Swiftech H20 Water Cooling Leak

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civic00typer

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Dec 5, 2003
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As many of you may know by my previous threads, I assembled a water cooled Core 2 Duo E6400 rig last weekend. I leak tested the water cooling loop for 2 days, and ran the system for 3 days without any problems. Last night while I was using the computer the video card started to produce artifacts. I quickly shut down the system and noticed a half-dollar sized puddle at the bottom of my case, which was caused by what I believe to be a faulty barb or o-ring seal on the Apogee water block. The pictures of this can be viewed here: Water Block Woes . At this point I am not sure exactly what was damaged due to the leak. The barbs on the water block were torqued to properly compress the o-rings. I can't tell whether the leak was caused by the o-ring or the barb itself. Any ideas?
 
Going by the pictures it almost looks like the fittings arent seated properly in the block. There is a small gap between the flange of the fittings and the o-ring groove on your block, should be sitting flush. Looks like the o-ring isnt all the way in the groove...
 
To me, it looks like the o-ring either is totally dead, or has no lub on it. I would replace the o-ring (take an old bike inner tube and cut it to shape), I would also suggest putting nylon tape around the threads.
This would help fill any little gaps between the threads preventing a possible leak...
 
Going by the pictures it almost looks like the fittings arent seated properly in the block. There is a small gap between the flange of the fittings and the o-ring groove on your block, should be sitting flush. Looks like the o-ring isnt all the way in the groove...
Click to expand...

I first seated the o-ring in the groove on the top of the water block and tightened down the barbs with a wrench. Does anyony have a picture of this water block with the gap between the water block and barb flange closed?
 
To me, it looks like the o-ring either is totally dead, or has no lub on it. I would replace the o-ring (take an old bike inner tube and cut it to shape), I would also suggest putting nylon tape around the threads.
This would help fill any little gaps between the threads preventing a possible leak...
Click to expand...

Why do you think the o-ring is dead. I looked at it carefully and the o-ring does not have any cracks or splits. I am not sure if you can use nylon tape with plastic barbs and a plastic water block. I think the increase in the outside diameter of the barb would cause it to fit very tightly against the walls of the water block and when I tighten the barb into the water block I could end up break it because of the increased resistance?
 
civic00typer said:
I first seated the o-ring in the groove on the top of the water block and tightened down the barbs with a wrench. Does anyony have a picture of this water block with the gap between the water block and barb flange closed?
Click to expand...

I usually put the o-ring flush against the flange on the fittings then install them into the block. I'm not sure if the way you did it made any difference but maybe something got screwed up when you were tightening it and its preventing it from sitting in the groove right.

I have a storm in my setup which basically installs the same way and the barbs are flush against the block.
 
Was there any coolant on any components?

If not, don't worry. If there was, dry them out really well before you plug 'em back in. If they didn't catch on fire the first time, there's a good chance they're okay.
 
civic00typer said:
Do you have a picture??
Click to expand...

Yeah, my fittings are almost perfectly flush with the block...

DSC00084.jpg


try replacing the o-rings just incase and reseat the fittings... worth a shot :)


nobody_here said:
fix the leak, drain system, fill with Fluid XP
Click to expand...

I hope you had better luck than me with that coolant. it left a nasty residue throughout my entire loop.
 
fix the leak, drain system, fill with Fluid XP
Click to expand...

Fluid XP?? It seems to me that anything other than water would have a lower specific heat capacity. It says that it is non-conductive.. however what happens when it gets ionized?
 
try replacing the o-rings just incase and reseat the fittings... worth a shot
Click to expand...

I wonder where I can get replacement o-rings? Automotive store? Thanks for the picture perhaps I did not torque it down, I see the gap on yours is a lot smaller than mine. I am thinking about getting new o-rings, maybe new barbs, one wrap of telfon tape, and letting the system run in a loop for 2-3 days continuously. Also I am thinking about replacing the hoses with a more flexibile non-kinking hose.. forgot the name.
 
civic00typer said:
I wonder where I can get replacement o-rings? Automotive store? Thanks for the picture perhaps I did not torque it down, I see the gap on yours is a lot smaller than mine. I am thinking about getting new o-rings, maybe new barbs, one wrap of telfon tape, and letting the system run in a loop for 2-3 days continuously. Also I am thinking about replacing the hoses with a more flexibile non-kinking hose.. forgot the name.
Click to expand...

Yea an autoshop might be a good place... you shouldnt need the tape though with the orings.

Check out the masterkleer 7/16 tubing, i love it. Really cheap and fits very snug over barbs.
 
For the O-rings, try finding one of those smaller hardware stores like "ACE" or "true value." They seems to have things like that. Be sure to bring the old one with you so they can match it up.

-mike
 
danks said:
Yea an autoshop might be a good place... you shouldnt need the tape though with the orings.
Click to expand...

I'm curious for my own future use, and this may help him as well. Does the plastic differ from brass? When adding extra fittings for temp sensors in my automotive cooling loops (Both engine and transmission) the teflon tape also acted as a sort of lubricant, more easily allowing the brass fitting to screw into the brass T and seat further down than it did without.
 
civic00typer said:
Fluid XP?? It seems to me that anything other than water would have a lower specific heat capacity. It says that it is non-conductive.. however what happens when it gets ionized?
Click to expand...


yeah, you give up a degree or two and maybe some residue over time (which i have had in every H2O setup no matter what i used), in order to not have to flush and refill and not worry about fried components
 
any hardware store will have orings

PS : You still have to flush and refill with FluidXP.
 
civic00typer said:
It says that it is non-conductive.. however what happens when it gets ionized?
Click to expand...

It's non-conductive alright, until you open the bottle :D
 
Try home Depot...

Ok don't quote me... I don't know this to be a fact. But I make orders from swiftech all the time for my website... And they were having a issue getting O-rings. I heard they got different ones or something from them (cause they were not shipping me apogees) I do not believe this is an overall defect with swiftech, nor can I even say if it is their fault. All I can say is check the O-rings. and always keep an eye on ur rig inside with water (just think it is safe, I check my car for leaks as well, both coolant and oil). You should be able to find an 0-ring somewhere. Try home depot again, or lowes or (insert favorite hardware supply here :) )

O and most "non-conductive fluids" are conductive to some extent.... Don't submerge your 7900 to find out :eek:
Good luck!
BTW nice rig.
 
is your hardware ok like the gpu etc?

or did that die?

hope not
Click to expand...


No the GPU is dead for sure. Well yesterday I closely examined the o-rings.. they looked fine. Therefore I added some teflon tape to the barbs and reseated them and torque them down until i reached the limit, Hopefully this will hold. I am about to order some tygon hose and fluid-xp, I am thinking about ordering some of those dangerden metal barbs also. I am not sure how they are going to work with the plastic water block. I guess I will find out. Has anyone had any bad experiences with fluid xp?
 
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