maybe you can help explain

[Xel_NaGa]

Hey guys. well at this point I feel like a total noob. any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

did my first longterm overclock and watercool.

the system has been running for over 1.5 years but there has been some troubles. The system is stable as a rock. but my water cooling assembly seems to be complete GARBAGE. Ever since day one I have had issues with my rig.

My hopes are that some one will help explain their view on why my rig is such fail.


first id like to mention this is 1/2 tubing running from one pump at 2.8 lph
pump is at 20% power per pump controller. with "conduct-less coolant"
pump is a koolance Pump, PMP-450

Parts that have failed.
1month in
first. Cracked reservoir near the seams. leaked out all over psu and broke the fan.
8months in
second radiator leaked in side the slip join of the 90degree coupling to the rad
11months in
3rd leak
all 3 video card blocks leaked at the same time from the seams of the blocks. almost killed a 285gtx but began working fine after I cleaned off all the liquid
koolance replaced all the waterblocks

1.5years in
I now notice that the CPU block is dripping quite rapidly onto my all of my ram as the smoke gets worse and worse.

so as it stands now the only peice of my loop that had not leaked is the northbridge block and the pump.

I just dont understand why everything has leaked at the seams of the blocks.
I would like to add that none of these leaks have been at where the hoses connect or where the nozzles attach to the waterblocks. all leaks have been at the seems of the actual waterblocks.


side note all of my equipment is koolance gear.

is this a pressure issue?
is this just crappy parts from koolance? and I'm a noob for buying their blocks?
any input and advice would be greatly appreciated
or something else I am overlooking?

******equip
cpu waterblock CPU-345AC (CPU), Acrylic [no nozzles]
GPU waterblocks VID-NX285 (GeForce GTX 285) [no nozzles]

[mlwood37]

Have you over tightened any of the barbs !!! that can cause them to leak.

The res ... ive seen quite a few crack.

Pressure. the only way to find out is to get pressure testing kit and have it tested.

What about your liquid, what's you coolant, is it alcohol based , have you added a bad inhibitor, have you got a bad biocide, any thing else like that that can corrode away the seals. ect ect ect.

mate with our real info no one will be able to help you.

[sin0822]

maybe its the koolance stuff, but it shouldnt leak. Ive make my system and its been running for years and ive never had a leak. I have custom everything, my resivour is held together with plumbers goop and my blocks are 6 years old, lucite top.

[Xel_NaGa]

Have you over tightened any of the barbs !!! that can cause them to leak.

The res ... ive seen quite a few crack.

Pressure. the only way to find out is to get pressure testing kit and have it tested.

What about your liquid, what's you coolant, is it alcohol based , have you added a bad inhibitor, have you got a bad biocide, any thing else like that that can corrode away the seals. ect ect ect.

mate with our real info no one will be able to help you.

https://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=489

here is the coolant I used. I got it because it said Pre-mixed with corrosion and biological inhibitors.

I just checked the CPU waterblock and i could see liquid beyond the o-ring attaching the main acrylic and metal CPU touching part. i took it apart and looked to see if the o-ring was damaged in anyway. none that I could see under light it looks like tiny cracks all along the threaded part of the acrylic.

Sorry for the lack of info this was my first rig so i dont really know which info is need to know troubleshooting info.

[sin0822]

you probably over tightened it.

[Xel_NaGa]

you probably over tightened it.

just now when I put it back together? I did twist firmly.

[Conumdrum]

Cracks are long term. Could of happened before. It's acrylic and Koolance. Need I say more??????

And ????

Or stuff gets old and leaks. It happens. Even the best stuuf can be screwed up by folks. Happened to me.

Lets start over, you found a furum that can help you start again with quality stuff.

[Xel_NaGa]

looking at the GPU's they too have a layer of acrylic sandwiched in to make the acrylic koolance on the face of the waterblocks. where this layer attaches is where the original GPU leaks happened. It seems all my leaks other than the faulty 90 degree join have been where the acrylic meets the metal. Is acrylic a risky thing to get? maybe not a good choice in high heat situations?

