All not well in QDC land....

miahallen

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
138
After seeing a couple posts at OCN and Koolance own forums about Koolance Quick Disconnect leaking problems...I knew my experience was not isolated.
http://www.overclock.net/water-cool...ak-qdcs-leaking-everywhere.html?highlight=qdc
http://forums.koolance.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1724 (post #3)

I now have 10 males and 8 female QDC VL3N series quick disconnections used in various applications. The first set I bought about two years ago, the females are still working fine today. However, I recently bought a bunch of new sets, and the new female connectors have all failed. To be clear....the new connectors worked fine for the first few months over dozens of connect/disconnect operations. But now, the spring loaded mechanism meant close the valve in the female end no longer closes completely, allowing the connection to drip when disconnected (see the images below).

edit - I have verified the problem is not related to low loop pressure.

I suspect a minor change in manufacturing that is causing the long term failure of these parts. Tim [Koolance] eluded to a change in manufacturing tolerances last year (post #8).

If I am correct, Koolance should issue a recall on these parts. In the mean time, be sure to check your connections within the 1 year warranty period and get RMA replacements if yours connectors are showing similar problems. If you are already outside the warranty period, please be careful with your connectors when breaking your systems down to prevent leaking on your HW ;)

Here is a shot of my older QDC, both female fittings have been serving me well for about two years now.

good_QDC.jpg


Here is a shot of the newer QDC failing to seal properly....all of my newer female QDC fitting do this consistently now.

bad_QDC.jpg


Also, I need your comments please, let us know if you have older/newer QDC fittings, and whether or not you've seen similar issues.
 
Last edited:
Sorry to hear you're having this problem too (I'm the guy in your first link). Your second pic exactly describes my two female VL3Ns...I recognized it immediately after I got new VL4Ns and observed them working properly...for now.

Of course after this experience I didn't want to buy Koolance, but there seems to be no comparable alternative options for QDCs.
 
Only issue I've ever had with my Koolance vl3n fittings was a bad o-ring on a male part. I'm running four sets in my loop.
 
Sorry to hear you're having this problem too (I'm the guy in your first link). Your second pic exactly describes my two female VL3Ns...I recognized it immediately after I got new VL4Ns and observed them working properly...for now.

Of course after this experience I didn't want to buy Koolance, but there seems to be no comparable alternative options for QDCs.
BTW - I've created this thread at several locations ;)
http://forums.koolance.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2326
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...-land....-Koolance-QDC-manufacturing-problem-!
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=684482
http://www.overclock.net/water-cooling/1095438-all-not-well-qdc-land-koolance.html

Thanks for your input :cool:

Only issue I've ever had with my Koolance vl3n fittings was a bad o-ring on a male part. I'm running four sets in my loop.

I've also had this issue in the past, but that's a different discussion :)
 
got a couple sets of VL4N's and so far I have a slight problem with one, female I think.
 
Official reply from Koolance :D

[Koolance] Tim said:
We've found an issue after cutting open the bad fittings. The internal o-rings were a hair out of tolerance. This prevented the plunger from fully sealing when disconnected. Unfortunately, there's not a way to tell if a particular fitting is affected without disconnecting the male and female sides (a towel is recommended). Either the plunger surface won't sit flush with the inside, or if it's already installed, there could be continuous dripping.

We've screened our inventory and removed any other QDC's which exhibited the problem. Different styles of VL3N and VL4N fittings were affected, but the products aren't serialized so it's difficult to tell how recent the stock was.

If customers find they have VL3N or VL4N quick disconnects which leak when separated, please submit an RMA request (http://www.koolance.com/support/rma/). We'll need to know your part numbers, quantity, and invoice number/date. We'll take care of the shipping. If you've recently sent in QDC's for this problem, please contact our technical department (http://www.koolance.com/company/contact/) to obtain a refund on the original shipping and replacement fittings if needed.

We apologize for this issue and thank everyone for bringing it to our attention. O-rings are always a critical part and it's regrettable we didn't catch these when they arrived from our supplier.
 
Koolance has had some issues with Q/A, but have always had VERY good service when it comes to replacing goods with known defects.

I had a few fittings, made of nickel plated steel (that were supposed to be brass) - after identifying the issue, sending them a picture, I had a replacement the morning after.

So, YMMV guys.
 
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