Confessions of a tubing convert: vinyl tubing blows

T

thewhiteguy

Supreme [H]ardness
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Jun 17, 2002
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I got my case hacked up yesterday and the loop (sans waterblock, Swiftech's manufacturing capacity is very poor) installed with vinyl tubing. To say the least, even with very straight runs the vinyl tubing really sucks at 1/2" ID/3/4" OD. It's strong enough to move the res and pump no problem. Also, moving my pump/res out of the case requires a lot of force just to lift them up only a half of an inch. This stuff shows NO MERCY.

So the moral of the story is to use vinyl only when it needs to be run in a curve that exactly matches how it's packaged or you'll be sorry.

</rant>
 
I disagree. My system is almost entirely vinyl, and I haven't had a problem with it. It is unforgiving, but not so much that I have trouble getting the pump out like you're saying. If you have the money, go ahead and get Tygon, but for 30 cents a foot vinyl works fine.
 
Do you have the 1/8" wall vinyl from Home Depot? This stuff is strong enough to hold my swiftech pump horizontal at a foot or more, it's insane.
 
Yeah, 1/2''ID, 3/4'' OD from Home Depot. It's tough, but not enough to hold the weight of the pump.
 
We must have different things because mine is unworkable.

- If I make it long enough to have slack to work with, it pushes the things its connected to away which is not good.
- If I don't make it long enough, everything is stuck where I put it plus it will still push things around unless I got lucky and the tube has to be shaped the same way it came.
 
I completely agree with thewhiteguy. That stuff is NOT meant to be bent nearly at all.

I fashioned some 90 degree elbows out of 45 degree copper fittings to use with my 1/2" ID 3/4" OD vinyl tubing from home depot. I wouldn't dare try to bend it around anything in the case, like from the video to the cpu.. no way.. crack something for sure.

I just picked up some 1/2" ID 5/8" OD Tygon tubing. I've been playing around with it to test it's flexibility. When I went into my case a couple days ago to take out the old tubing, I was like, "shit this stuff is rigid...".

It was good to me for my first W/C setup. Time to get out of my case now.. ;P
 
Yeah I didn't mention what vinyl tubing could do to your waterblocks. That stress in the wrong direction could probably be quite bad down the road. Anyway, I ordered some Tygon yesterday (the 1/2 by 3/4, not 5/8) and my wallet's not happy, but I will be when I get to use that stuff.
 
try the clearflex from danger den. if you buy 10ft+, its only $1 per foot. It has much better flexibility and resistance to kinks than what they sell at either home depot or ace hardware.
 
Anyone try heating the vinyl tube to see if itll bend correctly and, more inportantly, hold the bend?
 
MikeP said:
Anyone try heating the vinyl tube to see if itll bend correctly and, more inportantly, hold the bend?
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I put some in a pan with it bent against its natural curve and boiled it for over 5 minutes. When I pulled it out, it was pretty flexible but when it cooled it returned to its original shape :mad:
 
Vynl tubing sucks. Once you get it installed and leave it there for a while it'll get rock solid and start turning brown. Espically if you have uv lights in your case.

Clearflex bends and ages better, but because it is softer be prepared for your pump to cause kinks even in straight runs from low pressure. The more powerful the pump, the more pronounced this effect is.
 
I used a heat gun to heat it up. I held it in the curve I wanted it and let it cool and it stayed, or at least took some of the pressure off.
 
Visable-assassin said:
please explain what you mean? :confused:
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The MCW6002 has been out of stock for 3 weeks now. Their resellers still don't know when they're going to be getting more.
 
When i first put my WC setup together using vinyl I couldn't get it together without kinks. The flow rate was just pathetic. I quite a while trying to mold the tubing with boiling water without luck. It was also a bitch to get onto certain fittings. The Tygon took about 15 minutes to put together and kinking wasn't an issue at all. When you're already spending 200+ on a WC setup what's another 15-30 dollars for some Tygon? If I'm going to spend that much money I want to do shit right.
 
thewhiteguy said:
The MCW6002 has been out of stock for 3 weeks now. Their resellers still don't know when they're going to be getting more.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I had to settle on an MCW5000. I was surprised when I checked again to see that it was still out of stock everywhere.
 
I dont know how Swiftech runs their business but Im gonna guess they farm out the actual manufacturing of their waterblocks and either they are very bad at planning their production runs or they are having cashflow probs and cant cover the cost of a production run...either way it doesnt look good to people trying to buy their product.

Im just guessing here......
 
I guess I'm going with some Tygon then. The wallet isn't going to be happy but I don't want to deal with some of the issues brought up.
 
MikeP said:
I dont know how Swiftech runs their business but Im gonna guess they farm out the actual manufacturing of their waterblocks and either they are very bad at planning their production runs or they are having cashflow probs and cant cover the cost of a production run...either way it doesnt look good to people trying to buy their product.

Im just guessing here......
Click to expand...

or simply the block has been percived as so good that they cant manufacture enough of them
 
thelostrican said:
or simply the block has been percived as so good that they cant manufacture enough of them
Click to expand...
They've been out for a MONTH. That's not extra demand, it's lack of supply.
 
thewhiteguy said:
We must have different things because mine is unworkable.

- If I make it long enough to have slack to work with, it pushes the things its connected to away which is not good.
- If I don't make it long enough, everything is stuck where I put it plus it will still push things around unless I got lucky and the tube has to be shaped the same way it came.
Click to expand...
same thing happened to me working with that stuff, i went with tygon.

i have had my block for a month now, i guess they have them made some place else than in the us, dont know. i would wait, the block does perform.
 
thelostrican said:
i would wait, the block does perform.
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That's OK, I ordered a RBX for the same price and I'll actually get it one of these days. Plus the move to LGA P4s or an AMD64 will probably mean another waterblock anyway so then I can switch back to Swiftech if they've gotten their act together.
 
Vinyl is prone to heat issues over time. Where will you be when your vinyl tubing cracks and leaks all over the place? And what will it take out on the way?
 
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