Anyone have experience with Koolance QDC's?

Zarathustra[H]

Extremely [H]
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Oct 29, 2000
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Hey all,

I'm replumbing my rig, and since the 1000D is back breakingly heavy when all filled up, I was considerign putting in some QDC's to make swapping components in the future easier.

Does anyone have any experience with the black Koolance QD3 male/female QDC's?

Amazon reviews are mostly positive, but there are a couple of reviews hat mention catastrophic leaks.

Needless to say, I'd like to avoid that.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Much obliged,
Z
 
I'm using a few sets now on my MO-RA setup.

They seem to be extremely well built, with a nice solid positive lock and retention. They release a very tiny drop of coolant on disconnection, so little that it just stays on the inside surface.

Can recommend. I'm even willing to wager that the "catastrophic leaks" can reasonably be chalked up to user error.
 
I'm using a few sets now on my MO-RA setup.

They seem to be extremely well built, with a nice solid positive lock and retention. They release a very tiny drop of coolant on disconnection, so little that it just stays on the inside surface.

Can recommend. I'm even willing to wager that the "catastrophic leaks" can reasonably be chalked up to user error.

Appreciate the feedback.

My back will thank you when it comes time to (hopefully not) lift the 1000D again.
 
All mine are Koolance. Probably have 20 of them... Line up and click the lock with a gentle pull straight back and they work. I have had a couple of these over years that have gotten coolant in them then dried out in the cavity and the plunger will not come out right. Had I cleaned those up, probably never a problem, and keep in mind I used these ALL the time doing testing then they could sit for months before being used again. Just make sure they fitting is dry when you plug it in quickly. This probably goes for every QDC on the market. I used to sell industrial fittings for a living and these are well built...overbuilt.
 
All mine are Koolance. Probably have 20 of them... Line up and click the lock with a gentle pull straight back and they work. I have had a couple of these over years that have gotten coolant in them then dried out in the cavity and the plunger will not come out right. Had I cleaned those up, probably never a problem, and keep in mind I used these ALL the time doing testing then they could sit for months before being used again. Just make sure they fitting is dry when you plug it in quickly. This probably goes for every QDC on the market. I used to sell industrial fittings for a living and these are well built...overbuilt.

I own and use these across 4 different computers and have been using these for years. This allows me to easily swap parts down the stack from myself to the wife, the kids, and finally to the the Media Center PC when I upgrade. I generally like and recommend them. That being said I have had exactly 3 problems with these fittings over the years, 2 of which are recurring minor annoyances and the third is a catastrophic result of my own stupidity.

1) Sometimes the female end will stick open when unpaired after they have been in use for a long while. A tap or two to the side with a screwdriver will generally take care of the "stuck open" problem. This is using Koolance fluid. I asked about this once in the forums here and I am apparently the only one that has this experience - Kyle said that he greases the o-rings when he first gets his, but I am not sure how to go about that. Honestly it's never been a serious issue for me since I am aware it can happen and so hold the hose appropriately when releasing so that it won't leak if decides to stick open. Also, it generally only happens when the coolant is warm from recent use.

2) The other recurring problem I run into is that sometimes the rubber ring on the female fitting swells a little, and that can cause it to not close all the way when unpaired. It doesn't leak or anything, but you have to pull the release ring back a bit while pushing the male end in to it to get it to pair again when it is like this.

3) I have had 3 pairs of these fittings completely fail in one computer. One female had the center plug part break out of the fitting entirely - the other two pairs were almost impossible to unpair, and after wrestling them apart, were definitely impossible to re-pair. To be clear, this was not the fault of the fittings - I tried the Primochill Vue stuff in this build and it absolutely destroyed them. The suspension in that fluid fails over time, and when it does, it comes out like some sort of greasy white gunky buildup. It honestly looked like cholesterol in my tubing! When that happened, I decided to clean the loop out and go back to my tried-and-true (and problem-free) Koolance coolant. The blocks and radiator were OK, but I had to completely disassemble the blocks and scrub the shit out of them, and I flushed the radiators with Mayhems radiator cleaner followed by gallons of water before they were returned to service. My Primochill Vue experience was costly in terms of both money ('cuz these fittings are NOT cheap) and time. I learned my lesson :)
 
All mine are Koolance. Probably have 20 of them... Line up and click the lock with a gentle pull straight back and they work. I have had a couple of these over years that have gotten coolant in them then dried out in the cavity and the plunger will not come out right. Had I cleaned those up, probably never a problem, and keep in mind I used these ALL the time doing testing then they could sit for months before being used again. Just make sure they fitting is dry when you plug it in quickly. This probably goes for every QDC on the market. I used to sell industrial fittings for a living and these are well built...overbuilt.

