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Best method to clean your loop?

M

masaville

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 6, 2006
Messages
401
I've read that using vinegar works as long as you don't leave it inside too long. Is this true and do you basically do a rinse with vinegar and then flush it with distilled water or?

Is there a better alternative?
 
Kinda depends, why do you think your loop is dirty or what are you seeing that makes you want to clean it ?
 
Here's what I do. First, keep the vinegar away from plastic pieces, since it's a weak acid but can still damage them.

For starters, disconnect all the parts. Obviously try to keep them in order so that putting everything back together. Remove everything that doesn't need to be cleaned, such as the fans off the rad.

All the metal parts should get a 'wash' with vinegar. This means you want to, for example, pour some vinegar in to the rad and slosh it around a bunch. This is going to be far more effective than just letting it soak. Then rinse them off with distilled water so there won't be any residual vinegar. All the non-metal parts should get the same but with just distilled water. You should also brush and part you can with an old tooth brush or something.

For the tubes, some distilled water and maybe a pipe cleaner.

Ok, everyone is now free to say I'm an idiot and what they do.
 
Nope sounds good to me, I was just wondering why he thought he had to clean it in the first place. Old tee shirt, ripped up into strips and pushed down the hose with a coat hanger works well, pipe cleaners are handy for the inside of barbs etc. not too hot on the big bore tubing :p

I just keep seeing all this "maintence" BS, I dont know, maybe I just got lucky, but I have a NF7-s machine here thats watercooled with a all copper/brass closed loop and distilled water and its a clean as the day I put it together 4+ years later. /shrug.
 
BillParrish said:
Nope sounds good to me, I was just wondering why he thought he had to clean it in the first place. Old tee shirt, ripped up into strips and pushed down the hose with a coat hanger works well, pipe cleaners are handy for the inside of barbs etc. not too hot on the big bore tubing :p

I just keep seeing all this "maintence" BS, I dont know, maybe I just got lucky, but I have a NF7-s machine here thats watercooled with a all copper/brass closed loop and distilled water and its a clean as the day I put it together 4+ years later. /shrug.
Click to expand...

Hey Bill,

Only because that Zalman G200 made a real mess and left blue dye on everything. Fluid XP doesn't do that.....bah. I'll probably just toss some vinegar in, shake it up, toss in some distilled water, shake it up and get back to biz.
 
ahhh, hmm, against my better judgement I had to play with the glowy stuff in the new machine, I bet I am going to regret it.
 
Bulls Eye said:
Here's what I do. First, keep the vinegar away from plastic pieces, since it's a weak acid but can still damage them.

For starters, disconnect all the parts. Obviously try to keep them in order so that putting everything back together. Remove everything that doesn't need to be cleaned, such as the fans off the rad.

All the metal parts should get a 'wash' with vinegar. This means you want to, for example, pour some vinegar in to the rad and slosh it around a bunch. This is going to be far more effective than just letting it soak. Then rinse them off with distilled water so there won't be any residual vinegar. All the non-metal parts should get the same but with just distilled water. You should also brush and part you can with an old tooth brush or something.

For the tubes, some distilled water and maybe a pipe cleaner.

Ok, everyone is now free to say I'm an idiot and what they do.
Click to expand...

That's good advice. Nice and simple.
 
I guess I should add that you should only really need to do this when you first get your stuff, since a lot of manufacturers don't clean stuff before shipping it, and then every 2 to 3 years. If it needs it more often than every year, there's a problem somewhere.
 
Couldn't have said it better Bulls Eye.

If you get crap in your loop after awhile, but you've cleaned everything out thoroughly, you've got a major problem somewhere ;)
 
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