Where is the water stored in a closed-loop sealed water cooler unit?

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CPUzX

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Jun 12, 2015
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Hello

Where is the water stored in a CPU water cooler radiator, is it the block on the top of the unit, or is the water inside the actual radiator?

When the pump is running, does the water circulate through the tiny radiator fins and down to the CPU, or is it just contained in a container at the top and the radiator simply acts as a heatsink?

I'm using a Corsair H80iGT sealed 120mm radiator with two Noctua NF-F12 fans. The other reason I ask, is that I've noticed a little scrape on the radiator and a disruption in the sandwich pattern of the fins. I'm just wondering, is this just a manufacturing defect not worth worrying about? Here is a picture:
IMG_20150827_121341.jpg


It looks like a little paint scraped off, that's all. There's no leaking or anything. I can test everything out when I can afford the 6700K Skylake, but for now, here is yet another stupid, childish thread from me and my pesky OCD when it comes to electronics._. Thanks!
 
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The whole system is filled with water (or coolant) at the factory and then sealed. If the damage (or rather imperfection) had caused a leak, you would have noticed it by now.

There is no reservoir per se to hold the water in these sealed systems, they are completely filled so that there should not be any air inside. Even in systems with reservoirs, the tubes, blocks, pumps and radiators are completely filled with water, there remains an air bubble only in the reservoir.

As for how the radiator the radiator works, the picture linked to by rgd1101 is quite good. However, unlike the picture, the water usually flows through half of the channels to one end of the radiator, and then back through the other half, so it circulates from one end...
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nooneinparticular

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Aug 4, 2015
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The whole system is filled with water (or coolant) at the factory and then sealed. If the damage (or rather imperfection) had caused a leak, you would have noticed it by now.

There is no reservoir per se to hold the water in these sealed systems, they are completely filled so that there should not be any air inside. Even in systems with reservoirs, the tubes, blocks, pumps and radiators are completely filled with water, there remains an air bubble only in the reservoir.

As for how the radiator the radiator works, the picture linked to by rgd1101 is quite good. However, unlike the picture, the water usually flows through half of the channels to one end of the radiator, and then back through the other half, so it circulates from one end of the radiator to the other, and then back. On the side where the tubes connect to the radiator there actually are two separate chambers which are connected to the (one) chamber on the other side of the radiator through the channels. It's not that obvious looking at the H80i GT, but you can see that better if you look at pictures of Alphacool NexXos radiators for example, where the two chambers on the end of the radiator are obviously separate.

So, the fins between the channels do not carry water, they are there to increase surface area so the maximum amount of heat would be transferred to the surrounding air. It's very similar to heat pipes and fins on air coolers. There is nothing to worry about unless the channels holding the water are punctured. And as I said before, you would notice if that happens! :)

Like tiny voices, most of my radiators look much worse, but they don't leak and work fine.

Good luck trying to control the OCD there! ;)
 
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