Thank you sir. Appreciate it.

How do you grease the o-ring? A little bit of vaseline?
 
Well, that's a shame.

I don't think I'm going to be able to make the QDC between the pump and the GPU fit :(
PXL_20201124_222243429.jpg
 
I bought the QDC's with the G1/4 attachments on the back because nowhere had three of the compression fitting ones in stock, and I'm still not clear if they are for hard tube or soft tube, so I had to use a female to female adapter and attach my compression fitting for a very short run of tube.

I wonder if I get one of the QDC's with the built in 3/8" ID 1/2" OD if the overall length will be shorter....
 
I bought the QDC's with the G1/4 attachments on the back because nowhere had three of the compression fitting ones in stock, and I'm still not clear if they are for hard tube or soft tube, so I had to use a female to female adapter and attach my compression fitting for a very short run of tube.

I wonder if I get one of the QDC's with the built in 3/8" ID 1/2" OD if the overall length will be shorter....

If you have a pair of 90's you could fit that easily, and it would not even look bad. But, going straight up/down from the video card like that will be far too short of a run to be practically useful even if you manage to make it fit.

Edit: Yay! You, sir, got my 1,000th post!
 
If you have a pair of 90's you could fit that easily, and it would not even look bad. But, going straight up/down from the video card like that will be far too short of a run to be practically useful even if you manage to make it fit.

Edit: Yay! You, sir, got my 1,000th post!

Congrats.

I'm trying to picture how you suggest doing the pair of 90's.

It's been a long day, maybe I am spatially challenged right now, but I just don't see it...
 
Congrats.

I'm trying to picture how you suggest doing the pair of 90's.

It's been a long day, maybe I am spatially challenged right now, but I just don't see it...
Code:
+-----------------88888--88888--------------------+
|Video Card.......................................|
+-----------------88888--88888--------------------+
                          |||
                    90--> L__|QDC------+
                                       | <--Soft Tube
                          ____         |
                          | _|+--------+
                          |||
                         88888
                    +=============+
                    |Pump.........|

Something like that

Also, some blocks require the coolant flow to be in a specific direction (think jet plates on a CPU cooler or GPU block), so I have all of my loops set up so the male end of the QDC is the pressure side (and thus loop flows from male to female).
 
Code:
+-----------------88888--88888--------------------+
|Video Card.......................................|
+-----------------88888--88888--------------------+
                          |||
                    90--> L__|QDC------+
                                       | <--Soft Tube
                          ____         |
                          | _|+--------+
                          |||
                         88888
                    +=============+
                    |Pump.........|

Something like that

Also, some blocks require the coolant flow to be in a specific direction (think jet plates on a CPU cooler or GPU block), so I have all of my loops set up so the male end of the QDC is the pressure side (and thus loop flows from male to female).

Thanks for the drawing :)

I see what you mean now. Not sure there is enough diameter there for a nice clean bend, so it might need to be 4 90 degree bends.

I'm going to try with the Koolance QDC with the built in compression fitting and see if it is short enough. I can't seem to find exact measurements online for it, so it will have to wait until it gets here.

I have a feeling it might just barely fit, but it will certainly be challening to disconnect, unless maybe I first pull the video card out of its slot.
 
Thanks for the drawing :)

I see what you mean now. Not sure there is enough diameter there for a nice clean bend, so it might need to be 4 90 degree bends.

I'm going to try with the Koolance QDC with the built in compression fitting and see if it is short enough. I can't seem to find exact measurements online for it, so it will have to wait until it gets here.

I have a feeling it might just barely fit, but it will certainly be challening to disconnect, unless maybe I first pull the video card out of its slot.

