Warning !!! Don't Buy Aluminium Waterblocks

[ranker]

Sorry guys, but Im gonna have to be controversial and disagree with the non use of AL blocks

Infact AL has a "natural" resistance to water:
"aluminum is immersed in pure water, it will form a white hydroxide film, which remains more or less constant in thickness"

From the above pics, there are lots of reasons that this can occur,mixed materials, had a pump that had way too much pressure, water that had a low Ph (acidic) but it was probably because it didnt have any glycol in.

As long as your not careless and look after your loop this wont happen.


For those interested in the a bit of chemistry and al corrosion and my source please see:
http://lytron.com/support/anti_corrosive.htm

However this thread is a good warning for those with AL block to stick a nice amount of anti-freeze (Normally a nice source of ethylene glycol)

In fact Marci..if your around (being a great source of all water cooling knowledge in the uk ) how do you find al? and would you agree/disagree with anything I have said?


*Im pretty sure that ONLY water in an AL loop will do more damage than good you need good anti freeze with glycol and anti corrosion ingredients and you will have trouble free operation with an AL loop

How about adhering to industry practices in general and not using it altogether so that there's less work/planning to be involved on the consumer side. Not to mention, Copper dissipates heat better. The use of ALU is shoddy craftsmanship and design.

By forcing us to use additives, we lower the theoretical amount of heat that can be dissipated instead of having gone a 100% solution of distilled water.

By making excuses for companies, we just shoot ourselves in the foot.