First-time watercooling questions

[JudgmentJay]

Here are the pics: Most of the stuff is in pic 1... pic 2 is the other side of the case and only has the second radiator in the loop.

[PiLsY]

T piece on the 2nd top rad outlet to bleed from and tip the case on its back. Power cycle the pump to bleed it. Thatll bleed in no time on its back that way, its just the low res when tilted thats stopping you at the moment.

Nice neat job .

[JudgmentJay]

Well, I got the loop rebuilt, and it's fully bled and I don't see any leaks; however, I do hear something. Sort of like air bubbles/fizzing or air escaping a tight space and creating bubbles. I've checked a dozen times, looked, poked and prodded and I see no leaks. I even pushed paper towels back into areas that I could not reach with my hand to check for wet spots, but I found nothing. The sound comes and goes... if it were a leak wouldn't it be constant? Could it just be air bubbles traveling through the water blocks?


EDIT: Woke up this morning and the sound is gone. No noise at all coming from the loop. I'm surprised at how quiet the 35X2 pump is at max RPM.

[JudgmentJay]

I have to say... this was a pain in the ass, but it was worth it. I've got my 3930k at 4.8ghz and temps don't go above 60c during Prime95. GPUs max out at 41c with a modest overclock of +100/+300. This is with both the pump and fans running at fairly low RPMs, making the PC very quiet. I'm quite pleased.

Thanks everyone for your help, especially PiLsY for answering my numerous questions via PM.

[PiLsY]

No problem at all, nice build and the loop is running great with those temps

[JudgmentJay]

Necroing my thread to post about two concerns I have. First, this loop has been running almost 24/7 since I built it and in the past few days it's started misbehaving slightly. About once an hour or so I'll hear some gurgling and when I look there are a significant number of large air bubbles coming into the reservoir. It happens for about 15 seconds then it's gone and back to smooth operation. My pumps are at a fixed speed so there should be no major variations in RPM, though I do see ~200 RPM difference between min and max using a hardware monitor. Water level in the reservoir has decreased by about an inch over the past 7 months. Does it just need to be re-bled/refilled?

Secondly, I seem to have some buildup of something inside the reservoir above the water line. Little white flakes. I'm thinking it's plastic deterioration from the PrimoFlex tubing. Should I be concerned about this?

Temps are still great and are just as cool as day 1, but the gurgling/bubbles has me worried.

[davidkozat]

That case is MASSIVE, you got enough space for 4 radiators...

[rge]

Do you have EK nickel plating, as others have had issues with it flaking off and having those flakes visible in coolant.

As for the bubbles, not an issue, just refill the reservoir. Also tilt the case a little to try to bleed any remaining air from radiators, sounds like you had a few large bubbles still trapped in rads. Also, it is normal to lose about an inch or so a year from losing fluid through the tubing. Also double check your fittings to make sure they are on tight, as a loose one will increase loss of fluid for air.

A good way to see how much air you have is turn your computer on, then off, and watch level of fluid in reservoir. Air is compressible by our pumps, liquid is not. So any decrease in fluid level, tells you air is still present. If you can get it so the level only decrease a couple millimeters, then you loop is well bled.

And wow, really nice case/build!

[JudgmentJay]

Thanks. Yeah, I have the Acetal+EN version of all the blocks. I thought that this version was supposed to eliminate the flaking? I guess I was wrong. That said it's a pretty small amount. Should I be worried?

[musicfan]

I would (and do) follow rge's advice. But if you have gone 6 months now, many of us drain and refill coolant at that time with a full tear-down at one year. If you drain your loop, the plasticizer will dissolve in your fingers. When it dries, it crumbles to dust. Metal won't do that so you will likely be able to diagnose what your flakes are by examining them after you drain them out.

Plasticizer from the tubing may smear the reservoir and my chunks were usually colored even with clear tubing (Tygon 3603 was blue for example and MasterKleer was brown). You know what metal (Nickel flake) feels and looks like. If metal, then you need to inspect your Nickel-plated blocks and find the source. Nickel-flaking of the block while under warranty is usually honored by the block manufacturer so early diagnosis is helpful.

Some would suggest you inspect the Nickel block after seeing any flaking of any type because of the history of Nickel-plated blocks. I don't disagree but it is a hassle to remove a full-cover and it could be plasticizer only. My opinion is drain the coolant, collect it in a glass bowl, and let it sit out. After the water evaporates a bit, it gets easier to diagnose plasticizer. If there is no reflective material and it all crumbles in your fingers, then you may be OK. But if any doubt, check each block.

Google "plasticizer" or "EK Nickel" for mountains of information with pictures. Congratulations on a beautiful build in a gorgeous case. The above is just my experience/opinion. Good luck.

[JudgmentJay]

Thanks musicfan. It doesn't look like metal flakes to me. Here's a picture:

[rge]

yep, doesnt look like metal, looks like plasticizer. just a cosmetic issue.