All not well in QDC land....[Koolance QDC manufacturing problem?!?]

[miahallen]

After seeing a couple posts at OCN and Koolance own forums about Koolance Quick Disconnect leaking problems...I knew my experience was not isolated.
http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/1080039-koolance-no-leak-qdcs-leaking-everywhere.html?highlight=qdc
http://forums.koolance.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1724 (post #3)

I now have 10 males and 8 female QDC VL3N series quick disconnections used in various applications. The first set I bought about two years ago, the females are still working fine today. However, I recently bought a bunch of new sets, and the new female connectors have all failed. To be clear....the new connectors worked fine for the first few months over dozens of connect/disconnect operations. But now, the spring loaded mechanism meant close the valve in the female end no longer closes completely, allowing the connection to drip when disconnected (see the images below).

edit - I have verified the problem is not related to low loop pressure.

I suspect a minor change in manufacturing that is causing the long term failure of these parts. Tim [Koolance] eluded to a change in manufacturing tolerances last year (post #8) (http://forums.koolance.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1467).

If I am correct, Koolance should issue a recall on these parts. In the mean time, be sure to check your connections within the 1 year warranty period and get RMA replacements if yours connectors are showing similar problems. If you are already outside the warranty period, please be careful with your connectors when breaking your systems down to prevent leaking on your HW ;)

Here is a shot of my older QDC, both female fittings have been serving me well for about two years now.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t228/miahallen/good_QDC.jpg

Here is a shot of the newer QDC failing to seal properly....all of my newer female QDC fitting do this consistently now.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t228/miahallen/bad_QDC.jpg

Also, I need your comments please, let us know if you have older/newer QDC fittings, and whether or not you've seen similar issues.

[Stewie007]

That is most unfortunate... I am willing to bet a cheaper spring is responsible. Was there a cost difference to you between the old and new parts?

[miahallen]

Nope...zero indication of any change (other than what I mentioned)....its simply speculation at this point. :-/

[Stewie007]

Since all of them have exhibited this failure, there isn't much that could cause it besides insufficient pressure applied by the worn spring. I suppose you could take them apart an examine, but then you'd have to ruin your two good sets.....

[Sparky]

I suspect cheapened manufacturing which either 1) was to keep prices the same as they have been, or 2) increase profit per item sold.

I've seen both happen. I am hoping that it was just for #1 and it was done in good faith, not #2.

But, either way, the change was a mistake.

[Stewie007]

Well, all businesses should evaluate their costs and streamline them for maximum profit. However, many times they go too far and end up hurting the product in an attempt to keep profits up.

[Vicey]

I have 3 of the female connectors and mine are all okay so far but then I've not disconnected/reconnected them a lot since I got them, only about 5-6 times total. I'll keep an eye on this for sure. Thankfully all my connectors are outside of my case so if there was a leak it wouldn't be a disaster but I can imagine how this would be terrible for people who are using these on their CPU, GPU and such. Of which I've seen a few users on this forum making use of them in that fashion for quicker part upgrades.

I hope Koolance sorts this as the connectors are a brilliant idea and look great.

[Utnorris]

I have already RMA's one female for not wanting to lock all the way and now have another one doing the same thing. I also have two female connectors doing what you described. All of these are the VL3N models, the "no drip" type. My older QD's with the black plungers do not exhibit this problem. I was going to post on here, but just not had time. From what I can tell just fiddling with them is that the outer ring that is suppose to seal is not cut quite right and get's stuck. I actually have to hit the outside of the fitting with a hard object to get it to close all the way and therefore it leaks. It would be nice to hear what Koolance has to say, but based on past RMA's and issues, they will just replace them and never investigate the issue. This happened with my controller board when it went out, the fitting's I just sent back and the bleed kit I posted with funk on it. It's great that they replace them, but at $5 per incident to send them back it starts to add up if you have several items go out over a few months. As much as I love my QD's it makes me want to stop using them and just go back to the old way of doing things. The other option is to try some of these:

http://www.aquatuning.us/index.php/cat/c689_Phobya.html

They work like the ones you find on air compressors, but I have no idea on how restrictive they are or how well they actually work.

[Bojamijams]

I got VL4's but I've used them like.. twice so far..

so.. that probably means nothing

this post was rather useless.. sorry about that

[CedricFP]

For what it is worth, my old VL4 (note, not N) do not exhibit this issue after many many dozens of disconnects / reconnects.

[Stewie007]

Well, its looking more and more like the new versions have undergone some adverse changes.

[QuadSLI]

Most likely switch of manufacturer for cost.. is this apply to the newer no -spill version as well ??

[Stewie007]

Most likely switch of manufacturer for cost..

That is the general consensus.

[CedricFP]

Damn, and I was just going to get some for my upcoming STC-101 build.

[Stewie007]

Well I suggest that everybody that is having this problem contact Koolance with grievance immediately if you have not already.... :)

Maybe they will (or already are) make the appropriate changes.

