Monsoon Free Center Compression Fittings

[BoxGods]

Any PICS?

The Premium Fittings for Hardline look just like their soft tube counterparts--they are modular in fact so the compression rings are identical--only the inner/barb part is changed. We are selling conversion kits for those that already have any of our premium fittings for soft tube and want to switch them over--about half the cost of buying new fittings. For those not familiar with what the Free Center, Chain Gun, and Carbon fittings look like I am including some pictures below--the barbed fittings in the pictures are for soft tube and show off our new antimicrobial silver. They also show our new push in type economy fitting for Hardline.

All of the new Hardline fittings still match all 10 of our Monsoon color finishes as well.

[BoxGods]

Performance got their order in to us today so they should have Hardline products in by Monday--including more tool kits.

[BoxGods]

Another update--OCUK/Case King has ordered so the UK/Europe should have Hardline parts in a few weeks. Woot!

[WiSK]

w00t

[Utnorris]

Holy batman!! PPCS has them up and they look friggin sweet as hell!!!!!!!!!!

[BoxGods]

Whew...back from 17 days and just over 16,000 miles of travel in China. Staggered in the door, fast shower, then slept for like 30 hours. Slowly wading through my email box and getting back up to speed. Would be easier if the wife and I were not both sick as dogs. One of the joys of spending 11+ hours in an enclosed space with 350 other tired people I suppose.

[Utnorris]

Glad to hear you had fun. Sorry to hear your sick. Get some rest and catch up later.

[SylarPowers]

I'm getting these for hardlines.

[SylarPowers]

I can't find any Carbon Hardline's for sale. Are they not as popular?

[BoxGods]

Performance has them. If your not finding them on their site just email Hank and he will get you squared away.

[darkage]

hi boxgods
i just received one 6pack black chrome fittings that are black chrome inside (inner barb) and outside (compression ring) and as i needed 8 fittings i ordered two more, and the two i received are black chrome outside (compression ring) and silver chromed inside (inner barb), please let me know if now your fittings are like this or the shop sent me something diferent
thanks for your help

[BoxGods]

hi boxgods
i just received one 6pack black chrome fittings that are black chrome inside (inner barb) and outside (compression ring) and as i needed 8 fittings i ordered two more, and the two i received are black chrome outside (compression ring) and silver chromed inside (inner barb), please let me know if now your fittings are like this or the shop sent me something diferent
thanks for your help

We recently switched all of our barbs over to antimicrobial silver so not a mistake by your reseller...except maybe for not updating their pictures =)

[darkage]

ok
thanks for your help

[Bill Owen]

The Mod Zoo Captain CS and Mosquito share overview of Monsoon's new Economy hardline fittings and steps in gluing the optional collar on Monsoon's "Free center" fittings. Thanks for sharing your products with these guys, Geno

[lowfat]

We recently switched all of our barbs over to antimicrobial silver so not a mistake by your reseller...except maybe for not updating their pictures =)

I think this may be a mistake. If someone was using all copper in their loop it would not be a problem. However most people use nickel plated blocks. Nickel and silver have a .1 separation on the galvanic chart, which will likely cause issues for the nickel. Especially since the silver is in direct contact to the nickel. EK and Koolance both advise against using silver in their loops. I am pretty sure doing so voids warranty. Something to consider. Especially since many watercoolers on other forums are expressing the same concern.

[BoxGods]

Ah the Chart!

The fittings are for builders looking for maximum performance using Distilled or Deionized water which is non conductive. No fluid cools better then pure water period. It is also a buck a gallon at your local super market. The "chart" is great but it looks at mixed metals in a marine environment over long term installations--20 to 30 years--ships and oil rigs in salt water which is highly conductive. The electrical conductivity of silver also drops off rapidly as it tarnishes, (this has no effect on it's antimicrobial properties). A common sense example of this is high end gold plated audio cables--if silver is the most electrically conductive metal and is $20 an ounce why is gold used at $1,200 an ounce? Because silver tarnishes very rapidly and it's electrical conductivity eventually gets worse then copper--which is about $3 a pound or $0.20 an ounce. Try and find high end silver plated A/V cables.

Another common sense or logical thought example where the chart is concerned are the many different "limited edition" gold plated blocks that have been sold over the last 10-12 years. My memory is not great but I can think of several off hand--Koolance, Swiftech, Danger Den, etc. Not sure if EK has ever done a gold plated block but I would not be surprised. If guys had been paying North of $100 for a gold plated block and it had caused corrosion problems there would be people ranting and posting horrible corrosion pictures all over the place.

If your worried about it run distilled or deionized water, (again the most efficient cooling fluid there is and the builders these fittings are aimed at). If your still worried about it use a little plumbers Teflon tape on the barb threads.

[Kayin]

He's right about silver passivating after enough tarnish has built up, and that it's fast to boot. The only spots that I see using silver plated copper is in an oxygen-free environment. I've watched my own Economy fittings turn dark within a day or two of opening. I've been trying to encourage it. With your loops running IDC, you won't have any issues, lowfat.

I'm around a lot less, but I still drop in where there needs a bit of materials science. I spend more time running over stuff or shooting it from my wheelchair these days, but I still haven't given up on PCs.

You reminded me I need a metric ass-ton of stop fittings. Got to go total that up, it won't be pretty.

