What additives should I use with distilled water?

[Kozato]

I have decidede to switch to colored tubings. (Primochill LRT PRO)

But I just don't know what I should add to the distilled water that I intend to fill the loop with. Can you guys advise me? Thanks in advance.

1. Alphacool Water Additive WaterWetter 20ml SuperCoolant
2. Feser Base - Corrosion Blocker 50 mL
3. Petra'sTech PT_Nuke -PHN Concentrated Biocide (10mL)

P.S. I can only order items from SWC and PPC, so the silver kill coils is out of the list. Shipping from USA to Singapore is very very expensive.

[kinghong1970]

Petras Tech PT Nuke

if you want to do silver coil, try to find a silver source from your area...

[SoulsCollective]

Could you give us some more loop details? Some comments on the above -

• Corrosion inhibitors are a pain to work with and are unnecessary unless you're mixing metals - which you never should. As they're chemical compounds, they break down and lose effectiveness over time, leaving your loop clogged with crud and requiring a coolant change, waterblock scrub and often new tubes.
• Water-wetter and the like will not actually do anything for you, unless you're running chilled liquid and intend to get sub-ambient temps. If you're just running regular WC, they'll offer no benefit and can actually hurt temps.
• PT Nuke, Swiftech HyrdX, etc etc are all biocides (HydrX is also a corrosion inhibitor), needed to prevent gunk growing in your loop. With opaque tubing, the risk of this is extremely small, but worth guarding against. You can get the same effect with silver, as you recognise above, without discolouring your blocks, tubing and coolant (although if you want coloured fluid as well as coloured tubes, this could be a good thing).

[Kozato]

I am intending to run the follow setup:

Heatkiller 3.0 LC for LGA775
DangerDen 4870x2 block
EK NB/SB5
Laing D5
Swiftech MCR320
Primochill LRT PRO Green

So basically the whole would be copper. I would also like to get a Silver Kill Coil but the shipping is what that kills me.

[Manicdan]

i just use a bit of anti-freeze, but i also have red food coloring and its a pretty deep red, but no gunk build up, no corrosion, no problems so far, and super cheap.

someone flame me if im doing something wrong, sofar i dont think i am.

[Blizzy]

Nothing but silver.

[Kibbler]

ChilledPC UK also has silver coils (I think not made by iandh though) and shipping is cheaper than say Petras.

Kozato: Mind if I ask where are you buying distilled from in Singapore?

[SoulsCollective]

i just use a bit of anti-freeze, but i also have red food coloring and its a pretty deep red, but no gunk build up, no corrosion, no problems so far, and super cheap.

someone flame me if im doing something wrong, sofar i dont think i am.

flame flame flame, flame flame, flame. flame flame flame.

In all seriousness, why anti-freeze? Does your coolant seriously get cold enough that you need it?

Some food dye is OK. All dyes will settle out over time if left still, but as your coolant is continuously being agitated providing you didn't use too much you shouldn't have too many problems.

[fallwind]

Primochill Pro LRT is anti-microbial already, you don't need anything but distilled water. http://www.primochill.com/primoflex-...3-4in-od-.html But if you must, some silver wouldn't hurt.

[Nanometer]

nothing but silver.. just have a clean setup and change the water about every 6 months, worked for me for years

[Kozato]

ChilledPC UK also has silver coils (I think not made by iandh though) and shipping is cheaper than say Petras.

Kozato: Mind if I ask where are you buying distilled from in Singapore?

I am buying distilled water from my school's optemetry lab. They sell laboratory grade 100% distilled water.

To all the guys:

I know pure silver is the way to get, but like I said just shipping the Silver kill coils alone from PTS will kill me. Unless you are expecting me to buy a sterling silver ring or bracelet from Perlin's Silver and dump it in my loop.

And I remembered in someone's thread that the Primochill Pro LRT tubings anti-microbial properties are not transferred to the coolant, so you would still need to add in anti-microbial additives yourself.

[millertime359]

Primochill Pro LRT is anti-microbial already, you don't need anything but distilled water. http://www.primochill.com/primoflex-...3-4in-od-.html But if you must, some silver wouldn't hurt.

Thought I saw somewhere Primochill even recommends you use an additive with the tube. The anti-microbial was only to keep algae from growing on the tube, but didn't do anything to keep it from growing in blocks or res.

I didn't see it on the site and forget where I saw it though

[Baleful]

Find a local source for the silver, then make your own coils. Much cheaper than paying a premium price for someone to do the same thing.

[Conumdrum]

flame flame flame, flame flame, flame. flame flame flame.

In all seriousness, why anti-freeze? Does your coolant seriously get cold enough that you need it?

Some food dye is OK. All dyes will settle out over time if left still, but as your coolant is continuously being agitated providing you didn't use too much you shouldn't have too many problems.

+1 Agreed, you don't need sntifreeze. food dye, sure, it's pretty and not my rig.

[Manicdan]

flame flame flame, flame flame, flame. flame flame flame.

In all seriousness, why anti-freeze? Does your coolant seriously get cold enough that you need it?

Some food dye is OK. All dyes will settle out over time if left still, but as your coolant is continuously being agitated providing you didn't use too much you shouldn't have too many problems.

