Oh boy... Stupidest mistake of the century. What damage have I done?

[Odai]

Hello,

I feel like a right idiot now... About 30 min ago I decided to plug voltage probes into my VGA to try and help with my overclocking. However, to get at the VGA, I had to unplug one of the molex wired devices, so I could move the cable. What was it? The pump in my loop...

After I'd wired the probe, and checking and double checking there were no shorts, I was confident and turned off the PC. Strangely, the fans started to spin up rather quickly. And after about 20 seconds, the system turned itself off.

I tried again to boot the system, but this time I heard an ominous crackling sound and then the system switched off again, this time a little sooner. I tried a 3rd time (yes, I am that stupid), and this time I looked at the monitor, to find a CPU overheat message. In the BIOS, I found the CPU temp was up to 84C. I quickly switched off the system.

I then realised, to my horror, that the pump was still unplugged... The CPU, the CPU block, fittings and to an extent the tubing, were all very hot. I then also realised that the crackling sound was the coolant starting to boil :shocked::shocked::shocked::shocked::shocked:

What kind of damage have I caused? I've been running the pump for about 10 min, no leaks yet. I'm afraid I might have degraded the tubing or the o-rings somewhere because of the ultra-high temps.

Also, will the CPU have been permanently damaged? Or will the thermal shut off have saved my silly ass this time?

Any ideas would be appreciated. :D

[damha]

The most common thing to arise out of this is the tubing gets thinner where it is stretched, especially around fittings. Check your clamps and the strength of the contact between tube and fitting. If it is all good then all you did was cook your parts a little. Nothing to fear.

[Vinas]

Well, 84c probably won't kill it. What CPU and what voltage? Intel CPUs will thermal throttle so my guess is that you're fine as long as the volts weren't really high. The tubing should be OK too but I'd be checking rather closely if I were you.

[shazza]

I assume your GPU was not water cooled (if not, good thing - that would be an almost certain loss).

With the CPU ... main thing is to make sure there's water in the loop and block before starting again. Don't panic if you can't boot. You may find that removing and reseating your CPU will do the trick.

Good Luck ...

[Odai]

Hello,

Thanks for the replies. :)

I'm using an i7 920 at 1.35V, 4.5GHz.

I'll continue leak testing for another hour or so.

[dejanh]

Probably no damage. 84C on the CPU is still within even the safe operating range :) Your water probably did not even heat up more than 5C over ambient in your loop during that time.

[Sadasius]

Bah I am sure it is okay. Thanks for the funny story though. :up:

[overclocking101]

yeah you'll be alright. happened to me once but I was running a TEC block and accidently unplugged my pump :eek: melted to tubing after the coolant boiled I watched in terror as I reacvhed to unplug the cord. after hairdrying and thorough cleaning, all was well.

[lennox]

The water was boiling? How long did you have it on to get it to boil? :rolleyes:

[Odai]

@ Shazza, sorry, missed your post there. :p: No, it was just the CPU and NB.

I've been running it for a while now with no problems, I can only hope it stays that way. :D

The system booted fine, no problems at all. I'm just concerned about the state of the fitting o-rings and tubing atm. :p:

The first time, the system was on for about 30 sec before it shut itself down. The second and thrid time, maybe 20 seconds.

The sound I heard sounded like bubbles in the block, which is why I thought the coolant was boiling. :eek: That, and the CPU block and fittings were HOT (like boiling kettle hot). :(

[iandh]

In general, most orings and tubing can safely withstand the boiling point of water.

[hale88]

thanks for posting this. it is really good lesson to learn. Think twice and look carefully before doing anything to the wires. I don't mean to laugh at you so... :)

[shazza]

Glad to hear things are working again. Don't think you're the only one to ever do this or something similar. The same thing can happen if people skip leak testing, and don't bother to fill up their loop and water blocks before powering on the full system.

I'd not be too worried about your tubings an connections - just keep an eye on them. Are you using a reservoir? If it's an acrylic one, just keep an eye on it, as it's possible it could have developed small cracks that will get worse over time. Not trying to scare you, but I had this happen when I conducted a little experiment with fans off one of my loops :p:

[Rudster816]

My pump randomly turned off one time. I think it was because one of the pins in the molex of the pump was coming loose. Luckily I was right and heard it turn off and was able to unplug\replug it back in without having to shut off the computer. Only reason I didnt immediately flip the switch on my PSU was because I was able to look at CPU temps on my Evga motherboard, It didnt even reach 60c, and it took me ~15-20 seconds to get the pump back on. Although I wouldnt leave my PC on unattended for the next day and a half because I didnt realize what caused it until awhile later. Was afraid that my pump was dying.

[Odai]

Thanks everyone for all your input. :D

Still no (visible) leaks yet, and this is after having left it off for about 10 hours (tubing will have cooled right down, I thought this might change things). I'll keep checking though to make sure. :p:


Are you using a reservoir? If it's an acrylic one, just keep an eye on it, as it's possible it could have developed small cracks that will get worse over time.

I'll keep an eye on it, thanks for the pointer. :)

[jcool]

Back in 2001 (when there were no 12V pumps), I regularly forgot to start my Eheim 230V pump.
The PC (socket A, watercooled CPU, NB, and GFX card) would just freeze after 2 minutes :p:
What can I say.. it still lives to this day.

[[XC] Oj101]

It's happened to me with a Zalman Reserator. While changing graphics cards I stepped on the on/off switch, and the PC shut down on me. After many card changed, BIOS resets, etc, I had probably tried to boot it about a dozen times (probably more!). The CPU block was way too hot to touch, the tubing was very soft and you could smell heat inside the case. I turned the pump back on, let it run for a few seconds, booted up et voila :up:

[[XC] leviathan18]

i installed windows with a bad seat in my heatsink the poor qx6600 reached 120° it worked pretty damn fine for years LOL

[anzial]

I had my i7 hit 100c a couple times when pump failed to start, still works like a charm :)

[[XC] Oj101]

Yip, you're safe :)

[the finisher]

Wow, never overheated like that, chip's are tougher than I thought. At least the 45nm and older.

[rmorse27]

Odai, if it makes you feel any better I once left of the sli connector between my 2 video card water blocks.When I started up the pump all you could hear was a splashing sound of the fluid pouring out of top card onto bottom card and into my power supply.Stupis is as stupid does.