The AquaComputer Water Filter model 34018by Dark MantisThis is a very nicely designed and manufactured product as with most of AquaComputer's range and is made in Germany of Delrin, Stainless Steel and Plexiglas. The size overall of this filter unit without fittings is 84 x 67 x 40 mm.
It is supplied in a fairly standard cardbord box but well cushioned inside in bubble wrap. It comes complete with mounting fixings consisting of four stainless steel allen bolts and nuts with a set of plastic washers to bed onto. At this point I should mention that there are no pipe fixings or allen keys supplied as standard so you will have to arrange your own.
The other thing that was noticably lacking was any instructions or template. This in particular was a let down as you are expected to find your own optimum method of fixing with no idea of even whether horizontal or vertical mounting is advised.
When you have decided on the fixing position you will need to cut a square hole of 48 x 48 mm for the viewing port to fit through. When you have that completed you can then use the front bezel as a template to mark the holes for fixing, for this you will need a 4 mm drill bit. These holes are at 53 mm centres. You will also require a 2.5 mm allen key for these bolts. Why the manufacturers didn't supply the same size as the rest I don't understand as I am sure they would have been strong enough.
Right well onto pulling it apart so that you don't have to!
Firstly I will remove the parts that you would need to take out when cleaning the filter as this is going to be a job that everyone is going to have to do at some stage.
You will need to aquire some allen keys for this and the rest of the strip down if you intend to do any of it. Get hold of a 2, 2.5, 5 and 6 mm keys. These will fit everything on the unit. Looking at the front use the 2 mm allen key to remove the four inner bolts that hold the Plexiglas window to the body of the filter. Once done the viewing port can be removed although it is a fairly tight fit. With that out of the way you can then access the two inner bolts that hold down a ring that secures the stainless steel filter mesh itself. This is very fine and should stop all but the finest of particles which shouldn't cause any problems even with the fine matrixes of a lot of the newer CPU cooling blocks. I have been informed that these filter mesh disks will be available as spares shortly.
On the back side of the device are located two valve handles. They are wrongly marked as per the stamp on each but the proper way is engraved onto the backplate. These allow you to isoplate the rest of the cooling loop from the filter medium for cleaning. There are also indicators for in and out connections.If this plate is removed it gives access to the ball valves. To remove these first the handles and plate have to be removed using the same 2 mm allen key as previously. Then inside the two connector ports there are screw compressors that hold the ball valves in place. These need a 6 mm allen key. Once loose the ball valves are free to come out of the ports. These valves are a little restricive in my view as they only have an opening of 5.43 mm. This probably won't have any effect on those using smaller bore piping eg 8 or 10 mm ID but for people with larger bore loops of 1/2 inch it is a huge difference.
Also on the rear is a 1/8th inch BSPP port with a supplied blank. This can be removed and replaced with a LED fitting instead to add some internal lighting.
In conclusion I think it is a nice piece of kit and knocks spots off the in-line type of filter in many ways not least of which is surface area so clogging of the filter would be very unlikely. Apart from being let down by some minor but annoying things like the sharp edges on stainless steel faceplate should have been deburred, there should be instructions included, the valve handles incorrectly marked and the restrictive valves I really like it. The design and quality of manufacture is good, the shut off valves to isolate it from the loop are a brilliant idea, the viewport is excellent and in my opinion it is good value.
All in all a very capable product and of excellent quality. I would rate this as 9/10. Well done Aquacomputer!
Review sample supplied by CandC Central
http://www.candccentral.co.uk/
