 2nd VPP APEX at the bottom of the loop on the radiator output to help with getting a bit more head.

I did have some other ideas like adding a 2nd reservoir at the bottom of the loop so that I didn't have to worry as much about the pumps conflicting with each other.

So I thought I'd ask some people who are better at this than me... in the hope that you might be able to point me in the right direction - or have some better ideas!

 

[Eddy]

The Apex pump is currently the strongest pump on the market. The VPP655, and Xylem D5 pumps in general, are weaker.

If you want more flow, you will not be able to avoid using a second Apex pump. Where you mount the pump does not matter at all. It makes absolutely no difference whether the pump is mounted at the bottom near the radiator or somewhere higher up in the case.

The position would only be important in an open loop. However, this is a closed loop, so the pump can be positioned freely.