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The
ThermoChill FAQ
1 - Revisional Changes
There are three revisions of ThermoChill
HE Series radiator, and two official revisions of
shroud. The current revision of the HE Series is
Rev3.
-
The first revision radiators
featured a static shroud mounted on both sides
of the rad that was non-removeable.
-
The second revision radiators
featured removeable shrouds, and were released
in early 2003. Removeable shrouds were added as
a way to decrease cost... other retailers had
the radiators available without shrouds to decrease
initial costs, then you purchase only the number
of shrouds required. This can save £4 or so off
the cost of a rad.
-
In 2005, Rev3 was released,
doing away with shrouds and moving fan mounts
back to being static, built into the sidewalls.
Rev3 radiators are supplied with Neoprene fan
gaskets to seal fans to rad. Performance 40mm
Shrouds are an optional extra.
-
ThermoChill Fan Grills are
designed to fit Rev2 and Rev3 HE Series rads,
All PA120.x Series rads, and the FG120.1 can be
used with the FAN-Side of the PA160 and the Rev
1 HE120.1. The Rev1 HE120.2 and 120.3 are incompatible
with the FG120 grills.
The fan spacing between fans on the HE120.2 and
120.3 differs between revisions of the radiators.
On the original release rads with static shrouds
the fans are closer together than they are on rads
with removeable shrouds.
To identify your rad, measure the distance between
the mouting holes of fan 1 and fan 2. The gap from
mounting screw center to mounting screw center is
as follows...
-
Rev1 is approx. 19mm
- Rev2 is approx. 25mm (two shrouds adjacent to
each other)
- Rev3 is approx. 25mm
This distance remains the same from Rev2 to Rev3.
The two revisions of shrouds for the Rev2 were actually
an accident at the factory that resulted in the
fan screwholes being too large for use with the
supplied screws, but fine for use with regular case-mounting
fan screws. PROPER shrouds feature a small hole
suited to the small black selftapping screws provided.
2 - Provided Screws
You get 1x spare bleed valve screw, and 4x small
silver blunt-tipped self tappers to attach fan
to rad. If you purchase the radiator as part of
a complete kit, you also get 4 large self tappers
for attaching fan to case.
Please be aware that if you use the self
tappers to mount the radiator directly to your
case, they will likely puncture the core. This
is not covered by warranty. If you wish to mount
the radiator directly to your case, you should
source your own screws suitable for the task (no
more than 7mm long). Ensure whatever screws you
use aren't
of a length where the screw's
tip will penetrate the core's tubes once installed.
The ThermoChill selftappers are sized to go
thru fan & neoprene gasket, then into radiator,
not for case directly to radiator.
- Small self-tappers used are 6x1/2" Sheet
Metal Screws.
- For closed corner fans such as the Nexus and
YateLoon, use 3.5x38mm Sheet Metal Screws.
See section 10 (Installation) below.
3 - Fans
Any of the advertised reputable "silent"
fans such as the PAPST 12v and SilentX fans are
useless on the Thermochill HE Series core. They
don't move enough air to penetrate it at all.
The PA160 radiator was released to fill this gap,
achieving near perfection when it comes to efficiency
of the radiator with low airflow fans. For multiple
fan solutions or as an "upgrade" to the
HE series alongside the use of fans lower than 100cfm,
the PA120 series was released. Both PA160 and PA120
are perfectly suited to low profile 25mm silent
fans.
There are full test results of the HE Series rads
with various fans over at the Thermochill site (www.thermochill.com),
written by BillAdams of CoolingWorks (ex-Swiftech
ex-ThermalManagement Testing). The data goes into
detail on flow rates, airflow etc etc... but it
is a HIGHLY technical analysis... not light reading
I'm afraid... and I've never gotten round
to dumbing it down to make it lighter on the eyes
either - whenever I try it just gives me a headache...!
For best temps on the HE series, pull-pull. IE:
On each Thermochill shroud stack a PAIR of fans
pulling thru the rad, one fan attached to the other
fan attached to the shroud attached to the rad.
