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Extremely Upset about Watercooling

A

Asmoranomar

n00b
Joined
May 3, 2005
Messages
12
Ok, i posted a few times a while back about watercooling that i was planning. I spent weeks preparing and making sure i got everything i needed right. I get my stuff, things dont quite work out (wrong SLI block, cant use chipset block because of video card placement - it was SO close...) Anyways, I get my stuff again...but i cant make the pipes fit no matter what. Wait more for some elbow fittings...few weeks later i get them and i finally am able to put everything together...

Test for 24 hours and everything goes great....then i throw everything into my system and start it up (not the PC, just the pump)...water goes EVERYWHERE...

I cant find out what it is...took me 4 days and i finally found out the radiator was leaking internally...(oh and btw, no returns on this item because its 'used'...how the heck was i supposed to figure out it was going to leak without using it?)

so i take that out of the loop and now one of my SLI blocks starts leaking ....

take it out, put some teflon on it, tighten things up....throw it back in...test..

...The other SLI block starts leaking....by now i've used about 3/4s of my distilled water and im pissed....

Fix THAT and get more water....now both SLI blocks leak and i cant isloate where the hell its comming from...

This has been a NIGHTMARE....WTF i have never heard of bad experiences to this degree while doing my pre-research...sure people had problems but I've been troubleshooting this thing for almost a month and a half...

I was supposed to have the most-expensive best box out (ok not quite)....FX-55, dual 6800 Ultras, the works (you know the story...)

well I havent even been able to actually USE the box yet....and wouldn't you know a new CPU and video cards come out....i am EXTREMELY upset...

Not to mention that...i have no clue how bad the water damage has done to my system - fortunately it hasn't had power yet...

Which brings me here... Has anyone experienced issues like this? What did you do to keep yourself sane? I swear im going to climb the highest building i can and throw the whole thing out the window....
 
Don't rush, have patience.

Maybe its the O-rings on your SLI blocks, check them. Tighten the block as much as it can go so everything inside the block compresses as much as possible (I don't mean to the video card, that would be bad). Look for cracks in the plexiglass.

As for the rad, time to find a new one =\.
 
I doubt the water will damage you equipment if the power to the PSU is off.

I just set up my first WC project yesterday and the same thing happend, my Connections near my SLI blocks went nuts and sprayed water everywhere... I was using a second PSU for the pump though and had my primary PSU turned off...

Anyway i soaked up most of the visible water with a shirt then put dual 120mm 130cfm fans at full speed over the area for an hour or so...

I turned it on and everything was working fine for a bit... then all of a sudden things started slowing down to a crawl... In about 2 mins after boot my machine locked up. I rebooted my DFI and got 3LED (means no RAM detected)

Needless to say I shat my pants (mainly because I didnt have a spare Mobo)

I tried 2 different Dimms in all four slots and two different CPUS with no luck.

I was thinking about breaking stuff, but then I made myself clam down. A couple hours later I tunred on the PC and it booted fine...

WTF!!!

Well it works great now and my GPU temps are WAY WAY WAY down...

If you use SLI I think it is almost necissary to watercool your GPUS...
 
You have to remember it takes time for water to dry. Especially when dealing with electronic components. water can "hide" in small places. You have to allow time for things to dry out. I've dumped water in my machine at least three times. Each time I would put a small heater next to my case and run it for a couple hours, nothing gets rid of water like heat.

Usually w/c mistakes are from a lack of patience and noob errors. Remember, take your time and be patient, double check all connections, and something that I do, check all components individually. I have a spare pump just for that, a cheapy $10 dollar job, but works great for testing for leaks...
 
Don't you just wish everything in this world worked perfectly and never with a hitch?

My first watercooling setup had water all over the place too, but I eventually learned to have patience and to double check everything...
 
Well i've taken everything out of my system for a 6th time now...im running the whole system without the rad in (i want to find out if something else is broke before making another purchase)....

...im confused as hell now...no water leakage but i've done nothing different except take it out of the case

oh, and about the patience part...I have checked everything...at least 10 times...6 weeks worth of putting stuff together, taking a part here and fixing it, rinse & repeat. If that isn't patient and methodical, how long does a typical watercooling solution take to setup/troubleshoot for you? *pulls hair out thinking about it*

obviously this seems to be pointing at tension or stress or something...has anyone seen this before and know what the problem might be? and how to fix it?
 
