Cooling rearrangement advice needed

Hey guys, I'm considering revising my cooling loop in my sandcrawler ( http://thebestcasescenario.com/forum...=25683&page=18 look at the last few pics at the bottom of the page). I'm hoping some of you might be able to point me to the right products.

Currently in order to drain the system, because it's too big and heavy to flip over, I have to uncap the two cylinder res's on top of the rad, screw in nozzles with tubing pieces attached, jam my air compressor hose into one, run the other tube to an empty bottle, pinch shut the short tube connecting the two res's, and literally blow the liquid out of the system.

However, the dual cylinder res's are unecessarily heavy, block airflow somewhat, prevent me from using bigger (thicker) fans, and I'd originally only put them in for looks. Unfortunately with everything closed up they just look dark and featureless, so to facilitate bigger fans and thus better airflow, I want to replace them with one of those on-pump res's; the pump sits much lower down and there's plenty of room for this:
http://www.koolertek.com/computer-pa...5-224p2234.htm

However, I'd still need to be able to fill and drain the system the same way as I do now, since I would be unable to put the pump/res combo at the high point.

Here's my question: do any kind of nozzle/valve products exist to facilitate this? I foresee a couple of options, as shown here. The tubes allowing the liquid in and out of the system would be capped during normal operation:

Not sure what's out there, and if there's no type of cut-off connector I can always pinch the tube shut like I do now...

Thanks!!!

Hmm. I'm not sure what your pics mean but It looks like the lowest point is your pump. Put a "T" connector there and run a drain port. Then you can lift your res' up and most of the water should drain out easily.

actually, yeah the pump is the lowest point, but so too are the processor and (sort of) the video card. Basically, right now the res's and the rad are the highest points. Ideally, I want to have my fill/drain points at the high point like they are now, because that way I don't have to take the top off the case to access them. The top is heavy and unwieldy, so the fewer times I need to move it around the better.

My diagram above just shows the flow path I'd like to achieve for filling/draining, and only shows the highest point of the loop, between the two ports on the radiator. The black boxes denote T-connectors. I think the easiest way to envision it is look at the pics in the old worklog, and mentally replace the two cylinder res's with tubes. The replacement res would go on top of the pump. Then, the question becomes is there such a thing as a T-connector that can act as a switch, only allowing flow between 2 of its three connectors at any one time?

If that doesn't exist, then I would use 2 normal T connectors, and pinch the tube between them when filling or draining (if I didn't pinch it, the air would just pass through it and go right back out without pushing any liquid out of the rest of the loop). Or, if it exists, I could have a connector that can act as an on/off switch to either allow or block flow through itself. I can't imagine any other type of setup where a connector like that would be useful, so I won't be surprised if one doesn't exist. But it sure would be nice here LOL...

say......maybe I can post a video of my setup and questions - I think it'd be a lot clearer if I could show it directly rather than trying to describe it... :)

For a fill port, thats pretty simple up top, but how about putting in a T-connector inside the case (maybe between the cpu/gpu?) and lead a tube heading to the outside of your case, and use that for drain when you need it?

I could probably do that, but looking at the case at the moment, I'm not sure where I could have that tube coming out other than the front. And the problem there is it would have to run along the bottom of the case, then the tube would have to tilt up and go into a bottle, which means the lowest point would no longer be the bottle. If the tube's egress was anywhere else on the case, I'd have to remove the top of the case to access it.

I see. Well, it's not in the T-connector itself, but there's this: http://goo.gl/Z1nxS

awesome, thanks! that might be just what I'm looking for...

:D glad a rookie like me could help !

if and when you use an air compressor i would be VERY careful and use no more then 10 psi, even then a bit less to be safe. rads will blow open on city pressure.

Personal experience Spawn?

can you believe I actually don't know what PSI it puts out? I've had the thing for about 20 years. It's an old Badger air comp, designed for usage with an airbrush. I would imagine the PSI is fine as I've used it twice without hurting anything. But still, I appreciate the tip and I'll have to figure out a way to test it and make sure...