This has always produced better temps than push,
push-pull, push-push, and pull on the HE range cores.
Generally this would result in:
For best temps on the PA series, testing currently
shows pull to be the best solution, providing the
most even airflow... shrouded vs unshrouded exhibits
minimal benefits, in the region of upto 2%. Fans
in push tend to work best with a shroud to even out
the airflow.
4 - Mounting
The ThermoChill rads are designed for vertical mounting
with barbs to the bottom and bleed screw to the
top. The system should then be assembled and fitted
with the reservoir higher than the top of the
radiator. To bleed the radiator you then simply
open the bleed screw, open the reservoir. Gravity
will do the rest.
Obviously this mounting can prove difficult in
a lot of cases. Therefore top-mounting is often
recommended, with barbs to the back of the case.
This allows you to lie the case on it's back face (where everything
plugs in). By removing a 5.25" blank you gain
access to the bleed screw. You then lift the res out
of the case and bring it towards the front, again
so that it is higher than the end of the rad, and
open valves on the rad and res (or if it's
a bay res just pull it forward).
Please note, there is no right or wrong way to
do it - whichever way you want to mount the radiator
is entirely up to you, and providing the system
is fully bled, orientation will not affect performance.
5 - Additives
You MUST use an anticorrosive additive with these
radiators if you have aluminium components in your
loop, or indeed any other metal that isn't
brass or copper. Zerex is recommended. If your
loop is entirely copper and brass, no additive
is required.
6 - Thread Sizes
All Thermochill radiators use a common 3/8" BSP
thread size for it's fittings. For optimum flow
thru the radiator, 3/8" BSP to 5/8" hose
offers the best & closest matched performance,
but as yet there are no blocks out on the market
that utilise this size. Nor is there commonly available
tubing of a reasonable quality.
We recommend the use of 3/8" to 1/2"
fittings partnered with 7/16" ID (5/8"
OD) Tubing.
7 - Pumps
Always use a pump that matches or beats the performance
of an Eheim1250 wherever possible with any HE120
series radiator if performance is your goal... otherwise,
use whatever you want for lowflow / silent systems.
Recommended pumps are:
-
Laing D5 / MCP655 / DD12-D5
-
Laing D4 - DD12-D4 / MCP650
-
Laing DDC / MCP350 & DDC
Ultra
-
AquaExtreme 50Z / MCP600
-
Eheim 1250
-
Eheim 1260
-
Hydor L30
-
C-Systems 750MkII / CSP-MAG
8 - Color
Many people out there like to change the color of
their rad. If you do so, please remember NOT to
paint the core. Mask this off with two panels of
card, so that you only paint the end caps and side
walls. Spray shrouds separately. Painting the core
itself will decrease cooling performance. Note any
painting voids your warranty. If you would like
an UNPAINTED radiator, please contact ThermoChill
via email to steve@thermochill.com
9 - Recommended setups
The order of components in a loop has minimal impact
on temperature. It is better to pipe in the order
of convenience for shortest and cleanest tubing runs.
10 - Installation
The HE and PA Series rads are designed for use with
2x screw sizes for 2x jobs. For screwing thru grills
/ case into fan, use 10x1/2" Self-Tappers. For
Screwing Fan to Rad, use 6x1/2" Self-Tappers.
For screwing case directly to rad, use 6x3/8"
Self-Tappers. See the below illustration. Please
remember, the Neoprene Gasket should be stuck down
one side of the length of the rad, then stretched
across the width and gradually stuck down ensuring
the inner lip of the gasket aligns to the edge of
the sidewall.
11 -
Flushing / Prepwork
All Thermochill radiators are flushed at
the factory, however there may still be some
residues within the system. Thermochill only
use water-based soldering flux... as such
it is recommended that the radiator is flushed
by recirculating hot water for an hour. This
should be more than enough to break down
any flux residue. The radiator should then
be flushed with room temperature distilled
water for 15 minutes.
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