Asmoranomar said:
Well i've taken everything out of my system for a 6th time now...im running the whole system without the rad in (i want to find out if something else is broke before making another purchase)....

...im confused as hell now...no water leakage but i've done nothing different except take it out of the case

obviously this seems to be pointing at tension or stress or something...has anyone seen this before and know what the problem might be? and how to fix it?
Click to expand...


What kind of fitting are you using, aka, barbed, push-fit, compression...?
And what kind of tubing?
 
2x Black Ice Micro
1x Maze 4 SLI Waterblock
1x RBX
1x 1 Bay Res
1x 12V Pump

All with 1/2" OD Barbs and 1/2" ID Tubing
 
Well for one, your radiators are NOT going to handle the heat of your system. The BI Micros are only 80mm radiators. A single BIP1 will out-do the pair of BI Micros. I suggest you test each component individually with small sections of hoses and your pump. This will allow you to track down your leaks. Also, are you by any chance cross-threading your barbs? When that happens, leaks will happen rather quickly. If you blocks have any acrylic on them where the barbs attach to, please be careful as acrylic will crack if over-tightened. For connecting barbs to the Maze4GPUs and the radiators, use one or two layers of plumbers tape around the barb's thread to create a good seal. Do NOT use plumbers tape on acrylic blocks or resevoirs as there is the inherint risk of cracking.
Where did you get your radiators from? A company who ditches a warranty policy after finding that the product is defective is really shoddy. I however can understand the no-return if you bought the radiators second hand. If you need any more help, take a deep breath, calm down just a tad and reply back. We are all happy to help others taking the...ahem...dive.
 
Asmoranomar said:
2x Black Ice Micro
1x Maze 4 SLI Waterblock
1x RBX
1x 1 Bay Res
1x 12V Pump

All with 1/2" OD Barbs and 1/2" ID Tubing
Click to expand...


Are you using clamps on your tubing, what kind?
 
When I built my first loop I chased leaks around the case for the first day: first the radiator fitting did not seal correctly, then a clamp on the CPU was loose, then one on the res... but after a day it was running dry as a bone.

Keep going how you're going... fix a leak, then test again, fix the next leak, then test again... ad nauseum.

After fixing all the leaks wait at least a few days (depending on humidity where you are) before actually powering anything up to let everything dry out.
 
shouldnt the leak test have figured this out before you put the watercooling in? Anyways it was just bad luck. Not everyone has flawless experiences when installing their watercooling kit but once they smooth things out watercooling can be the best decision you made
 
Not to rain on your parade but Uncle Gib told you kiddies to stay off the bong water. :D

Computers and liquid don't mix generally.
 
i finaly installed my watercooling stuff today (started at 8 am) and got everything set up and the rad started leaking, it was a BIP 120.3 so i took everything down and had to braze it then did a soap&water leak down at 20 psi and it was good to go.
The rad had a small hole in the top of one of the water ways and was leaking at about 1 drop every 20 seconds

I would recomend you take everything down and put it all back again. if i ran into those issues i would of tore it down and rebuilt the setup. its faster to takedown and rebuild if your running into alot of issues. just take your time and do it the correct way and it should not leak. if it dose you did something wrong or did not do somehting where you should of. if it still leaks it could be hardware issues. I would recomend you post pictures of whats leaking and some one will be able to tell you how to fix it.
 
I ran into the same trouble with my 80mm rads (Swiftechs, BIM with soldered 3/8" barbs) and come to find out I had overtightened the screws holding the fans to the rads in one spot puncturing one of the pass tubes.

I didn't panic though, I simply mixed up some J-B Weld and using a toothpick applied it to the hole in the pass tube making sure it was in the tube as well as on it and let it dry for 8hrs, after that I set my loop back up and leak tested. Happily it was fixed.

Always be mindful of how tight you tighten the screws on your rads because the ears on the fans will flex enough to allow the screws to puncture your pass tubes and the good folks that make the rads didn't really map out the fact that the screw holes in the rads are directly over the pass tubes.

If you want to avoid this happening to you you can cut 4 lenths of brass tubing the exact size of the space between the ears on your fans and use it as a shim to prevent the ears from collapsing when you tighten everything up.
 
try a water additive that is non corrosive. its expensive but it with keep ur system from shorting out if u have this prob after u add power.

www.dangerdenstore.com

MCT50 i think is the product. just click water additives.
 
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