Will this work

[Kanzy]

So I am finally done with a certain type of coolant in my new build. The so called blood red turns out to be orange in the end no matter how much dye I added into it. So I decide I need to switch back to good old EK blood red. I am thinking if I buy some distilled water and keep drain my res out and replace with water until no color is shown then start doing the same thing with EK coolant until all red. I am wondering will such method work? I know drain it would be the right way, but the water loop is super long (two 480 rad, three GPU +pump + res) and I am tired of moving things around too much, it weights like 80lbs in a corsair 900D. Any comments or tips? Thank you all

[Toolius]

Not recommended but will work
Just be careful with the whole draining and refill bit and you should be good to go.
Just make sure the pump is always fully primed at all times.. thats about it
Its not going to be perfectly clean like when you properly drain/clean but should do !

[GliderHR]

Hi,
I would recommend this:
Replace/drain the fluid first with normal water that is good enough. Because you need much of it. The color is in every corner.
If this is colorless, drain all water and fill it with distilled water, let it circle. Drain again and let it circle. Drain it and replace it with distilled water again. This should remove any minerals from normal water. Then you can add your next fluid/concentrate.

I hope I understood your question correct.

[Kanzy]

Hi,
I would recommend this:
Replace/drain the fluid first with normal water that is good enough. Because you need much of it. The color is in every corner.
If this is colorless, drain all water and fill it with distilled water, let it circle. Drain again and let it circle. Drain it and replace it with distilled water again. This should remove any minerals from normal water. Then you can add your next fluid/concentrate.

I hope I understood your question correct.

Thank you and yes you got my question perfectly, I don't mind distill water since they are relatively cheap from walmart or so. Just to make sure thou, for the last step, I just add my new ek coolant to the distill water until reach the color I want right? That's the only step I am not sure about. Gonna buy like 5 gallons of distilled water, lol

[Stealth42o]

Hi,
I would recommend this:
Replace/drain the fluid first with normal water that is good enough. Because you need much of it. The color is in every corner.

That. I ran my system under tap for days. Within a few weeks the color started to bleed back in (It was red, which was fitting).
Will take you a while to get it all out. Be patient!!!!

[GliderHR]

Thanks, using tap water with colorant could have some effects. Tap water is cleaned/disinfected with chlorine or ozone, both gases are strong bleachers. And sometimes you can taste minimal deposits of them.
Replacing the old color (since it was red) only with distilled water might be enough, since the new color is red too. With the tap water session I had in mind to remove the color completely. But in this case it might be more important to remove the solvent completely.
In any case, try to make the circuit empty before filling with the new fluid. Take care that the pump never runs dry.
Walmart (or any other) distilled water is not distilled. They are demineralized but not distilled. Distilled water (which has the name by right) is expensive (energy use and time to control). During my laboratory time I could make any distilled fluid. Distilled water together with distilled Isopropanol was used for cleaning vinyl records. But that’s of topic.

[Kanzy]

Great, since you worked in a lab, you might know this. I was not thinking when I said walmart as I totally forget that I have access to a University lab store, anyway, they sell HPLC certified organic-free distilled water, I am not a chemist thou, so I am wondering would this work, they are $12 for 4 gallons which I think that's plenty for my use. Please let me know. thank you again

Thanks, using tap water with colorant could have some effects. Tap water is cleaned/disinfected with chlorine or ozone, both gases are strong bleachers. And sometimes you can taste minimal deposits of them.
Replacing the old color (since it was red) only with distilled water might be enough, since the new color is red too. With the tap water session I had in mind to remove the color completely. But in this case it might be more important to remove the solvent completely.
In any case, try to make the circuit empty before filling with the new fluid. Take care that the pump never runs dry.
Walmart (or any other) distilled water is not distilled. They are demineralized but not distilled. Distilled water (which has the name by right) is expensive (energy use and time to control). During my laboratory time I could make any distilled fluid. Distilled water together with distilled Isopropanol was used for cleaning vinyl records. But that’s of topic.

[GliderHR]

HPLC certified Water is near to distilled and better than what is offered in stores. This should work. But try to remove the old fluid as complete as possible.
I didn't tell you how old I'm, but laboratory time is now 25 years ago/away.