Possible for corroded nickel plated water block to deposit residue on other stuff?

[LinusTech]

Got some weird deposits on other components in the system. I opened up my CPU block and there is black build-up all over the copper inside which cannot be removed by scraping at it with a fingernail or a chopstick.

Anyone got any idea what will help? I am particularly concerned about my radiators (PA120.4 and Black Ice Pro II). Will CLR remove the build up? Any other clever ideas?

Linus

[NKrader]

its not the nickel.. thats what happens to copper with water.

use katsup

[LinusTech]

Tried scrubbing with a toothbrush after leaving the top half of the CPU block in brasso and the bottom half in ketchup. Both of these have very little effect, but SOME of it was removed. There would obviously be no hope of cleaning a radiator like this though.

Three minutes in is a good close up of what was going on with my EK block. As long as you're certain that none of this could have been carried around in the loop (been running for over a year - distilled water and primoflex LRT tubing) and deposited on something else, then I don't care about removing it as there's no real impact on performance with discoloration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL85cdRMJ60

I'm a little out of my element here as I've never run into any mixed metals issues before.

Linus

[NKrader]

Tried scrubbing with a toothbrush after leaving the top half of the CPU block in brasso and the bottom half in ketchup. Both of these have very little effect, but SOME of it was removed. There would obviously be no hope of cleaning a radiator like this though.

Three minutes in is a good close up of what was going on with my EK block. As long as you're certain that none of this could have been carried around in the loop (been running for over a year - distilled water and primoflex LRT tubing) and deposited on something else, then I don't care about removing it as there's no real impact on performance with discoloration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL85cdRMJ60

I'm a little out of my element here as I've never run into any mixed metals issues before.

Linus

let the katsup sit for a while then scrub rinse and repeat.

i had the same issues the first time i tore down my whole loop.

didnt realize you were linus. lol so its on the nickel. hmmmm unsure with this one, i will let somone else chime in "

[matari]

That resembles corrosion to me. All the EK blocks are have corrosion issues; there have been several complaints about the EN as well. I would double check the rest of your gear.

[LinusTech]

Yeah I'm not worried at all about the corrosion on the GTX 480 block. I will not be re-using it (already put the GTX 480 back on air cooling and threw out the block).

I'm just worried about whether or not the corrision on the EK can cause issues with my other blocks or radiators.

[paulbagz]

That resembles corrosion to me. All the EK blocks are have corrosion issues; there have been several complaints about the EN as well. I would double check the rest of your gear.

Don't take this in the wrong way but;

1) Not all Nickel blocks have had issues, you're implying a 100% failure rate.

2) Can you provide links to EN Nickel flaking as this is news to me?

-PB

[LinusTech]

I don't want to turn this into another debate thread about the merits of nickel plating or EK's products. I love EK products, and I love nickel plating and I will continue to use both.

I just want to know if this incident has damaged my other components.

[Martinm210]

The other parts are fine. I think you have a combination of things going on there not necessarily related to the EK block. The stuff on the acrylic is not corrosion though, could be biological or plasticizer or flux..or...

The little discoloration on the fins is probably a little nickel corrosion, but nothing to worry about if you are changing the block.

Copper and nickel are dissimilar metals in large surface quantites in direct metal to metal contact. Plating is also not perfect and stagnant water areas present good electrolyte conditions. I don't care what brand..the potential for corrosion is there with nickel plating.

Anyhow, I wouldn't worry about the rest of the loop regarding corrosion. Everything I have been reading on gavanic corrosion and cathodic protection says you need direct metal to metal contact. The rest of the loop is not in metal contact.

Give it a good flush and call it good..

[defect9]

I have no experience with EK blocks other than a single SB copper block in my previous loop, so this will not be about that, but...


I also had black buildup in my loop on my blocks (every single block, but not the tubing). Like you, I was using Primoflex LRT tubing with distilled. also a silver coil. I don't suppose you were using a CPU block that has a steel jet plate in it? Theres some speculation that steel jet plates are the reason HK3.0 blocks tend to develop very blackened loops.

None of the blackening affected my temps, though, so it wasn't something I really worried about. after a very long cleaning process I'm still using all the blocks I can in the current loop.

[Vinas]

There are a few ways of preventing galvanic corrosion.

One way is to electrically insulate the two metals from each other. Unless they are in electrical contact, there can be no galvanic couple set up. This can be done using plastic or another insulator to separate steel water pipes from copper-based fittings or by using a coat of grease to separate aluminium and steel parts, etc. Parts can be coated with nickle, made of plastic materials, or otherwise made of metal material internally coated or lined.

Another way is to keep the metals dry and/or shielded from ionic compounds (salts, acids, bases), for example by painting or encasing the protected metal in plastic or epoxy, and allowing them to dry. This would be similar to the older swiftech apogee blocks with the black plasticity lining.

Coating the two materials or if it is not possible to coat both, the coating shall be applied to the more noble, or the material with higher potential. This is necessary because if the coating is applied only on the more active material, in case of damage of the coating there will be a large cathode area and a very small anode area, and for the area effect the corrosion rate will be very high.

[SonDa5]

The indifference in metals problem seems normal. What doesn't seem normal is cheap rubber rings coming apart or melting into the heat sink. I think there are certain rubber rings that are of higher quality that maintain their form better.

[Polizei]

It's not so much that o-rings are cheap or not, it's what they're made of. Different materials are meant to be used with different fluids/gases. For example, viton and nitrile rubbers are used in different situations.

[CrazyNutz]

I don't want to turn this into another debate thread about the merits of nickel plating or EK's products. I love EK products, and I love nickel plating and I will continue to use both.

I just want to know if this incident has damaged my other components.

It does look similar to others that had nickel plating problems. Anyhow I think your other components will be fine. For your radiator just fill it with vinegar, and let it set for about 10 mins. Then hook up a hose and run hot water through it for a bit to flush anything out that the vinegar loosened up (including the vinegar). Would not be a bad idea to hook the hose up to the other barb and back flush it too.

[LinusTech]

Thanks for weighing in, everyone.

After much consideration I will be cleaning out the radiators as per my usual method and re-using them in my new build.

Just wasn't sure if the other hardware was safe to use.

[Kosmic71]

I'm no fan of tap water in my water cooling equipments. Use instead, boiling distilled water, flush a few times, you should be ok. GL.