Biocide

Epos7

Gawd
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Aug 31, 2015
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I'm planning to use DI water in my upcoming build. Just curious what the recommended biocide agents are?

Do I need to do any pre-flushing/cleaning of all the components?
 
There are about as many opinions on this as there are custom loops.

We had a forum rep from Watercool on here for a while, he was a strong proponent of glycol based mixes as there are no metal ions that can potentially (but unlikely) cause issues and increased conductivity of the coolant, and because glycol solutions, in the right concentrations, do all three things we need from a coolant additive.

1.) Surfactant
2.) Corrosion inhibitor
3.) Biocide

It is not entirely clear what the correct concentration is though, or if Ethylene Glycol or Propylene Glycol is the best choice.

I feel like most coolant concentrates on the market use Glycol, so maybe it might just be easier to buy a clear concentrate from your favorite vendor. (EK's Cryofuel line has worked well for me)
 
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Oh, and cleaning, yes, you would want to do that.

Most components are OK with just a flush of distilled or DI water.

Radiators can be trickier though, as they tend to have a lot of flux in them. Some are better than others. Alphacool radiators are very good, but tend to have more gunk in them and are more difficult to clean.

Last time I did it, i did a dish soap and hot water fill and flush, followed by a water and vinegar (~25%) fill and flush, followed by a hot water flush and lastly a distilled or DI water flush.

This is usually sufficient.

There are lots of instructions on youtube if you search there.
 
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Ah interesting, I did notice the glycol component in a lot of premixed solutions. Maybe I should just buy something designed for the purpose. I've been turned off reading all the horror stories of gunked up loops. Of course it's hard to know if those are cases of user error or a bad batch of solution.
 
Ah interesting, I did notice the glycol component in a lot of premixed solutions. Maybe I should just buy something designed for the purpose. I've been turned off reading all the horror stories of gunked up loops. Of course it's hard to know if those are cases of user error or a bad batch of solution.

Gunking is usually due to microparticles in opaque solutions.

You know, the shimmery, handsoap looking stuff. Usually clear, and colored but transparent fluids don't have any issues.

Often (but not always) those opaque fluids have warnings on the bottles stating that they are indented "for show purposes only".

At least this is what I have seen. I've never had any gunking on my end, and I have been using EK's coolants (first Ekoolant, then Cryofuel, not sure what the difference is, if it is just rebranding) for 5 years now and have not had any issues.

This is what my old EK Supremacy EVO block looked like inside when I opened it after 2.5 years of use, as you can see very clean:

1606833290528.png
 
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Looks pretty good to me! I'll pick some some EK solution. Thanks!
 
I'll just be using a kill coil. I know some don't recommend using it with Nickel, but that's mainly due to EK's massive fuck up about 10 years ago with their shitty plating. I ran it in my build back then (2011 or 2012 I think) for over a year and never noticed any issues. To be on the safe side, those solutions are nice though.
 
I'll just be using a kill coil. I know some don't recommend using it with Nickel, but that's mainly due to EK's massive fuck up about 10 years ago with their shitty plating. I ran it in my build back then (2011 or 2012 I think) for over a year and never noticed any issues. To be on the safe side, those solutions are nice though.
I feel similarly.

A kill coil is probably fine, but I'd rather be safe than sorry, so I'll use a validated marketed fluid.
 
I'm planning to use DI water in my upcoming build. Just curious what the recommended biocide agents are?

Do I need to do any pre-flushing/cleaning of all the components?

been using DI and biocide for many years now. i think i must be up to 15 years on some parts. corrosion in my loop is minimal, maybe a little tarnishing here and there. i use every day DI water from the parts store and a few drops of PT nuke I've had for far too long. i have never bothered to do any kind of pre-flushing other than maybe give new parts a quick rinse with DI before installing.

generally i'll drain and refill system once every year or sometimes longer.
 
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