watercooling, test run failed. Leaked on my video card.

T

TurK-FX

2[H]4U
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Jan 21, 2009
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hey guys, i just finished my first watercooling setup. but it failed. it was runing with no problem. But when i turn off yjr pump, radiator started leaking. i have 77 boneville heater. It has plastic barbs. It is the only parts failed.

The problem is there is a good amount of coolant leaked on my 4870x2.
i cleaned most of it. I was thinking to clean the leftovers with alcohol. Is it a good idea?
This was my first watercooling setup. now i need little more tubbing and do it again.
 
this is my fear of water cooling, though I want to really go for it.

I hope your card turns out ok.
 
Personally I would let it sit for an hour or two to dry out really well, then use a cotton swab dipped in isopropyl alcohol to clean any contacts. It should be fine, just make sure everything is really really dry.
 
This is why you need to run the loop outside of the machine and leak test. Also you can do what I did and get a non-conductive fluid that won't damage hardware in the event of a leak. I've done this and in one instance it literlaly saved me thousands of dollars.
 
TurK-FX said:
hey guys, i just finished my first watercooling setup. but it failed. it was runing with no problem. But when i turn off yjr pump, radiator started leaking. i have 77 boneville heater. It has plastic barbs. It is the only parts failed.

The problem is there is a good amount of coolant leaked on my 4870x2.
i cleaned most of it. I was thinking to clean the leftovers with alcohol. Is it a good idea?
This was my first watercooling setup. now i need little more tubbing and do it again.
Click to expand...

I would clean it off with alcohol and let it dry in the sun for a few hours/days just to be sure.
 
Let it sit longer than an hour or two. At least 2 or 3 days for it to dry out completely, especially with a very expensive graphics card. So the setup started leaking AFTER you shut it down, but it didn't leak while you were using it? If so, then the card may be alright, just leave it to dry out for a few days, make sure all your clamps are tightened down nice and tight and try it again.

Note - if you set the loop up properly with good barbs, tubing, and clamps, you'll never have a leak. I did my first setup a couple months ago and haven't had a single problem since.

Dan_D said:
This is why you need to run the loop outside of the machine and leak test. Also you can do what I did and get a non-conductive fluid that won't damage hardware in the event of a leak. I've done this and in one instance it literlaly saved me thousands of dollars.
Click to expand...

Running the loop outside of the machine is nice but it doesn't test the tubing/barbs/clamps the same way it would if it's in the case. The tubing won't be bent the way it will be when it's installed, which is why I did all of my leak testing in the case with everything unplugged.

Also, regarding nonconductive fluid, Petra did a test here where he poured "nonconductive" coolant onto a motherboard, simulating a leak, and the machine died in about 1 minute. Nonconductive fluids simply aren't nonconductive once they are introduced to outside contaminants like air, dust on your components, circuit boards, metal contacts, etc. Simply put, unless you're running Fluoinert or something like that that's rated to have components submerged in it, no coolant is nonconductive. So those fluids are expensive for no real reason other than looking pretty. Also, consider that in Petra's test, distilled water took longer to kill the board than the conductive fluid did. Just some food for thought, don't trust any fluid spilling, prevent leaks and test very thoroughly.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thnx for the responds guys.

I was running everything into the case but there was no power. there should be no damage for now. i just pluged the pump and jump start to power supply. everything was ok but the plastic barbs on radiator leaked. i guess i need better clamps. Apparently zip tie is not enough. i will buy some pure alcohol today and try to clean it. i wont be using it till weekend. I am waiting my velociraptor and I7 920 cpu anyway. Just wanted to make sure it was ready when they arrive.
 
Yeah definitely don't use zipties. At least use herbie (plastic) clamps, but I personally think that worm-drive clamps hold it down better.
 
dealmaster said:
Yeah definitely don't use zipties. At least use herbie (plastic) clamps, but I personally think that worm-drive clamps hold it down better.
Click to expand...

i ordered them already.

my question is if antifreeze(i used %85 distilled water and %15 antifreeze) dry on the vga board, will it cause a problem?
Because i can see green antifreeze particles on the board, i already bought %91 alcohol, i will try to clean it when i get home. But wanna make sure if does anything bad.
 
You should be ok, some cotton balls soaked in the Alcohol and give it a nice wipedown. Then a hairdryer on medium or a sunny window for a couple of hours. If I remember some anitfreeze has silica in it (the shiney particles you are seeing) and it should not be conductive and you will get most of it up with the alcohol.

Wipe it down twice if necessary, you just dont want to soak or let the alcohol sit a long time on the board, It should dry up itself fairly quickly, Change the material you wipe with a lot so you do not redeposit what you wipe up.

Really- no big worries - take you time and dont rush it, let it dry good and you will be fine.
 
dealmaster said:
Note - if you set the loop up properly with good barbs, tubing, and clamps, you'll never have a leak. I did my first setup a couple months ago and haven't had a single problem since.
Click to expand...

You still may have leaks from the INSIDE the waterblocks (broken seals, parts attached improperly, etc). That's what I've been fighting on my last setup: the barbs didn't leak but the stupid waterblock did.
 
In the future, I'd recommend using undersized tubing on oversized barbs - 7/16" tubing on 1/2" barbs or similar. It should make chances of leaks like that a lot smaller.
 
lol, I snatched 7/16"ID on a 7/8"OD barb... that was a struggle, I tell ya... I mean, the tubing went INSIDE the barb w/o an issue, lol :D
 
Sup Suleyman. Sorry to hear that.

I just finished my first loop a couple of days ago. I didn't have any leaks but here is what I suggest you to do from my experience.

If anything spills on your board or something, give it a rundown with alcohol, wipe and let it dry. Zip ties are alright, i'm using them, just make sure they are as tight as balls. If I were to do it again I would have used worm drives. Whit I do is connect everything where I want it in the case, cut tubing to the appropriate lengths, make sure everything is ok and you dont have any kinks, then fill it and leak test OUTSIDE of the case.

Never use plastic barbs. I'm using Enzotech 1/2 id barbs. Very high quality. Bitspower makes awesome barbs too.
 
TehQuick said:
You still may have leaks from the INSIDE the waterblocks (broken seals, parts attached improperly, etc). That's what I've been fighting on my last setup: the barbs didn't leak but the stupid waterblock did.
Click to expand...

It's true but I tore all my blocks apart to make sure there were proper O-rings and everything before I put them in my loop. Normally potential leaks are visible if you take the block apart.
 
That`s what i am using. 7/16 tubbing 1/2' barbs.

the problem was that i got modified heater core but it has plastic barbs. i tried to seal it with zip tie, but it didnt work. i ordered good clamps. i will seal it better next time.

AVT said:
In the future, I'd recommend using undersized tubing on oversized barbs - 7/16" tubing on 1/2" barbs or similar. It should make chances of leaks like that a lot smaller.
Click to expand...
 
i think my waterblocks are in good shape because there was nothing wrong in the case. my heatercore has built in plastic barbs, i cant take it out. otherwise i have bunch of barbs lying around

here are some pics










My friend ekuest made the the heatercore shroud for me. It is really good heater core with 2x 4000rpm Delta fans attached. i couldnt make it fit into the case so it is gonna sit at the top. but it looks cool :)
 
nice shroud. ;) did you put a throttle on the fans? theyre SO loud. my computer is pretty loud too since i just blew my controller. gotta put it to sleep when i go to bed now.
 
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