[Xel_NaGa]

Cracks are long term. Could of happened before. It's acrylic and Koolance. Need I say more??????

And ????

Or stuff gets old and leaks. It happens. Even the best stuuf can be screwed up by folks. Happened to me.

Lets start over, you found a furum that can help you start again with quality stuff.


gotchya so X for the acrylic and X for the koolance. :X
any other big no nos?

some pointers in the right direction would be great :)


I'm really bummed about my rig. Its stable as a rock. core i7-920 at 4.1Ghz

[Waterlogged]

Is this the system before all the problems started?

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f248/xelnaga15/IMG_1219.jpg

If so,

Res- likely over tightened it causing undo stress on the acrylic threads
90°- rotaries don't really like it when they are subjected to excessive rotating or side loads from tubing that is either too short, too long, or comes into the fitting at an odd angle.
GPU- got me on that one :shrug:
CPU- If that was taken apart for pre-assembly cleaning, it's possible you over tightened it as well. If not, there is a chance that it could be mounting pressure it putting the stress on it causing it to give way.

Overall, 3 of your problems are from products that use acrylic, and this is why many of us avoid using it unless absolutely necessary. Sure the bling is nice (even if it's pointless as you can't really see the coolant moving) but it has a serious drawback, it's weaker than Delrin (Acetal/POM) or brass/copper/stainless steel.

Koolance is not a bad company, they used to catch our wrath 2+ years ago but they have listened to those complaints and have made one of the more incredible turnarounds a company in their position can make. They are one of the companies I can recommend with confidence.

I'm also hoping that 2.8LPH is a typo. ;)

[Xel_NaGa]

yes that would be the system. thanks for the second on the acrylic best take this as a learning lesson. some how magically the computer was working as the top stick of ram was sizzling and smoking out. I tried to dry it up as best as i could and power it back up to see how much damage we were talking about. just trying the bottom slot the system powered up and posted but the slot where the first stick was began to smoke very quickly again. so I dropped the power asap. I'm hoping there is just residual liquid in the slot that i can dry out and just write off the blue slots.

any suggestions on drying/cleaning out the memory slots?


also now that I have drained the system I have noticed the hoses are no longer clear but are now a cloudy/murky/nonclear/ look to them is this normal for a 1+ year loop? using a Qtip is seems to be residual coolant.




Is this the system before all the problems started?1

I'm also hoping that 2.8LPH is a typo. ;)

maybe 2.1-2.8 lpm??

[Waterlogged]

90%+ isopropyl

For the tubing, it's going to depend on what exact type you used but, most of the clear stuff with good bend radius does tend to cloud up over time.

That sounds a bit more reasonable, what exactly does the flow meter read?

[Church]

2.8 lpm, as in 0.7 gpm .. while better, but would be nice to have flow arround 1gpm. I'd try to connect those three gpu fullcovers in parallel.
Also is it just me, or tubing between cpu block and motherboard waterblock seems kinked in middle?

[jumper2high]

Seemed kinked at first glance, but I think it's just the thumb nut behind it making a reflection and skewing the view. :)

[Xel_NaGa]

your right it does want to have a slight kink there but the coil there has been arranged to prevent that

[voigts]

I personally have stayed away from using parts that join acrylic to metal. So far thankfully in 5.5 years of watercooling, I've only had one leak, and that was simply due to a stupid mistake on my part with a barb. I have been making my own reservoirs out of cast acrylic for years, and haven't had one leak yet even using G1/4" metal barbs. Acrylic is a great material, but it needs to be used within its limitations.

I also am not a fan of any of the premixed coolants. They are overpriced and offer nothing over using just distilled water w/biocide.

[Church]

Xel_NaGa: try bend tubing there without using antikink spirals. Imho those spirals simply spoil looks. For one thing try to cut that piece of tubing as long to have same radius of bend by all it's length (Kind of like half of round ring. If tubing is shorter, it tends to kink near both fittings, if it's longer it tends to kink in middle). +Put some smaller tubing or rope (with same OD as ID of your tubing) inside that piece of tubing, then immerse/bend it into some vessel/cup of apropriate size with hot water to make tubing softer. After cooling that piece of tubing should keep it's unkinked but sharply bent form.

