MCP355 literally melted

[Wolf132]

Just thought I'd post some pics of my 5 year old MCP355 that melted. Pump has been used with a XSPC res top for over 5 years on 3 different builds so I cant really complain about it finally dying on me. So I got home on wednesday, booted up my computer, went downstairs to grab a glass of sweet tea, started to walk back up the stairs and it smelled like something was on fire. Then I noticed a haze in my room where my computer was from smoke but my computer was still running. Then all the sudden the temp warnings start flashing on my computer screen and I pretty much knew the pump just died. Luckily I was able to order another mcp355 from sidewinder before my computer crashed from overheating, lol. I literally had to pry the pump out of the case with a screwdriver because of the melted plastic. You can see on the bottom left of the picture where it melted all the way threw to the pcb. Crazy isnt it.

[Conumdrum]

How was the pump mounted? Did it use the sticky pad?

[Church]

Conumdrum: imho you missed '5 years' and also usage in several builds. To me it looks like some failure in electronics that rised up temps relative to normal work near end of life and melted up base. Otherwise signs of melting because of high temperature should be noticed on some other ocasion before, eg. when remounting in new build. Thus if that heavy heating/melting was not normal for it, no need to find other reasons and try to fix/improve what was sufficient for years and builds before.

[Stewie007]

Personally, I would take it apart and try to determine a cause. Normal wear and tear aside it still is a failure and I'd want to see if it was a frayed wire that caused an arc to another metal component, or if it was an overdraw that caused a burnout, etc.

*shrugs* Nothing like a bit of investigative fun.

[CrazyNutz]

Most likely a mosfet burn out.

May have lasted longer if it had a little air across the bottom.

[Wolf132]

It was mounted with the sticky pad unfortunately, which probably blocked the airflow from the 120mm exhaust fan mounted 3 inches behind it. I didnt use the sticky pad on the new pump so hopefully that should give it some airflow under the base. I'm just glad it didnt melt or crack my xspc res top and didn't leak any water from the base into my computer. That woulda probably ruined my PSU, fan controller, and who knows what else.

[Conumdrum]

Well it was old anyway. Glad nothing got ruined due to no water flow etc. Thanks for telling me how it was mounted.

[kolombo]

Yea.. , same old story,and another negative comment

[zeroibis]

Yea seams this occurs quite a bit with the 355s. Has anyone ever heard of a failure like this with a D5?

[CrazyNutz]

Yea seams this occurs quite a bit with the 355s. Has anyone ever heard of a failure like this with a D5?

I have not.

[Kenjiwing]

5 years for a pump is a pretty good run

[Sparky]

Yea seams this occurs quite a bit with the 355s. Has anyone ever heard of a failure like this with a D5?

First one I'm aware of that has literally melted down.

My 355 is just over 5 years old now, runs 24/7. No melty goo yet

*edit* oh, the MTBF on the 355 is 50,000 hours, which they say is "equivalent to 5 years" so that's about right I guess. Maybe I should consider replacing mine since it is technically at the end of its rated lifespan.

[zeroibis]

That is what was happening to mine but I turned it off before it melted as bad as yours.

[kolombo]

Timing pomp - the old new face of WC teror.