[Sparky]

A little ironic that the "no drip" ones are the ones leaking.

[Rinaun]

A little ironic that the "no drip" ones are the ones leaking.

Haha yea, and also the ones that aren't no drip aren't leaking.

[catcherintherye]

So just to confirm VL3 and VL4 are fine, VL3N is not, and VL4N is unknown?

[Church]

Another bit of problem is that VL3N are most commonly used ones @LC.

[Phatboy69]

Yeah I also have the same prob on a few of my VL3N's too.. I ALWAYS put paper around the connector just incase to catch drops. They do come good again though if you clean them and cycle the connection a few times.. I think it might be just a tiny bit of build up. Since they are built to such tight tolerances it wouldnt take more than a fine film to compromise the smoothness of the operation and increase resistance. Maybe Koolance should look into upping the spring rate a tad!

[miahallen]

I have 3 of the female connectors and mine are all okay so far but then I've not disconnected/reconnected them a lot since I got them, only about 5-6 times total. I'll keep an eye on this for sure. Thankfully all my connectors are outside of my case so if there was a leak it wouldn't be a disaster but I can imagine how this would be terrible for people who are using these on their CPU, GPU and such. Of which I've seen a few users on this forum making use of them in that fashion for quicker part upgrades.

I hope Koolance sorts this as the connectors are a brilliant idea and look great.
How long ago were they purchased?


For what it is worth, my old VL4 (note, not N) do not exhibit this issue after many many dozens of disconnects / reconnects.
How long ago were they purchased?


Yeah I also have the same prob on a few of my VL3N's too.. I ALWAYS put paper around the connector just incase to catch drops. They do come good again though if you clean them and cycle the connection a few times.. I think it might be just a tiny bit of build up. Since they are built to such tight tolerances it wouldnt take more than a fine film to compromise the smoothness of the operation and increase resistance. Maybe Koolance should look into upping the spring rate a tad!
How long ago were they purchased?
I think they should just go back to the prior design.

[zeropluszero]

Yeh I had a set of old ones (vl3n) that worked fine, they had red o rings FWIW.
New set I got a few months ago. (from PPCs) black o rings, and they don't fit together a nicely when they are
connected. Feels like the o ring is too big, is the best way to describe it.

They work fine though so far, no issues with dripping, and they do go together.

[Utnorris]

FYI - My VL3N's were purchased early last year and came with the black o-ring.

The older style with the plunger never did this, however, they were more restrictive and obviously not "No drip" type. A stronger spring might fix it, but I think we will continue to see this type of issue with this series until the design is changed.

Has anyone used the QD's by Phobya that I linked too earlier? They are like air compressor QD's.

[Phatboy69]

Just also wanted to say, make sure you have relieved the pressure in your loop from your res or a t-line before you undo them. It might not fix it but it cant hurt! ;)

[miahallen]

Just also wanted to say, make sure you have relieved the pressure in your loop from your res or a t-line before you undo them. It might not fix it but it cant hurt! ;)

This was the first thing I did....but trust me, low loop pressure is not the cause :(
And it CAN hurt....when you disconnect, the flow from the faulty connection will be much greater since there is no vacuum holding in the water ;)

[z3d.]

I have the same problem than you, I though it was something normal due to the fact that when you disconnect two QDCs for a fraction of second you leave a little space from one to the other and littles drops of water go out, then you have your two QDC's perfectly disconnected and they don't leak anymore cause they are sealed again.

Looking in your thread made me change my mind and then yes, I have the same problem than you with VL3N model male and female bought on February 2011, black o-rings; how works rma with koolance? You have to mail them or the online shop where you bought the QDCs?

[Vicey]

How long ago were they purchased?

I bought 2xMale and 2xFemale in March 2011. Both males and one of those females are still in my loop since march to present. I replaced one of the females which was a straight piece with a 90 degree female as I simply needed it to make my loop neater. I bought that 90 Degree female connector at the end of May 2011.

I've disconnected / reconnected them about 6 times total since I've had them and no drips yet. The female fittings I have are the VL3N-F10S (x2) and VL3N-F10L (x1).

[Stewie007]

You know, the problem with these style fittings in low pressure applications such as this is that the spring carries more tension. In a pneumatic system, the air pressure helps keep the system sealed. Without that high pressure, the spring is carrying the full load.

Thus disconnecting and reconnecting multiple times will wear the mechanism, and without high pressure to assist the mechanism, it drips. This should have been incorporated into the mechanism design to account for the small pressure load.

[miahallen]

You know, the problem with these style fittings in low pressure applications such as this is that the spring carries more tension. In a pneumatic system, the air pressure helps keep the system sealed. Without that high pressure, the spring is carrying the full load.

Thus disconnecting and reconnecting multiple times will wear the mechanism, and without high pressure to assist the mechanism, it drips. This should have been incorporated into the mechanism design to account for the small pressure load.

Even my connections which are in a box not connected to anything right now and doing the same thing.

[Stewie007]

Interesting. How many people have gone to koolance about this? And are they responding?

If people are answering that they have and Koolance is not responding then it would seem that they aren't deserving of business.....

[QuadSLI]

Lubricate it helps ?? i have 3 pair im going to use...

[Utnorris]

Koolance will let you RMA them all day long, but as I stated before, $5 for shipping each time you have to ship something to them adds up and adds to the cost of ownership. I let them pile up and do one RMA to cut down on shipping, however in the meantime I am not using an item I paid for.

[Sparky]

Lubricate it helps ?? i have 3 pair im going to use...

With what? You don't want grease, oil, etc in your loop.

[UNTAMED]

With what? You don't want grease, oil, etc in your loop.
I have 1 VL4N-F13 [female] of 2 , that will cut the male o ring in half if you do not wet\lube with water the male before inserting\locking , not worth sending it back I only use them to disconnect my exterior loop and drain.
-I treat them with respect , not like a headphone jack or a electrical plug, slowly align them softly push them together if they don't go in ,I try again. if you force it it will cut the o ring.

[miahallen]

I've had o-ring problems in the past....but that's a different discussion ;)

[Utnorris]

I have 1 VL4N-F13 [female] of 2 , that will cut the male o ring in half if you do not wet\lube with water the male before inserting\locking , not worth sending it back I only use them to disconnect my exterior loop and drain.
-I treat them with respect , not like a headphone jack or a electrical plug, slowly align them softly push them together if they don't go in ,I try again. if you force it it will cut the o ring.

Yeah, I usually will wet them before inserting them since I use to have that issue with the old QD's, but this is the metal inner ring that is sticking and it is already wet from the water leaking out.

[CedricFP]

How long ago were they purchased?

Within a year. Ditto on cutting the oring.

If the springs are losing tension when left in an unused state, would it be better to leave them coupled? </noob question but I'm not certain>

[miahallen]

Within a year. Ditto on cutting the oring.

If the springs are losing tension when left in an unused state, would it be better to leave them coupled? </noob question but I'm not certain>

No, I simply meant that ones not connected in a loop show the same behavior....that is not to say that they have not been used.....all of my fittings have had heavy use, I use them on my benching rig and they will often be connected/disconnected several times a day. I pretest all my benching HW on water because of the crazy price of LN2 here ;)

[lowfat]

Koolance will let you RMA them all day long, but as I stated before, $5 for shipping each time you have to ship something to them adds up and adds to the cost of ownership. I let them pile up and do one RMA to cut down on shipping, however in the meantime I am not using an item I paid for.

RMA'ing something like a fitting should be done just w/ pictures. Having to pay shipping to RMA such a small and cheap product like a fitting is kind of silly.

[Utnorris]

RMA'ing something like a fitting should be done just w/ pictures. Having to pay shipping to RMA such a small and cheap product like a fitting is kind of silly.

You would think that, but each time I have had to send the fittings back for replacements. I don't mind doing it once in awhile, but I have already done two RMA's with Koolance this year, no it's not a lot, but more than any other manufacture of water cooling that I have owned in all the time I have had water cooling. Now I get to do it again and will probably have to do it a couple more times as I discover issues. Now throw in the time I spend taking my loop down since I cannot just remove the fitting and it really starts to add up. Anyways, this is more of a rant than anything. I get Koolance and Swiftech stuff because they are based in the U.S. and have good tech and RMA service. If I had to ship a fitting back to Europe or Asia it would just get thrown in the trash and that would be one less manufacture that I would buy from.

[Stewie007]

I have 1 VL4N-F13 [female] of 2 , that will cut the male o ring in half if you do not wet\lube with water the male before inserting\locking , not worth sending it back I only use them to disconnect my exterior loop and drain.
-I treat them with respect , not like a headphone jack or a electrical plug, slowly align them softly push them together if they don't go in ,I try again. if you force it it will cut the o ring.

Quick Disconnects are supposed to be designed for ease of use; taking care is always good, but having to baby them to get em to work seems a bit ridiculous for a ~15 dollar a piece fitting.

[miahallen]

My issue is not the price of the fittings, but the price of all the HW the fittings are expected not to leak on :mad:

[Koolance]

Hi Miahallen,

Can you PM me your RMA number for the fittings? Our RMA tech today did not remember receiving the pictures you posted.

Thanks,
Tim

[Stewie007]

My issue is not the price of the fittings, but the price of all the HW the fittings are expected not to leak on :mad:

Of course. :) I was just referring to the individual product. It carries a premium next to other fittings.

[Section8]

Man I finally decided to get myself several sets of the VL4N's and now I see this !!! I hope they get the issue fixed. Mine have not arrived yet but I will for sure keep a close eye on them and post back my finding after several disconnects.

[dejanh]

Man I finally decided to get myself several sets of the VL4N's and now I see this !!! I hope they get the issue fixed. Mine have not arrived yet but I will for sure keep a close eye on them and post back my finding after several disconnects.
Same exact situation here! I was pondering for a year to take the plunge into QDCs and now that I did I find this! Bah! Mine arrive in the next day or two so I wonder what the situation will be. I better not have to RMA them. Damn it!

I'm getting mine so that I can swap CPU blocks out easily for testing and also to be able to switch back and forth between watercooling and phase with minor effort so I cannot say that these will be seeing very "minor" use.

[zads]

Question for all those who had sticking problems:
Did you guys ever run any 'cooling fluid', additives or dyes in your loops?

I figure maybe some invisible residue from the additive/dye,
could be drying/sticking to the o-rings or contact areas when disconnecting and reconnecting many times,
which causes the moving surfaces to get 'sticky' and stick open..

I haven't had any problems with my 2 sets of VL3N fittings sticking open.
Cycled them about 10 times over the past 2 years.
Running only on pure distilled + silver kill coil.

[mlwood37]

well since nearly all premixed liquids has stuff in them to lubricate the pump some how i don't think if they did it would make a difference. I don't see any lubrication in just water ..... 0_o (btw when i say nearly all it doesn't mean all of them).

[santiagodraco]

After seeing a couple posts at OCN and Koolance own forums about Koolance Quick Disconnect leaking problems...I knew my experience was not isolated.
http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/1080039-koolance-no-leak-qdcs-leaking-everywhere.html?highlight=qdc
http://forums.koolance.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1724 (post #3)

I now have 10 males and 8 female QDC VL3N series quick disconnections used in various applications. The first set I bought about two years ago, the females are still working fine today. However, I recently bought a bunch of new sets, and the new female connectors have all failed. To be clear....the new connectors worked fine for the first few months over dozens of connect/disconnect operations. But now, the spring loaded mechanism meant close the valve in the female end no longer closes completely, allowing the connection to drip when disconnected (see the images below).

edit - I have verified the problem is not related to low loop pressure.

I suspect a minor change in manufacturing that is causing the long term failure of these parts. Tim [Koolance] eluded to a change in manufacturing tolerances last year (post #8) (http://forums.koolance.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1467).

If I am correct, Koolance should issue a recall on these parts. In the mean time, be sure to check your connections within the 1 year warranty period and get RMA replacements if yours connectors are showing similar problems. If you are already outside the warranty period, please be careful with your connectors when breaking your systems down to prevent leaking on your HW ;)

Here is a shot of my older QDC, both female fittings have been serving me well for about two years now.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t228/miahallen/good_QDC.jpg

Here is a shot of the newer QDC failing to seal properly....all of my newer female QDC fitting do this consistently now.

http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t228/miahallen/bad_QDC.jpg

Also, I need your comments please, let us know if you have older/newer QDC fittings, and whether or not you've seen similar issues.

I'm having the exact same problem with the new ones I just purchased... purchased because the old ones started leaking. Now these leak when disconnected in exactly the same spot. The female side inner plug doesn't seat at all.

[CedricFP]

^ How many disconnects total?

[mav2000]

Damn, I was just about to order some of these...now I am in a fix as well, cause I need the concept to work, in terms of easier removal of hardware, but not at the cost of leaks.

[OC Maximus]

My 2 sets of QDC VL3N's have been used and abused in the last year or so on my benching rig and are doing fine. Must be a recent issue with quality control. Best of luck brother.

[Utnorris]

My 2 sets of QDC VL3N's have been used and abused in the last year or so on my benching rig and are doing fine. Must be a recent issue with quality control. Best of luck brother.

Mine are over a year old and are having this issue, so I doubt it's a recent thing. I don't think it's all of them, but some definitely are having the issue.

[OC Maximus]

Good to know. Lets see if Tim can get to the bottom of this.

[Stewie007]

Mine are over a year old and are having this issue, so I doubt it's a recent thing. I don't think it's all of them, but some definitely are having the issue.

Sometimes issues like this are mixed in the beginning since inventory has to roll over first. So if the changes were made a while ago, some people would get the new and some would get the old. Eventually, the old stock with the superior parts runs out and all that exists is the new revision. This would explain why some people have year old parts that exhibit the problem, and why others have old parts that do not.

[santiagodraco]

^ How many disconnects total?

Not sure if you were asking me Cedric, but only one. The female adapters (both) started leaking after the first connect/disconnect.

[eth0s]

Sorry for the late posting, but I just found this thread. I have had the same problem with a VL4N female QDC purchased in March 2011. 1 of the female QDC's that I bought is leaking as you guys have described it, i.e., after disconnecting the female QDC from the male side when filled with water, the female QDC leaks, drips and drizzles.

Additionally, I have had another problem that has not been mentioned previously: When I first took delivery of these three sets of VL4N's (3x Male & Female) one of the female VL4N plungers would not go down at all. It wouldn't budge, like it was frozen. I RMA'd that one, and the replacement one that I received had a lighter colored compression ring. The first ones i received all had what I would call the "black sparkle" finish, but the new one had the "shiny silver" finish. Thus, now I have 5 QDC's with dark compression rings and one oddball QDC with a shiny silver compression ring. To put it simply, it looks retarded. But w/e, i hid that one in the back. Not the worst problem, but annoying anyway. Still i think it shows a change in manufacturing has occurred at some time, or maybe several times. [Note: To avoid confusion, the female QDC that is now leaking is not the one with the funky silver-colored compression ring. It is one of the others with a dark sparkle compression ring.]

[Utnorris]

Sorry for the late posting, but I just found this thread. I have had the same problem with a VL4N female QDC purchased in March 2011. 1 of the female QDC's that I bought is leaking as you guys have described it, i.e., after disconnecting the female QDC from the male side when filled with water, the female QDC leaks, drips and drizzles.

Additionally, I have had another problem that has not been mentioned previously: When I first took delivery of these three sets of VL4N's (3x Male & Female) one of the female VL4N plungers would not go down at all. It wouldn't budge, like it was frozen. I RMA'd that one, and the replacement one that I received had a lighter colored compression ring. The first ones i received all had what I would call the "black sparkle" finish, but the new one had the "shiny silver" finish. Thus, now I have 5 QDC's with dark compression rings and one oddball QDC with a shiny silver compression ring. To put it simply, it looks retarded. But w/e, i hid that one in the back. Not the worst problem, but annoying anyway. Still i think it shows a change in manufacturing has occurred at some time, or maybe several times. [Note: To avoid confusion, the female QDC that is now leaking is not the one with the funky silver-colored compression ring. It is one of the others with a dark sparkle compression ring.]

Yep, I got back the silver shiny compression ring on mine also and it does look odd having that with the black ones. It's somewhat annoying when you send one thing in and get something else in return unless it is an upgrade, which this is not.

[CedricFP]

Not sure if you were asking me Cedric, but only one. The female adapters (both) started leaking after the first connect/disconnect.

Yeah, I was talking to you.

And ouch :(

[miahallen]

I've now observed this on my male connections as well.

If you all think Koolance should address the issue, please add your input to my thread in their forum ;)
http://forums.koolance.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2326

[Levesque]

I had to drain/refill all my loops this morning... I was really afraid... And guess what? 6 pairs of VL4N, and ALL of them are having that problem! The plunger doesn't retract fully, and water is leaking everywhere!

Sigh. I have alot of VL3N also, and they all seems to be ok. But ALL my VL4N are leaking...

I really regret buying those VL4N now, since the point was to make managing my loops easier, not harder! Really not happy. 6 on 6 are defective. Hope Koolance will do something. There is a real problem with those. :(

[Raul-7]

I also have this problem on female connectors, purchased early 2010.

[mdzcpa]

Unfortunately I also just experienced the same thing this weekend. 1 of the 2 VL3N fittings in my graphics loop leaked after being connected for 2 months. Leaked on the first disconnet. Female does not retract.

[Utnorris]

I know Koolance will RMA them, but if the new ones do the same thing then what's the point?

[Levesque]

I know Koolance will RMA them, but if the new ones do the same thing then what's the point?

That's exactly my problem. All my Koolance QDC are 2 months old, and all the VL4n are bad (6 pairs). So if I RMA them, i will get exactly the same leaking QDC. So what's the point.

And it's too late for a refund. 6 pairs of VL4N and 14 pairs of VL3N, :(

[Levesque]

Double post. Sorry. :)

[Koolance]

We've found an issue after cutting open the bad fittings. The internal o-rings were a hair out of tolerance. This prevented the plunger from fully sealing when disconnected. Unfortunately, there's not a way to tell if a particular fitting is affected without disconnecting the male and female sides (a towel is recommended). Either the plunger surface won't sit flush with the inside, or if it's already installed, there could be continuous dripping.

We've screened our inventory and removed any other QDC's which exhibited the problem. Different styles of VL3N and VL4N fittings were affected, but the products aren't serialized so it's difficult to tell how recent the stock was.

If customers find they have VL3N or VL4N quick disconnects which leak when separated, please submit an RMA request (http://www.koolance.com/support/rma/). We'll need to know your part numbers, quantity, and invoice number/date. We'll take care of the shipping. If you've recently sent in QDC's for this problem, please contact our technical department (http://www.koolance.com/company/contact/) to obtain a refund on the original shipping and replacement fittings if needed.

We apologize for this issue and thank everyone for bringing it to our attention. O-rings are always a critical part and it's regrettable we didn't catch these when they arrived from our supplier.

Tim

[defect9]

^^This is why Koolance is awesome

[SkItZo]

:up:

[miahallen]

Thank you Tim!!! :toast:

[Kosmic71]

wow! TCB!!

[Utnorris]

We've found an issue after cutting open the bad fittings. The internal o-rings were a hair out of tolerance. This prevented the plunger from fully sealing when disconnected. Unfortunately, there's not a way to tell if a particular fitting is affected without disconnecting the male and female sides (a towel is recommended). Either the plunger surface won't sit flush with the inside, or if it's already installed, there could be continuous dripping.

We've screened our inventory and removed any other QDC's which exhibited the problem. Different styles of VL3N and VL4N fittings were affected, but the products aren't serialized so it's difficult to tell how recent the stock was.

If customers find they have VL3N or VL4N quick disconnects which leak when separated, please submit an RMA request (http://www.koolance.com/support/rma/). We'll need to know your part numbers, quantity, and invoice number/date. We'll take care of the shipping. If you've recently sent in QDC's for this problem, please contact our technical department (http://www.koolance.com/company/contact/) to obtain a refund on the original shipping and replacement fittings if needed.

We apologize for this issue and thank everyone for bringing it to our attention. O-rings are always a critical part and it's regrettable we didn't catch these when they arrived from our supplier.

Tim

Anyway we can get some sort of advance RMA on the ones that are already installed Tim? I really do not want to take my system down for a week while waiting on fittings.

[lowfat]

^^This is why Koolance is awesome
http://smiliesftw.com/x/werd.gif (http://smiliesftw.com)

That is pretty awesome.

[Phatboy69]

Anyway we can get some sort of advance RMA on the ones that are already installed Tim? I really do not want to take my system down for a week while waiting on fittings.

+1 on this... I have several VL3N's of different types that are leaking and it would be more like 3 weeks for me in Australia!

At a minimum I'd like to suggest if we provide a list of the effected parts with shipping consignment number to prove our parts are on the way that Koolance will at the same time ship the replacements to minimise disruption.
Luckily I am in the middle of a rebuild and still waiting on some parts.
My only real problem is that I have $500 of new unused parts that are about to go in my rebuild and I dont know if they are defective or not!

https://blufiles.storage.live.com/y1pJty_3fbaoWlZy9FtdhjhtnYL1bsOs9dySOpv4CTvIpY6dxy nkVgIk6v3-GFMSRO62wTSVeD28EU/IMG_2224edit.jpg

[traveler]

:up:


ditto




:cool:

[Tackleberry]

Problems happen. That is why we have to go to work to solve them;)
Good luck with cross shipping idea.

[jumper2high]

We've found an issue after cutting open the bad fittings. The internal o-rings were a hair out of tolerance. This prevented the plunger from fully sealing when disconnected. Unfortunately, there's not a way to tell if a particular fitting is affected without disconnecting the male and female sides (a towel is recommended). Either the plunger surface won't sit flush with the inside, or if it's already installed, there could be continuous dripping.

We've screened our inventory and removed any other QDC's which exhibited the problem. Different styles of VL3N and VL4N fittings were affected, but the products aren't serialized so it's difficult to tell how recent the stock was.

If customers find they have VL3N or VL4N quick disconnects which leak when separated, please submit an RMA request (http://www.koolance.com/support/rma/). We'll need to know your part numbers, quantity, and invoice number/date. We'll take care of the shipping. If you've recently sent in QDC's for this problem, please contact our technical department (http://www.koolance.com/company/contact/) to obtain a refund on the original shipping and replacement fittings if needed.

We apologize for this issue and thank everyone for bringing it to our attention. O-rings are always a critical part and it's regrettable we didn't catch these when they arrived from our supplier.

Tim

I have a few male quick disconnects. Most of them have been bought from a person here on XS, but a pair of them was bought from PPCS a few months ago. They are the newer ones, since they had the new silver nickel compression screws.
Anyways, those newer ones appear to behave differently when the plunger is closing. It'll get to a point where the rubber o-ring starts to seal, and then you can feel it having a little more difficulty fully closing. When I disconnected one of those - it didn't close fully, but thankfully it was enough to stop the water. After testing all the male VL4Ns that I got, I found that that particular one definitely has a different 'feel' when closing. The other click into place (you hear the click when the plunger hits the stops) but with this one, it doesn't - it slowly comes to a close.

Could that be because of the oversized o-ring?

[NaeKuh]

A company admitting to a problem quickly...
And then fixing the mistake :up:

u guys see now why i push koolance on recommendations. :)



But thanks for the watch out miahallen...

I had to check my VL3N's.. and lucky for me im still hording onto a lot of the old style.

[Utnorris]

A company admitting to a problem quickly...
And then fixing the mistake :up:

u guys see now why i push koolance on recommendations. :)



But thanks for the watch out miahallen...

I had to check my VL3N's.. and lucky for me im still hording onto a lot of the old style.

I wouldn't go so far as saying "quickly", but they definitely are doing the right thing and they did not need a lot of pressure from the community unlike EK and they did not try to shift the blame, so that does earn some kudos in my book. I don't know when I will be able to get mine swapped since they are in my system, although I have plenty that are not.

[matari]

What about all those euros who are stuck paying for shipping?

[Phatboy69]

What about all those euros who are stuck paying for shipping?

Did you read the Koolance message earlier?



