The Zalman Reserator 2 is a water cooling kit to build a silent PC. After three years of good work, the pump had problems and the security was activated regularly stoping the pump and making the computer unusable. Indead, this is not new that Zalman has used a very weak pump...

Zalman Reserator 2

The Zalman pump is a 220V merged pump. Changing it is really not easy. Instead, I found that it was easier to add another pump in the cooling system. The two pumps are just serialized. The original Zalman pump still works but the second new pump really does the job.

Bad luck or bad choice

First, I tried some Swiftech pump. It was an emergency I just needed my PC to work again. It was a really bad choice, not for the cooling but for the noise. After two months, I decided to get a new pump, a silent one. Yes, it exists for those who are searching!

Alphacool Ehiem 600 to the rescue

After investigating forums, reading many articles, studying noise (getting back to some old logarithmic computations...), I came to the conclusion that the merged pumps are the most silent ones. I bought the AGB-Eheim 600 Station II pump. This pump comes in two versions, a 12V version and a 220V version. The 12V version pump needs a small electronic board to create the alternating current that is required for the pump. The pump itself is within the reservoir.

To plug the new pump, find a location in the PC case and cut the input tube (the one connected to the CPU and the reserator output). Connect the pump to the reserator and the CPU tube to the new pump. Plug the board and connect the 12V cable on it. The pump is using alternative current so there is no order for the pump cable connection.

Verify everything, put distilled water and the coollant and switch on the computer.

At first, the pump creates some noise due to the air. Quite soon, the air is replaced by water and the pump becomes silent. Look at the Reserator flow indicator, it should move very quickly now (Indeed, I was impressed how fast it was running).

Lessons learnt

The Zalman Reserator 2 pump was (and is) very very slow and weak. Watch the Zalman Reserator 2 - flow control failing video.

The Zalman Reserator 2 gave me some signs several months ago. The pump had not enough pressure and the security was sometimes activated. By slaping the reserator, it was working again. I stayed too much time in this situation. I should have tried to find a good pump before the real problem happen.

A pump is always making noise. Be very careful when you choose one.