This thread is long overdue as I was planning to put it together last year when I finished my build but it slipped my mind.
In this I will discuss my experience with using the Nouvolo Aquanaut Combo and the mods I made to it to improve its performance.
I went with this block/mount combo due to its space efficiency as there was not enough room in the build for a discretely mounted pump.
On the website, the only compatible pumps listed are Laing DDCs. However, I did notice that the Swiftech MCP50X DDC pump appeared to have the same mounting pattern and did physically align with the block, so I went ahead and tried it out since I already had one ready to go from a previous build. My initial findings were that the pump would not hold a vacuum and was much louder than I remembered it being. I believe the Swiftech pump's impeller design isn't optimal when coupled with the design of the aquanaut.
I believe the Swiftech ddc impeller (below, right) is not able to maintain as much pressure as the Laing (below, left) due to its open design.
My thought is that the Laing impeller is able to maintain pressure and focus the flow through the center inlet and out the sides. Whereas with the open design of the Swiftech's impeller, the flow has a chance to "scatter" if that makes sense. I believe this is an important design consideration when paired with the aquanaut's inlet/outlet port design.
That brings my to my major mod:
Even with the Laing pump, it was still struggling to create a vacuum. I believed the main reason for this to be the square opening of the block outlet here:
The flow of coolant was literally running into a wall if it didn't hit this opening perfectly.
To fix this I used my rotary tool to carefully chamfer the square edges and provide a smoother, more circular opening for the coolant to pass through.
I did immediately notice a difference as the pump was able to create a vacuum instantly after a quick siphon.
After filling the loop and spending about 15 minutes bleeding it, the system was running like a top, and quieter than i expected as well.
Clean cable management isn't exactly Laing's strong suit so here are the mods I made to the pump as well:
I'll end this post by saying that I do not claim to be a professional and this is not a technical review of the product. My testing was quick and dirty and hopefully others will be able to test more thoroughly using proper testing procedures. These were merely my own experiences with the Nouvolo Aquanaut Combo and I wanted to post my findings in case others have experienced similar issues or intend to pursue using this product. Hope this helps! Also, if this post needs to be moved to a different subforum that would be more helpful, feel free to do so. Thanks for reading!
In this I will discuss my experience with using the Nouvolo Aquanaut Combo and the mods I made to it to improve its performance.
I went with this block/mount combo due to its space efficiency as there was not enough room in the build for a discretely mounted pump.
On the website, the only compatible pumps listed are Laing DDCs. However, I did notice that the Swiftech MCP50X DDC pump appeared to have the same mounting pattern and did physically align with the block, so I went ahead and tried it out since I already had one ready to go from a previous build. My initial findings were that the pump would not hold a vacuum and was much louder than I remembered it being. I believe the Swiftech pump's impeller design isn't optimal when coupled with the design of the aquanaut.
I believe the Swiftech ddc impeller (below, right) is not able to maintain as much pressure as the Laing (below, left) due to its open design.
My thought is that the Laing impeller is able to maintain pressure and focus the flow through the center inlet and out the sides. Whereas with the open design of the Swiftech's impeller, the flow has a chance to "scatter" if that makes sense. I believe this is an important design consideration when paired with the aquanaut's inlet/outlet port design.
That brings my to my major mod:
Even with the Laing pump, it was still struggling to create a vacuum. I believed the main reason for this to be the square opening of the block outlet here:
The flow of coolant was literally running into a wall if it didn't hit this opening perfectly.
To fix this I used my rotary tool to carefully chamfer the square edges and provide a smoother, more circular opening for the coolant to pass through.
I did immediately notice a difference as the pump was able to create a vacuum instantly after a quick siphon.
After filling the loop and spending about 15 minutes bleeding it, the system was running like a top, and quieter than i expected as well.
Clean cable management isn't exactly Laing's strong suit so here are the mods I made to the pump as well:
I'll end this post by saying that I do not claim to be a professional and this is not a technical review of the product. My testing was quick and dirty and hopefully others will be able to test more thoroughly using proper testing procedures. These were merely my own experiences with the Nouvolo Aquanaut Combo and I wanted to post my findings in case others have experienced similar issues or intend to pursue using this product. Hope this helps! Also, if this post needs to be moved to a different subforum that would be more helpful, feel free to do so. Thanks for reading!