+1 Agreed, you don't need sntifreeze. food dye, sure, it's pretty and not my rig.

i use antifreeze to keep the water from turning bad, id figure if thats the only thing going into car water cooling systems, its probably good for preventing almost anything. and i use only a tiny amount, just a few spoonfuls.

for the dye i think i used half a teaspoon, so like 10-20 drops.

i use to use water wetter, but that crap was an utter waste, ugle color, left a residue/film on the tubes, foamed up badly when the pump got a little air so it was a pain to bleed. and lastly it eats away at any kind of glue.

and ive never felt the need to buy anything special for +10$, when this cost me less than 20 cents

by "flame me if im wrong" i was asking if im not preventing something that can go bad. im not worried about trying to get an extra half a degree in lower temps, or non conductivity or any other weird crap. i just wanted a cheap way to keep the bad things from happening.

[SoulsCollective]

Oh, I can completely understand not wanting to spend money on things.

If you're not running mixed metals, you aren't going to get corrosion. So no need for anything to help reduce that. If you need a biocide, ordinary household bleach will do just fine, just as well as anything you'd buy from an etailer. The best solution for temps is actually the best solution for avoiding "bad things" - smart component choice, followed by plain old distilled with just a smattering of something cheap as a biocide.

[YMAA]

I am buying distilled water from my school's optemetry lab. They sell laboratory grade 100% distilled water.

That's great, but it won't stay 100% pure forever. The less contaminated something is, the quicker it will become contaminated - it's unavoidable, which is why it makes no sense to buy more expensive water because it's more pure. Grocery store distilled water is the way to go unless your school is the cheapest source.

To all the guys:

I know pure silver is the way to get, but like I said just shipping the Silver kill coils alone from PTS will kill me. Unless you are expecting me to buy a sterling silver ring or bracelet from Perlin's Silver and dump it in my loop.

Check eBay for old jewelry or other small pieces of .999 silver, you can often get it very cheap there. People like the Killcoil because of the shape and because they can support iandh, the awesome guy who makes them.

And I remembered in someone's thread that the Primochill Pro LRT tubings anti-microbial properties are not transferred to the coolant, so you would still need to add in anti-microbial additives yourself.

Water picks up the anti-microbial additives in the tubing, and becomes anti-microbial itself. Not a bad idea to use another additive even if you are running LRT, just because we don't know the concentration of additives in the tubing. There might be enough in the tubing to fully protect the water, or there might not be. AFAIK nobody has released that information.

[Holst]

Ive run my systems for long periods without any additive at all.

I left my main system for 2 years with the water in it and only recently cleaned it out and there was nothing alive in the water.

The blocks had oxidised a bit but some tomato source fixed that and they are nice and shiny again.

Unless you have a problem with things growing in your water I dont think you need any additive, but a bit of silver in the system is so easy that you might as well do that.

[John Planet]

i use antifreeze to keep the water from turning bad, id figure if thats the only thing going into car water cooling systems, its probably good for preventing almost anything. and i use only a tiny amount, just a few spoonfuls.

I'm not a car person, but isn't a car's coolant system self-sterilizing due to very warm operational temps? Even if antifreeze does work as a biocide in a water cooling loop it likely does so "by accident", meaning not by design, and contains chemicals that aren't useful at all and quite toxic.

[millertime359]

I'm not a car person, but isn't a car's coolant system self-sterilizing due to very warm operational temps? Even if antifreeze does work as a biocide in a water cooling loop it likely does so "by accident", meaning not by design, and contains chemicals that aren't useful at all and quite toxic.

Antifreeze does a few main things. It helps with corrosion from the mixed metals in a cars cooling system.

It's main function though is to lower the freezing point and raise the boiling point of water. People have been known to use pure water in muscle cars when they are in a warm climate and don't drive the car in traffic or long distances.

[John Planet]

Thanks for the breakdown, mt.

[zeropluszero]

theres no "minimum" amount of silver is there, because people are just using 1 killcoil per loop and thats fine right?
i'm just planning to use bitspower true silver compressions, two per loop on my radiator, with supermarket distilled.

[eth0s]

(HydrX is also a corrosion inhibitor)[/list]

Swiftech Hydrx is just green antifreeze. (I feel like Charleton Heston in that movie: "Soylent Green is people!")

Automotive "anti-freeze" is designed to do just what its name implies, it is designed to prevent the coolant in your car from freezing in cold temperatures, and it is also a corrosion inhibitor. You don't need antifreeze in your loop, unless you are mixing aluminum and copper, or if you have a chiller getting your coolant below 0C. If you are mixing aluminum (or "aluminium" if you are British), and copper (or "copperinium" if you are British), then I suggest 50/50 antifreeze and distilled water, it will hurt your temps, but it will give you the best anti-corrosion defense you can get, although in the end you will get some galvanic corrosion anyway.

All you need is distilled water and a biocide. Petra's PT nuke is relatively cheap and quite effective (if used properly -- don't use too much). Or get a silver kill coil, they seem to work, or go DIY and just get some .9999% pure silver and put it in your loop. You can also use it to kill werewolves. I don't know if that's a problem in your area, but around here, it's getting pretty bad, damned lycanthropes.

[Kozato]

Thanks guys. I will just grab a couple of PT nuke off SWC then.

[snowwie]

I doubt biocides are even necessary. If your components are properly clean (read: radiator is almost always dirty from the factory), distilled water has always been just fine for me. My last system consisted of two swiftech blocks (mcw60 and apogee), swiftech 220 rad, swiftech 355 pump, rubbermaid reservoir, and tygon 2275 hose, all open, right next to a window, exposed to all kind of UV and dust (1 in diameter hole in res left open to keep equal pressure), all for 2.5 straight years. Filled it with walmart distilled on day one, added a drop or two as water evaporated, when I had to drain it (moved apts) was clear as day one I could have drank it.