Radiator failures......:(

[BringerOdeath]

So, around September of last year, my RX360 v1 with the paint flaws failed and started leaking. I bought a replacement and today i woke up to it leaking water profusely in the same way the other did last year. So I emailed RXPC for a replacement and removed it from the loop. I then fed the loop directly into the GTX480 on the back of my case. Then I turned on my PC today and heard a hissing sound coming from the GTX480....:(. I looked at the rad and 2 tubes on the left side where the inlet is have split off of the fins and are bowed....Of course now that Radiator is leaking too!!! I was pretty pissed to say the least! What would cause such failures? I have 3 DDC 3.25's with EK custom tops that were feeding directly into the RX360 inlet and then into the GTX480 inlet after the 360 failed. Could it be too much water pressure for the rads to handle?? WTF? :mad:

[Fatfool]

OH My....

3 DDC 3.25s....


Never heard of anyone's rads leaking unless it was a defect or a puncture so yeah, you might want to take a look at those pumps...... Hmmmm not many peeps have experience with three of those pumps in series. I personally run 2 DDC 3.2s

[BringerOdeath]

Yeah, there are no screw or bolt punctures and the GTX480 I have had for about 3 years.....Yeah, but I think they have tested 3 DDC 3.25's with Ek tops on a bunch of different rads on this forum I believe. I hope someone has a similar experience and some info....:(

[TJ TRICHEESE]

the ddc's shouldn't cause anywhere near enough pressure to cause the rad's to start leaking, more likely causes could be corrosion or just getting rad's with defects that were not noticed in QC

[BringerOdeath]

Well, since i don't have any non copper parts in my loop and I use that pt nuke additive in the water, I would be surprised if it was corrosion. although this is the second RX360 that has failed in the same area of the rad....

[SNiiPE_DoGG]

Do you live with anyone else who might not like your gaming habits or computer for some reason? ;)


This is quite the puzzler. 3 DDC 3.25's should only produce (at MAX restriction, e.g. no flow whatsoever) 5 bar (66psi) of pressure, shouldn't be enough to blow a rad under normal conditions...

[gr1p]

Yeah I agree, it's not the pressure being created by your pump.

I vote that its a problem/defect with the radiator itself.

[defect9]

possibly defects like a thin weld or something that was pushed out/apart by the higher than expected pressure (which could explain why it took so long to go boom) is honestly all I can think of, though it shouldn't be that if the QC testing is thorough.

and I haven't been up to tahoe recently so it wasnt me. now I'm going to be watching my RX360 like a hawk.

[BringerOdeath]

LOL, Defect!! I know you haven't been up to my place in Tahoe for sure!! Well, as the RX series is the cheapest high-end performance Rad series, maybe there is a build quality issue that is not apparent unless subjected to a higher than normal amount of water pressure (I.E. 3 DDC 3.25's)? I just found it weird that the first v1 RX360 also failed in the same area.....I live by myself, so no one would get mad at my computer usage!! :P

[BringerOdeath]

So......I emailed XSPC and they told me they had heard of things like this, but only when "bad" coolant was used.....I emailed them back telling them i only used distilled water and I haven't gotten a response back yet. I hope they will replace it as it looks like a tubing weld was bad......:(

[mackintosh]

EK blames PT Nuke and aggressive additives for their acrylic cracking and now XSPC are pointing the finger at "bad coolants"? What next? Dingos taking our babies? Where's a BS button when I need one.

[tiborrr]

EK is not blaming PT Nuke additive, EK is considering customers feedback.

P.S.: Our internal testing is starting to show some interesting results! :rolleyes:

[Church]

tiborrr: btw, you might consider also testing old X1, 50mm reservoirs in similar way. After all, all the hype about cracking/PHN/whatever arose mostly lately and mostly about X2 ones.

[Martinm210]

Don't underestimate the power of pressure. I've seen people damage radiators using household pressure before and three DDCs in series is flat getting up there on a highly restrictive loop.

[PiLsY]

If youve got air in there as the water temp goes up thatll expand and add to the pressure too. I'd vote thin weld though - the 480 was just a better weld but couldnt hold up when you removed restriction from the loop. Slightly worrying but you are also in a minority as far as having a small triple ddc loop goes, so I wouldnt expect to see this with single or dual ddc loops.

I'd say it was a common point of failure though that needs addressing by XSPC. More solder needed.

Pics?

[BringerOdeath]

I will take some pics and post them later tonight. I replaced one of the rads with that new aqua computer airplex revolution 360/420 that came in today, Great rad I must add! The one this is that it didn't come with any M3 fan screws, although I thought some would be included....:( Luckily I had some in my huge box of extra screws!:D

[BringerOdeath]

So, I contacted XSPC again since I had not heard from them after they said they had only heard of failures due to coolants. I told them again that there was only distilled water used and they said that a radiator should not fail so uickly and that they cxannot send me a replacement without them personally inspecting the rad. I don't think i should have to send the Rad to china for them to replace it. It would cost me too much to send it all the way there, I might as well buy another one then right?

[KingOfsorroW]

Probably your case is misaligned. So when you tightly fix your rad to it, it bends and cracks...

[BringerOdeath]

Probably your case is misaligned. So when you tightly fix your rad to it, it bends and cracks...
Hmmm, that could be. I will have to check that...I may just take it to a local radiator shop to fix it. even though they charge like $60 bucks to fix it....:(

[JasonDTM]

Take it to a radiator shop. :o