Koolance COV-RP450 D5 Pump Top
The Koolance D5 top is a multi purpose top because it combines not just a top, but optionally a reservoir base. Packaging is standard Koolance black:
The top comes with mounting brackets (2 piece not 1 which will be a bit more fiddly), a stop fitting and the necessary adapter to mount a 60mm Koolance reservoir to the top:
At $45 it’s a few bucks more than the EK top, however it comes with a cover to hide your D5 completely. No longer a need to remove ugly stickers. The downside of course is that any speed control will be harder to get to:
The actual clamp bracket is metal and because it’s thick only 4 screws are needed to secure it. It sticks out the rear of the top and the two mounting brackets can be attached directly to the metal plate:
The screws however could have been countersunk which would have given a cleaner look:
To test pumps I use a flow meter and a differential manometer and vary restriction by adjusting a brass gate valve. I adjust the gate valve to give different flow points and measure the pressure “gain” across the pump using the differential manometer. To understand how to read these plots check out this guide.
D5 Vario Performance:
D5 Strong Performance:
The top performs very well regardless of the ports used. If we compare to other tops we see that it is near the top:
Summary – Gold Award A fairly priced high performance top that covers the pump body completely. The option to add a reservoir is nice and a 120mm reservoir can be added for only $24 extra which is pretty affordable. My only niggle is that Koolance could have done more with the pump mount to try and isolate vibration.
Where to buy: PPCs
