Washing machine pump for water cooling ?

Simeon Petkov · Oct 5, 2014

Hi.
Can i use a pump from washing machine ?
90 watts, 230 volts. These pumps are extremely powerful and i am actually concerned because it might blow off a tube from the fittings !
Is it going to work fine at temps around 60 deg. C ?

BuddhaSkoota · Oct 5, 2014

Simeon Petkov :

kanewolf · Oct 5, 2014

NO. The water needs to stay in contact with the heat sink for a short time to absorb heat. It also needs to stay in contact with the radiator to release heat. Water cooling pumps are measured in gallons per HOUR not gallons per minute. Stick with a vendor that has parts chosen to be a system. The radiator, pump, and tubing size have been chosen to work together.

Simeon Petkov · Oct 5, 2014

Washing machine pumps are pretty dang fast !
If they are too fast- people have invented PWM control.
WM pump costs around 10 bucks, a high end one from a badass vendor is over 200...

USAFRet · Oct 5, 2014

Can I use a bulldozer engine in my Ford Focus?

Simeon Petkov · Oct 5, 2014

Ah, ok, but just a note- these pumps are the same size, if not a little bigger than the ones made for pc coolers, so size is not a problem. I guess it is just too powerful. Overkill.

tinmann · Oct 9, 2014

Don't go ghetto is all I'm saying.

Ellis_D · Oct 9, 2014

there's only so much pressure your tubes and radiators can handle and you'd be lucky if all that happens is the best case scenario of your tubes becoming disconnected. bad case scenario, your tubes will be split in twain from the pressure and worst case scenario would be your radiator exploding. Of course, all of your electronic components would fry and you'd burn out your pump when it instantly runs dry the moment that thing springs a leak.

rubix_1011 · Oct 9, 2014

Mostly depends on head pressure and flow rate, but I'm not 100% you'd see explosions like everyone is warning you about. However, loops will fail at the weakest point if they need to, which is going to be where tubing and fittings are involved.

Best way to test is to setup your loop outside of your case and run it. Simple as that.

Not sure why you'd really want to use some unknown pump for this, though. Do you really trust untested pumps to run your watercooling loop which could potentially cause damage to every component in your case? You're risking $100's or even $1000 or more because you are saving money on a $75 pump.

dhamiltongrey · Oct 9, 2014

Simeon Petkov :

you made me spray coffee all over my screen reading that..

USAFRet · Oct 9, 2014

dhamiltongrey :

And that wold be the main problem.

dhamiltongrey · Oct 9, 2014

USAFRet :

damn my solar plexus.. that was so funny.. some people say the funniest things..

like sitting inside a fridge to keep the computer cool.. put the computer in the fridge not sit in the fridge with the computer.. hehehe

USAFRet · Oct 9, 2014

dhamiltongrey :

And you don't want to do that either. You will soon have a dead fridge.
Just like a washing machine pump, not made for continuous operation.

rubix_1011 · Oct 9, 2014

USAFRet :

Yep, couldn't agree more on this one.

Simeon Petkov · Oct 12, 2014

So, the washing machine pump is over-over-overkill

Well, thanks for the help !

4Ryan6 · Oct 12, 2014

Simeon Petkov :

You actually knew the answer before you asked the question.

Richyse7en · Oct 12, 2014

Think smaller, much smaller. Pump speed will not make the system any cooler.

dhamiltongrey · Oct 15, 2014

ive managed to clean all the coffee off my computer screen now.. thanks for asking hehehehe

Simeon Petkov · Oct 17, 2014

Well, yes, water needs some time to get the water, so i will aim for something like auto fuel pump. They are pretty much noiseless and give about 800L/h.

@dhamiltongrey- sorry for your coffee problem

Washing machine pump for water cooling ?

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