I can tell you from experience that a fair amount of force is required to re-pair these things - more than I would be comfortable applying to my graphics card directly whilst trying to get it into a slot at the same time. It won't be an issue if you have enough slack in the tube that it gives a bit, but definitely be careful. :)
 
I can tell you from experience that a fair amount of force is required to re-pair these things - more than I would be comfortable applying to my graphics card directly whilst trying to get it into a slot at the same time. It won't be an issue if you have enough slack in the tube that it gives a bit, but definitely be careful. :)

I think if I support it from behind (the other side of the block manifold) during insertion it will probably be fine.
 
Just got the version with the integrated compression fitting.

Looks like it saves me about an inch, which should make this work!

PXL_20201201_234452370.jpg


I hope this is the last part forcing me to stop and wait for shipping... Again....

At this rate I'll never be done.
 
Sure that is going to work once you get the fitting and tubing in there? I don't think you are going to have enough play to release the fitting....or put it in place. Am I missing something?

Experience has taught me that I am sure of nothing. To the naked eye it looks like it will just squeak by, but it depends on how compressibe the tube is once installed.

Going to do a test fit in a bit, once I find my tube cutter...
 
Last edited:
Sure that is going to work once you get the fitting and tubing in there? I don't think you are going to have enough play to release the fitting....or put it in place. Am I missing something?

It is close, but it works.

Takes a bit of finagling, but if I loosen the GPU screws and tilt it slightly up I am able to connect and disconnect it with ease!

PXL_20201202_000855815.jpg


PXL_20201202_001150103.jpg


Wish I had mounted that pump straighter though. Looks like it is about 3mm to far right.

I did measure twice (actually several times) before cutting, so I don't know what the hell happens.

It will work. Not as pretty as I had hoped, but I've always been more about performance than looks!
 
It is close, but it works.

Takes a bit of finagling, but if I loosen the GPU screws and tilt it slightly up I am able to connect and disconnect it with ease!

View attachment 304808

View attachment 304809

Wish I had mounted that pump straighter though. Looks like it is about 3mm to far right.

I did measure twice (actually several times) before cutting, so I don't know what the hell happens.

It will work. Not as pretty as I had hoped, but I've always been more about performance than looks!
That is total shit, throw it all away and start over. ;)
 
Omg, that defeats the point of a QDC, there's nothing quick or fast about that. And really... since you're doing it that way and the gpu bracket is screwed in you should have just used a SLI link. Once the loop is drained, the gpu can be easily released from the SLI link.
 
Omg, that defeats the point of a QDC, there's nothing quick or fast about that. And really... since you're doing it that way and the gpu bracket is screwed in you should have just used a SLI link. Once the loop is drained, the gpu can be easily released from the SLI link.
Hell of a lot faster than draining and refilling.
 
Hell of a lot faster than draining and refilling.
No doubt about that. My comment is more about the positioning of your pump which results in the position of the qdc. That really detracts from the ease of using a QDC. Ideally the pump should be on the side, not directly under the port. That way you can use a length of hose like in the example below.
20200711_175736.jpg
In the above pic you'll see I don't use a QDC above the gpu. It's my kids case so I don't go changing gpus in it often, then again I haven't changed gpus in my own loop in four years. I suppose if I had to I could swap the res inlet and gpu outlet but that doesn't matter.
 
I know this is preaching to the choir at this point, but I love the QD3 connectors...so precise, and I just redid my hard tube system with ZMT tubing and the QD3s with 10/16 compression ends so I can pull my GPU and CPU blocks for easy parts swapping. I do tend to upgrade at least one component or fiddle with something at least once a year.
 
No doubt about that. My comment is more about the positioning of your pump which results in the position of the qdc. That really detracts from the ease of using a QDC. Ideally the pump should be on the side, not directly under the port. That way you can use a length of hose like in the example below.
View attachment 315196
In the above pic you'll see I don't use a QDC above the gpu. It's my kids case so I don't go changing gpus in it often, then again I haven't changed gpus in my own loop in four years. I suppose if I had to I could swap the res inlet and gpu outlet but that doesn't matter.

Interesting. I had never considered attaching a pump there.

That said, the current configuration works. The reason I am not concerned about loosening the screws of the GPU before releasing the QDC is because if I am going to be releasing the QDC it's because the GPU needs to come out anyway, so it's not really any additional work.

I'll have to think about that side mount for future applications!
 
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