CPU Cooling Pumps Look Pretty Sweet

[m189]

I happened to stumble upon these pumps for CPU cooling. And they look pretty sweet for a DIY filter/flow setup. They all have huge head heights, so you'll probably get a higher flow rate in actual practice than for any similarly rated regular pump. Check it out. To me, these seem to be better than any of the standard Eheim inline pumps for smaller tanks. IDK...what do you guys think. Anyone have any experience with these (I doubt that CPU cooling pumps is the only application their sold for...so someone might have run across them). I'm thinking of using the 3rd one to run an inline system with a DIY canister filter and UV sterilizer for a new 45g tank.

Check out the links:
http://www.petrastechshop.com/laddc1mcin12.html
http://www.petrastechshop.com/ladd1mcin12p.html
http://www.petrastechshop.com/swmcin12pu.html

The last one even has variable flow.

I just realized that they're all DC instead of AC...but that's really easy to get around...and DC power is probably what makes them so good (I remember reading somewhere that a DC electric motor will almost always be more powerful and efficient than any AC motor of the same size. Plus these pumps have brushless DC motors which is pretty damn good (hopefully the pumps come with the controller though!)....I'll have to look more into that.

-M189-

[Hoppy]

Those pumps are a very good find, but they are also expensive compared to the usual aquarium water pump. I can easily see these solving some problems, such as making it possible to use Mazzei venturis to introduce CO2 to the tank without buying huge pumps. There may not be a Mazzei venturi that matches the flow/pressure of these pumps, but one could easily be designed for this use.

[m189]

Yea...especially when you add a $15 to $30 AC to DC power supply...the price definitely does come in at the high end....not too bad though.

I did find some applicable waterproof AC to DC power supplies for $17 and $25 though...the waterproofing is certainly be a nice feature to have.

http://www.trcelectronics.com/Meanwell/lpv-20-12.shtml
http://www.trcelectronics.com/Meanwell/lpv-35-12.shtml

But....for a quick comparison to the Eheim 1250 at 320 gph, 6.5ft head height, and 28 watt power consumption for $95 (price and stats from drsfostersmith.com)

vs.

Laing D5 Vario at 317 gph, 11ft head height, 24 watt power consumption for $80 (+$25 more for the power supply) =$105
-Though it is $10 more expensive, you also get adjustable flow and almost twice the head hight which translates into a much highter real world flow rate.....

....but then I do a reality check and realize that I can get a nearly equivilent Rio 1100 pump for only $27...Yea, I'll just go the cheap route...still, it would be unique to have D/C pump with variable motor speed. I wonder if they are quieter?

-M189-

[m189]

or....even cheaper....an equivalent Quiet One 1200 pump for only $21

-M189-

[Hoppy]

As far as I can recall, the single killer problem with aquarium pumps, especially with aquarium filters as pumps, is that they lack enough pressure output to drive a Mazzei venturi. Other than than the head pressure rating of the pumps is very adequate for our use. If I had a 100 gallon or bigger tank, I would probably jump at this opportunity to try a Mazzei venturi. And, hey, it's only money

[hydrophyte]

those are cool...some ideas come to mind. since they install inline and avoid another submerged appliance, that's one less way for me to electrocute myself, right(?), also one less piece of junk in your aquascape. so perhaps worth the extra coin. maybe the price will come down someday.

[m189]

Might be able them cheaper directly from the manufacturer ...Laing Inc which actually makes the pumps for home and commercials plumbing systems.

http://www.lainginc.com/pages/industrial.htm

Another thing that I'm curious about...the D5 pump is spec'ed at 11ft head pressure, 317 gph and 50 psi, but the smaller DDc-3.2 can do 15ft head pressure 120 gph but only 22 psi

I've never really though about pumps much before, but it seems the difference between the two is almost that the DDC-3.2 is "geared lower" because it has higher pressure but less flow just like you'd have more torque but less speed while driving a car in a low gear. Is this a relevant way of thinking about it?

...but its a little confusing that the smaller one outperforms the bigger one on head pressure but underperforms with regards to pressure.

Now that I think about it a bit more, I think the PSI rating is what the pump housing can take, rather than what the pump itself can generate....so this rating would only be relevant in a system that is closed and pressurized.

I think...doing the math 15ft*12in/ft*0.036127lb/in^3 = 6.5 lb/in^2 = 6.5 psi
...where 0.036127lb/in^3 is the weight of water.

so I might be right about previous part about the meaning of the PSI rating because there seems to be no way that this pump could generate 22psi (or 50 psi for the other one)...all by itself.

Btw
...never having done Co2 injection, I have no idea what a Mazzei venturi is, but I guess I should go look that up.

[Hoppy]

A venturi is a tubular section of piping, with a small diameter in the middle, a smoth lead-in curvature to the small section, and a long gradual lead-out taper on the outlet side. The big drop in flow passage area causes a big drop in the pressure and big increase in flow velocity in the throat of the venturi. Mazzei venturis are made to use that pressure drop and flow velocity increase to suck in a gas, such as CO2, and rip it into thousands of microscopic bubbles because of the high flow velocity. It is extremely effective for generating CO2 mist, but very few pumps have enough pressure capacity to drive the flow through the venturi throat fast enough to make it work well. If they are used in a canister filter return flow line, they just choke off the filter flow, and only a trickle goes through.

[Justshoe]

I run a D5 in my watercooled PC at home. Great pump absolutely dead silent. Biggest reason they have such high head pressure is due to the water block configurations to cool the cpu and video card...lots of head loss through them. Are they the best for aquarium use? I would say not unless you get them for a very good price. Plus then you have the added extra equipment space of a converter. Only good thing is that the pumps themselves are fairly small for gph flow. I also do believe although its been awhile since apart they tend not to have the ability to want to pass solids as easily through them.

[Hoppy]

What does the rotor for these pumps look like? Is it just a "paddle wheel" like our normal pumps?