The included double sided page of instructions is
adequate, and covers step by step how to assemble the unit. Following the
instructions properly, you shouldn't have to worry about leaks or problems.
Installed properly the unit is guaranteed by Leufken to NEVER leak. The water
tank includes a rubber gasket interface on the top, although Leufken recommends
that you also use silicone sealant, as I did, just to be sure. He also
recommends using a small amount of anti-freeze, not for additional cooling
efficiency, but to avoid the problems associated with galvanic corrosion. The
included 6ft of flexible hose is flexible enough and strong. Such a long length
of hosing is included so you can cut the hoses to the length desired, as every
install will be a little different. Pressed home, without the use of clamps, on
the 3/8th" hose barbs on the tank/radiator/waterblock, they fit snugly and will
not leak.
During my first test install, using only watercooling at
this stage (no peltier) things went well. You can see that the tank fits nicely
in my case just ahead of the system's intake fan. The only problem I encountered
during the whole affair was the initially included retention mechanism.
The "black band" you see is a rubber o-ring, used as a
large, strong, rubber-band approach to clamping the water block to the test
system's heatsink retention lugs. In straight watercooling, this was fine, and
had plenty of clamping force to keep the waterblock in place. Later on, as I
assembled the peltier kit, I encountered problems. The band itself just wasn't
strong enough to give adequate clamping force with the additional thickness.
Having been the first person with one of these to encounter this problem (lucky
me), Tom went to work on a better clamping system.
It's simple, works, and alleviated the mounting problems
I saw with the o-ring. This is now the included mounting clip for the kit.
Assembling the water cooling setup is a fairly
straightforward affair. Going the next step, and installing the peltier upgrade
kit, is just a little more work. I have some pictures to outline the steps.
(NOTE: One important aspect of peltier cooling, is
power. A peltier unit can pull many more amps than any other single 12v
component in a PC. Having a 400w Antec PP403x power supply in my testbed I
didn't worry. Just keep in mind the peltier by itself is going to draw in the
5-6amp range, nearly 1/2 the available amperage available in a good 300w
supply.)
Next page: Installing the CPU
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