[Xel_NaGa]

Xel_NaGa: try bend tubing there without using antikink spirals. Imho those spirals simply spoil looks. For one thing try to cut that piece of tubing as long to have same radius of bend by all it's length (Kind of like half of round ring. If tubing is shorter, it tends to kink near both fittings, if it's longer it tends to kink in middle). +Put some smaller tubing or rope (with same OD as ID of your tubing) inside that piece of tubing, then immerse/bend it into some vessel/cup of apropriate size with hot water to make tubing softer. After cooling that piece of tubing should keep it's unkinked but sharply bent form.

Great tip! Thanks :D any recommendations on tubing?

So I'm thinking the best thing is to get a new non acrylic cpu block.any one have some good recommendations for a core i7 on a R2E?

[Church]

any recommendations on tubing?...
So I'm thinking the best thing is to get a new non acrylic cpu block.any one have some good recommendations for a core i7 on a R2E?
Primochill Pro LRT.
Overall performance/flow restriction wise i prefer EK Supreme HF, but don't bet on improving temps much by upgrading CPU block. Best way to improve temps in liquid cooling is by adding rads.

[Xel_NaGa]

Primochill Pro LRT.
Overall performance/flow restriction wise i prefer EK Supreme HF, but don't bet on improving temps much by upgrading CPU block. Best way to improve temps in liquid cooling is by adding rads.

I just want to eliminate leakage. I have had every waterblock in this setup fail and leak where the acrylic meets the metal.

at 4.1GHZ and 20% pump and fan power at idle the water is at 39c.

I would like to tweak and improve.

I was thinking of adding a rad to the 120 right above the CPU and making the back 3x120 into a 4x120. but I think my loop is either too long or the pump is too weak or maybe i have something wrong.
Also someone mentioned that my flow rate seemed low.
2.8 lpm
This is the pump I use.
http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=493
(http://www.koolance.com/water-cooling/product_info.php?product_id=493)

[Church]

Hmm, PMP-450 aka D5 Vario .. it has weaker head pressure then DDC pumps, right. Eliminate that kink, shorten tubing where feasible, connect gpu-s parallel. Should help in rising flow. Temps on gpu-s might rise a bit in parallel connection, but gpu overclock usually is not too sensitive to temps, and overall flow should increase because of less flow restriction and so do cooling on cpu waterblock. Test in full load temps now (don't forget to measure also ambient temps), and switch to parallel and test then for comparison.

[Xel_NaGa]

At this point I'm looking to replace all my blocks. that primochill tubing looks KILLER so I'm going to move on that. At this point I am ready to replace anything that looks questionable or where another product/type choice is clearly better.

Thanks again for all input.

[Xel_NaGa]

any particular pump recommendations for a single loop system? I was looking around and people are chatting about this Swiftech MCP 35X the head pressure chart looks impressive.

[MagisD]

any particular pump recommendations for a single loop system? I was looking around and people are chatting about this Swiftech MCP 35X the head pressure chart looks impressive.

I grabbed 2 but you can wait for skinnee's review if your not in too much of hurry. But i trust swiftech. There's a reason they've been a staple of wc'ing for quite some time.

Sent from my X10a using Tapatalk

[Xel_NaGa]

oy.. so after 2 days of trying to dry it out. the sockets appear dry.

placed a stick in the last slot and turned it on. as the pc began to post i noticed the top most blue memory slot (that started to smoke from the origonal leak) actually started up a tiny flame which went out the second I pulled the power. :horse: so... hmm the board as of right now is still good.... but if i dont do something about this slot it will for sure will go up in flames.:explode2:

any ideas? lolol

[Conumdrum]

The board is bad, accept it. The socket is smoked. You have a short. Toss it in the trash. Buy a new board. It's not RMA, because you let the smoke out.

Please don't try to RMA, it adds costs to the rest of us.:shrug: