Hose Clamps

[TooCool]

New to water cooling and was wondering what is the best type of hose clamps?

What are the pros and cons of plastic & metal ones?

Any help would be much appreciated.

[RObErT_RaTh]

Good idea to check the stickies first ;) And welcome to the forums :D

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=54331&page=1


8. Hose Clamps and Various Hardware
There are three things you can employ for hose clamps. The first are the plastic clamps that come in various colors that you can get at many different watercooling supply shops. The second being the metal worm drive clamps used in a lot of plumbing equipment, and the 3rd option is basic zip ties… all of these options work well. Myself, I use a mix of zip ties and plastic hose clamps. If you really want things secure the zip ties do seal the system better than the plastic ones. Not having used the metal worm drive clamps I cannot attest first hand to their usefulness, but I have gotten very good reports on their clamping abilities from all who have used them.

With that out of the way, I must stress that it is necessary to ALWAYS use hose clamps in your watercooling loop, or you will almost guaranteed get leaks at some point in the system.

[Nubius]

I used zip ties in the past but this last time I had a small leak, (luckily it was during leak testing so the system wasn't on :) ) however I do believe that was from reusing the tubing so the ends were already stretched a bit.....buuut this time I went ahead and used normal plumbing hose clamps

http://putfile.com/pic.php?pic=9/25117374143.jpg&s=x4

You can see them on my T-line there...no I KNOW I've got a secure seal lol so I'm really a lot more confident about carrying my case to LANs and simply knowing that it wont leak. That's just me though

[moonlightcheese]

i used a mix... as a rule i use zip ties on poly (plastic) barbs and metal worm drive clamps on metal barbs. fareastgq uses those other metal hose clamps. i'm not sure what they're called, but they seem like a nice option as well.

[[KoG]^weaZel]

just be careful with the metal wormdrive parts though. I will have to get a picture to be able to explain it better. But there is a piece of the clamp right under the wormdrive that if it sticks down can cut the tubing and cause a small leak. I found this out after the system passed the leak test and was on to running memtest86+. It passed all of that but when I went to move the case I noticed some fluid in the bottom of the case. I dont think it damaged any parts but I changed out the motherboards just in case. The video cards survived with minor cleaning.

[skycrane]

i use the plastic ones from DD and have not had a problem with them for over a year....i cinch them down by hand then take a pair of pliers and go 1 or 2 notches farther.

i have not used the metal wormdrives, but they will give you the most clamping force of any others out there, just be careful not to tighten them down to much or you will risk breaking the plastic barbs...