"We'll take care of the shipping."
Tim

[Koolance]

Anyway we can get some sort of advance RMA on the ones that are already installed Tim? I really do not want to take my system down for a week while waiting on fittings.

Hey UT. If you talk to our RMA department, they will probably allow you to purchase replacements in advance and refund you for the defective ones plus regular shipping when the bad ones are returned. They would still need an RMA submitted on our website to approve that in advance. (We wouldn't want other customers purchasing fittings first only to find out their QDC's aren't affected by this and then expecting a refund.)

Tim

[Utnorris]

Hey UT. If you talk to our RMA department, they will probably allow you to purchase replacements in advance and refund you for the defective ones plus regular shipping when the bad ones are returned. They would still need an RMA submitted on our website to approve that in advance. (We wouldn't want other customers purchasing fittings first only to find out their QDC's aren't affected by this and then expecting a refund.)

Tim

Thanks TIM, I will try and get my stuff together this weekend and submit the RMA and go from there. This would be helpful and I know it's not the usual process, so I do appreciate it.

[traveler]

When can one order good working QD fittings? Are there enough good ones of each type in stock to order them now? Or would this generate a backorder?


???

[Tackleberry]

Good to see this finally taken care of.

[jinsean]

So if I wanted to purchase a safe batch of koolance QDs, then I'd need to order directly from koolance? Otherwise, the inventory of all the other vendors could still have the problematic QDs?

[D749]

I bought ~ $200 worth of the 4 series QDC from PCS a few months back. I haven't gotten around to using them but now I get the added bonus of finding out if they leak when disconnected. :shakes:

[mdzcpa]

I submitted my RMA on Saturday and I already have an approval and a prepaid UPS label to ship all of my affected male and female QDC fittings to Koolance. I'm replacing 18 fittings...almost $200 worth of product. This kind of move by Koolance might be "expected" by some, but I find their efforts to cure this issue outstanding! Manufacturing mistakes happen...and inconvenience to the customers happen as a result...but it is how your deal with the issue and your customers that defines the vendor. I think Koolance is doing the right thing here. I'm sure it's going to cost them and arm and leg to fix this and they are not hiding from it. In my opinion Koolance is an outstanding company.

[miahallen]

I submitted my RMA on Saturday and I already have an approval and a prepaid UPS label to ship all of my affected male and female QDC fittings to Koolance. I'm replacing 18 fittings...almost $200 worth of product. This kind of move by Koolance might be "expected" by some, but I find their efforts to cure this issue outstanding! Manufacturing mistakes happen...and inconvenience to the customers happen as a result...but it is how your deal with the issue and your customers that defines the vendor. I think Koolance is doing the right thing here. I'm sure it's going to cost them and arm and leg to fix this and they are not hiding from it. In my opinion Koolance is an outstanding company.

I'm very pleased as well. I sent my fittings in for RMA and when they arrived there was an initial problem due to my APO address, UPS won't ship there. But after explaining that I don't have many options being station with the US Military overseas, they agreed to ship via USPS manually....that type of thing is RARE!.....Thanks a million Koolance :up:

[D749]

Yay - I get to break down my loop. :down:

http://images.thedigitalfoundry.com/water/issues/defective_vl4n_01.png
http://images.thedigitalfoundry.com/water/issues/defective_vl4n_02.png
http://images.thedigitalfoundry.com/water/issues/defective_vl4n_03.png

[OCAUfedexpress]

Just also wanted to say, make sure you have relieved the pressure in your loop from your res or a t-line before you undo them. It might not fix it but it cant hurt! ;)

can someone explain what this means?

another poster said it can hurt?

what's the correct way to disconnect the QDC's?

thanks

[OCAUfedexpress]

Yay - I get to break down my loop. :down:

http://images.thedigitalfoundry.com/water/issues/defective_vl4n_01.png


is that series 3 or 4?

I jsut bought some VL3N and VL4N , which is less likely to have leak problems?

I want to use the VL3N since it's not massive in size but i'm reading the problems are all releated to the 3 series?

---------------------

edit just realised they leak on both 4 and 3 series :(

so can anyone tell me how i can test them for leaks? is the only way to put it in the loop?

[Stealth5325]

I have similar issues. I have VL3N's that I bought about two years ago, that have a black O-Ring. Mine leak when disconnected.

[OCAUfedexpress]

I have similar issues. I have VL3N's that I bought about two years ago, that have a black O-Ring. Mine leak when disconnected.

do you disconnect often?

do these things wear out?

I have new ones and I have tested them for leaks and they seem fine, not 1 drop overnight

[CJ145]

I had this issue with a pair, advance RMAed them and the new pair has been working fine for at least 4 months now (multiple DC's) with no leaks. It did suck to pull apart my system but Koolance was very pleasant to deal with, and they did an advance RMA quickly.

[Dark Mantis]

A stronger spring might fix it, but I think we will continue to see this type of issue with this series until the design is changed.

