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Cleaning out the Radiator??

C

Coloredtoad

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 17, 2009
Messages
110
Hey all in the stages of cleaning out the Radiator. How long does this normally take:confused:. I have gone thru about 2 gallons of distilled water and every time i get tiny flake's. I have tried boiling water/water with vinegar and letting boiling water sit in the Rad for about 30 min. The flakes look alittle larger then a grain of sand. Any info be great thanks.

P.S. the Radiator is a XSPC RX360 Extreme Performance Radiator
 
I usually fill with boiled water and vinegar then shake the rad a lot and empty it out. I did 2 flushes on my RX360 and it was fine.
 
Do i want to do it till it empties 100% clear for a few flushes or is tiny sand sized flakes normal and ok??
 
Why would you clean a radiator with distilled water? Just use boiled tap water, then when you are done, flush it 1-2 times with distilled. I usually set up a loop in my sink with a new radiator and let it run for 24 hours to get all the shit out, then drain it.
 
sok0 said:
Why would you clean a radiator with distilled water? Just use boiled tap water, then when you are done, flush it 1-2 times with distilled. I usually set up a loop in my sink with a new radiator and let it run for 24 hours to get all the shit out, then drain it.
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Why should I contaminate my radiator with tap water and then flush it out again with distilled?

Boil distilled, throw some vinegar in it and flush it. No point in letting tap water touch any of your WC components.
 
AdvanSuper said:
Why should I contaminate my radiator with tap water and then flush it out again with distilled?

Boil distilled, throw some vinegar in it and flush it. No point in letting tap water touch any of your WC components.
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Completely wrong. I've gone threw maybe 8 radiators so far with Thermochills being the dirtiest. Only way to clean them was to hook them up to loops outside the case and run tap water threw them for hours and hours. My current loop has 2 thermochill's and the water has been crystal clear(distilled + 2 silver barbs) for a good year and half with 0 maintenance. Tap water isnt going to contaminate anything let alone copper. I've run loops for a few months with tap water back a few years ago and nothing happened. It's also free and doesn't cost 1-2$ per gallon.

The ONLY reason to use vinegar would be on a used radiator or a new radiator that has been sitting in the box 4+ months because the insides have oxidized which could cause your loop to get a bunch of crap in it. A radiator that is brand new should only need boiling hot water to remove the water based fluxes.
 
Yes it's completely wrong only everyone and their mother does it. What have we all been doing and telling everyone?!

Tap water is free? Since when? I've been paying a water bill for nothing all these years? I'm glad you've had success running tap water in your loops, tap water isn't the same quality in every state/country/city/nation etc etc.
 
Pretty sure I only said to clean the radiator with tap water and flush it with distilled at the end to remove any left over minerals. I estimated I ran about 30+ gallons of tap water threw one of my thermochill radiators before it stopped having flakey shit come out of it. Only cleaned 8 different radiators though, and have had 0 problems with flakes or fogging in my loops over the past 6 years, so what do I know.
 
Just a friendly suggestion, but you want to use distilled water and white/distilled vinegar. Depending on the quality/concentration of the distilled vinegar, about a 20:1 ratio should work well (20 parts distilled water to 1 part distilled vinegar). After a good flushing out with that then you want a good flushing out with just distilled water.

Once the loop is mostly clean, I would let the distilled vinegar/water combo recirculate for a minimum of 3 minutes (at 70F). There will be less than a 1% cleanliness (salts) improvement once you get to 5 minutes.

I do not know everything, but I am a corrosion Engineer.
 
I am planning on getting a XSPC rasa kit and curious to what would be the best way to flush everything before i put it in my computer?
Should I use tap water? Cold or hot? Or use like 10 gallons of distilled water and boil it? What about the tubing and rad and res and pump?

Thanks for the help
 
Aus10 said:
I am planning on getting a XSPC rasa kit and curious to what would be the best way to flush everything before i put it in my computer?
Should I use tap water? Cold or hot? Or use like 10 gallons of distilled water and boil it? What about the tubing and rad and res and pump?

Thanks for the help
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If you use a good anti corrosive additive it will not matter much. But if you want maximum good for little effort. Flush the system 3 times with distilled water. Let each flush recirculate for 3-5 minutes. It can help to use a bit of distilled vinegar in the distilled water for the first flush.

Then fill your loop with distilled water and a bit of antifreeze (5 parts water to 1 part antifreeze). I know it is not the politically correct thing, but glycol freaking works well (or even the newer stuff works almost as well).

If you use quality tubing and have good connections, your system should be fine for a few years.

The warmer the water the faster the chemical reactions happen (twice the speed for every 10c). The above 3-5 minutes are based on 70F.

Hope that helps.
 
mmmmmdonuts said:
Wow. That WCM setup is nuts.
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You can do that yourself with like $30 in aquarium parts + a bucket. You just need an AquaClear power head (water pump), one of these http://www.petguys.com/-015561105750.html, and a bucket. Put the filter and pump in a bucket with water, run a hose to the loop, then run another hose back into the bucket. The bucket makes it easy to add some some vinegar or whatever you want to dump into the mix. That filter can go down to 1 micron as well, which is much better than the one he was using...
 
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I plumbed the faucet in my utility sink up to the tygon and just let it run a couple hours
 
I made the same set up as Lazy Man. Same filter with a decent pump and 1/2ID tubing. Just waiting for my 1/4x 1/2 barbs for the Rad. Got to love the "Set it and forget it" set up.:D
 
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