[BoxGods]

Metric ass-ton. I think I need that printed on a T shirt. Seriously.

[NKrader]

I think this may be a mistake. If someone was using all copper in their loop it would not be a problem. However most people use nickel plated blocks. Nickel and silver have a .1 separation on the galvanic chart, which will likely cause issues for the nickel. Especially since the silver is in direct contact to the nickel. EK and Koolance both advise against using silver in their loops. I am pretty sure doing so voids warranty. Something to consider. Especially since many watercoolers on other forums are expressing the same concern.

i never had an issue with running silver with nickel blocks.. thats more ek snake oil lies i ran two silver coils in my old loop with only nickel blocks with the silver right on the inlet of the mobo block and cpu block and nothing ever happened.

[BoxGods]

I can't comment on the snake oil part obviously but I have been running silver for at least 10 years...I think anyone who mods and water cools long enough seems to end up running DI and silver.

[lowfat]

Yes distilled water is non conductive, however it will quickly ionize in a water loop. So the galvanic chart shouldnt be dismissed so quickly.

I have been watercooling for 10 years. I have used a biocide on one out of the 20-30 builds I have done in that time. I have never once had growth. The one build where I used a biocide just also happened to have corrosion issues.

Since almost all blocks these days are nickel plated, most people are worried about corrosion a lot more than growth. It has been a huge problem in the past, while biological growth has not been. I am not posting here to start an argument but to inform you that silver isn't something most people want in their loops these days. Over on OCN, which has a significantly larger number of watercoolers than here, most people are not happy with your decision to provide only silver plated fittings. Recently it was found out that Jab tech had the old stock of the fittings, and people bought them up like crazy.

[Kayin]

The only cases I know of full on nickel corrosion/deplating happened with very poor quality plating. I got hit with it, after all. And the mode of failure wasn't the nickel itself-the copper was corroded under my nickel, suggesting that pinholes in the plating were to blame for the effect. Around here, even with RO or DI if your loop even is in the same room with sunlight you're gonna grow stuff. I always used potassium permanganate until I switched to silver-and I even ran nickel blocks with a silver-based nanofluid. I do not dispute the placement of nickel vs silver, that's basic physics, but I'm wondering if with the average lifetime of one of our loops that it's not long enough to make as much a difference.

lowfat, I think you're still right to be concerned. I don't have test parts or any of that any more, nor will I be reacquiring anything, so I won't be guinea pigging this one. I think the only way to prove it is a torture test, and I'm unclear as to how to set that up here. While I'm not sure it would be a problem, there is still the worrying fact of the galvanic series placement of those two metals. Only time will tell if it stays OK.

As far as for me, I wish there were slots in the bottom half of the economy fittings for a wrench instead of a hex in the inlet of the barb. Every bit of flow counts sometimes.

[NKrader]

The only cases I know of full on nickel corrosion/deplating happened with very poor quality plating. I got hit with it, after all. And the mode of failure wasn't the nickel itself-the copper was corroded under my nickel, suggesting that pinholes in the plating were to blame for the effect. Around here, even with RO or DI if your loop even is in the same room with sunlight you're gonna grow stuff. I always used potassium permanganate until I switched to silver-and I even ran nickel blocks with a silver-based nanofluid. I do not dispute the placement of nickel vs silver, that's basic physics, but I'm wondering if with the average lifetime of one of our loops that it's not long enough to make as much a difference.

lowfat, I think you're still right to be concerned. I don't have test parts or any of that any more, nor will I be reacquiring anything, so I won't be guinea pigging this one. I think the only way to prove it is a torture test, and I'm unclear as to how to set that up here. While I'm not sure it would be a problem, there is still the worrying fact of the galvanic series placement of those two metals. Only time will tell if it stays OK.

As far as for me, I wish there were slots in the bottom half of the economy fittings for a wrench instead of a hex in the inlet of the barb. Every bit of flow counts sometimes.

yep, ek pushing false facts to place the blame on somone else other than themselfs, the same way they did with the tube res's and multipule other occations.

but to each their own. i understand being careful about some things that others think are silly I do it all the time in other areas of my life LOL

[lowfat]

Thin nickel plating is most definitely one of the causes of the nickel flaking off. But block manufacturers are not going to go and do thicker coatings as that will translate in to significantly higher costs to customers.

Even if silver is not to blame, consumers think it is. Unless someone can give hard facts that silver fittings will work long term without ill affect to their blocks people will avoid them.

[Kayin]

Thin plating that is consistent would be enough, but sometimes that's too much to ask. This is still the crux of that matter-silver shouldn't create as big an issue if the plating is whole. Until we have block manufacturers that take these platings more seriously, we will keep having issues like this. I'd be pushing for gold-plated blocks. They should be the most resistant to everything, and properly done mixing metals wouldn't be an issue-not that I'd condone it, just that it's an example of what benefit it would bring.

I don't see any reason to skip silver-plated fittings. They're not the issue really, silver has been scapegoated here. The issue is the fact that we still get substandard plating after all these years. I've been using water for the entire working life of Danger Den-I remember the days before G1/4 was standard, before blocks had removable tops, when we all used heater cores. In some ways we've come a long way (such as fittings) and some we're still kinda in the stone age (materials science and plating.)