Has anyone used the QD's by Phobya that I linked too earlier? They are like air compressor QD's.

Yes I purchased a few a while ago and they seemed to work alright although were a bit restrictive. After a few months of being used I disconnected them only to find they didn't close well at all. I stripped them, down to find the cause and was dismayed to find that Phobya used ordinary steel springs (not stainless) which had obvously corroded in the water. One literally fell apart. I guess I was lucky it didn't do it earlier and jam up my pump or something equally disasterous!

I wouldn't recommend buying them for this reason.

[avabaska]

You know, I think they are perfect. Comfortable, pleasant and fuzzy-nice. My QDCs was OK for a few months - first was a distilled water. After this - Koolance LIQ-702BU-B. And I think it was capital sentence. 27% of propylene glycol turns water into a slippery substance. So when I disconnected two rads, PC case and a filter (total about 14 QDCs), two or three of "F" and one "M" are started to leak. But I had enough time to blow rads and a PC case with air compressor. Water filter has been cleaned by a water (was pretty clean).
After copulation :) of QDCs (rads, PC and a filter) I turned my pump on and saw that flow rate dropped to 175 l/h from 195 l/h. I think that internal seals are shifted so now they can't fully close and open the valve. but I don't have any leakage when F and M are coupled, because M got external sealant (elastic) that never comes in contact with the liquid.

After some time I will install new QDCs, but I think after few months situation will be the same. (but I don't have any choice)

[zeroibis]

Now that I found this thread I figured I would update it:

So today I experienced the power of a The VL3N models in my loop that had a failed pump. So when I went to remove the hard to reach VL3N-FG I got a leak so I quickly reconnected it and tried to make sure I did not loosen a fitting. When I tried again the QD had a very hard time separating from the male end (felt like I was trying to overcome a vacuum while the coolant was flying out). Note that this was the second half of the loop that I disconnected and my other QD connection had no issues.

After removing it from the line end and replacing it with an older VL2 series I tried it again to see what the issue was. After that it did not work at all and I can see parts of an Oring on the rim.

Too bad I had not seen this thread in the past or I would have been more careful before removing them just encase...

On a related note has anyone tried the new QD3 type?

[Conumdrum]

Still don't see the value in these unless your a modder or tester. Zero, you run these and a bazillion other complicated goodies in a simple watercooling loop. Even NASA knows when to cut back on the goodies that cause issues and nothing but added complexities and failures.

My input to your overall problems.

[zeroibis]

...really now? I use these to allow my case to split in half so it can be moved. My computer consists of two full tower cases put together and when the computer is moved it splits in half so each case fits behind a car seat. The design also lets me change parts easily due to only the components being in one case and all of the cooling system in the other. Then I have 1 flow meter on each loop to detect problems like my recent pump failure before something else goes wrong. In addition the connections for the QDs are in the WC tower to contain any spills related to them (looks like that was a good idea). Clearly my build is out of control!

The only 2 recent problems I have had was a pump that burned out (355s are known for this) and some QDs that failed (VL3N is known for this). There are plenty of people out there that have much more complex loops and do not see some big increase in random failure. Yes logically the more stuff you got the more can go wrong on the basis of pure chance but really I think if we are going to get caught up in that why are we WCing to begin with?

I think it is a bit crazy on these forums in particular to just assume that I got a bunch of random crap in my loop just for the sake of having it. Your right on one thing, all I do have is a simple WC loop (well 2 independent ones) pump->rad->QD->WB->FlowMeter->QD->Res

As for these "bazillion other complicated goodies" what if I did have some random crap in there just to see how it works, this is xtremesystems!?

In the end I do not think it wise to just blindly assume that someones loop has random crap in it when you know nothing about it.

http://www.ibisgaming.com/media/Doki_To_LOVE-Ru_Darkness_-_06_1280x720_Hi10P_AAC_FB6EBBC0.mkv_snapshot_10.57 _2012.12.03_12.52.26.jpg

[zeroibis]

Wanted to update that even though Koolance knows that there is a defect with their product they still refuse to fix it if it was past the initial warranty. So Koolance really did here was honor their existing warranty admit that their product was not made right and then :banana::banana::banana::banana: over everyone that was not carefully monitoring the internet to see if their fittings are going to fail in a few years after they open their system up.

So I assume the recommendation for the future is to just spam the :banana::banana::banana::banana: out of your connections and disconnections the first year so that you know if your product is good or not before the warranty expires.

I posted about their practices over on their forums as well (with better language) but who knows if they will approve the post.

Here are the pics:
http://www.ibisgaming.com/media/kl/S1380001.JPG
http://www.ibisgaming.com/media/kl/S1380002.JPG

I also want to add that given that I purchased my fittings at the beginning of Sept 2010 this means they were already past warranty when Koolance in this very thread admitted to a problem. So I guess I was :banana::banana::banana::banana:ed from the very beginning b/c even if I had been closely following the forums at that time I still would not have discovered the problem in time to do anything about it.