Help what did I do wrong? radiator is broke

R

romeoagogo

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 25, 2004
Messages
159
I just got a black ice stealth radiator for my first foray into watercooling. I went with it because it fits into my Cosmos S case with no modding. Problem is, I broke it somehow. It looks like when I screwed the fans in I damaged the pipes the water travels thru. All I did was attach my 3 yate loons with the provided screws (provided with the rad) and somehow the screws went to far and broke the rad. I guess im ordering another rad now since its toast, but WTH am I supposed to do next time? If I leave the screws out a little wont the fans rattle? AND how the hell am I supposed to tell when they are far enough in but not too far? i am so angry right now im almost ready to scrap the whole thing but I figured I would make some mistake. I just wish it wasnt such a big item and on the weekend when I'm gonna have to wait to get another shipped out.
 
If you used the screws that came with it try asking about an RMA, they should've been short enough to use without problem unless you were supposed to use some sort of washer as a spacer.
 
There is a nice trick you can practice before mounting your rad in a case with fans. Take your mounting screws, test fit the fans and eyeball as you thread into the body of the radiator. Once the screw starts to "bite" or thread into the screw hole, stop turning the screw and see how much exposed thread you have at the top of the screw head. If its more than 1/4" use a steel washer/spacer for each screw.

There are lots of horror stories of people destroying expensive TC or TFC rads because they used the stock screws that came with the radiator without checking the depth needed including case thickness. Sorry to hear about your loss. :(
 
This is, unfortunately, one of the times common sense isn't so common. My Black Ice Extreme came with nylon spacers, about 1/4" thick.
 
It boggles my mind that the rad company would provide screws that could do that. It not like the thickness of a standard fan (25 and 38 mm) is not known and the need to use spacers or washers not included with the hardware/radiator is pure bullshit.

Only if there where installation instructions you ignored is this your bad.

I would be on the phone to whomever supplied it with some pointed but polite comments about scew lengths and or warning labels.

Normally I hate the "WARNING - Do not use this hair dryer while taking a shower" kinda thing but you where booby trapped. It would take almost no effort or extra cost to include the proper length screws even if a custom length or washers or just a damn slip of orange paper warning you about the issue. Piss poor engineering, you always take the customers expertise or lack of it into account when you design/sell end user installable items. Well a good engineer would.

Sorry man, but you are not the first to do it. Give them a call/email and gently scream about it some and maybe you can be the last by prompting the company to resolve/prevent this from happening again. This is a problem that should never have happened. IMO.
 
Thinking back on this, I remember there being a small piece of paper stating along the lines of:

'Warranty Void if radiator is damaged due to improper bolts being installed.'

Was a small piece of paper, definately an after thought, IMO.
 
In future put a credit card behind the rad screw holes.. Easy way to make sure you don't screw too far.
 
thanks for all the replies. I am sure this is my own fault I had about a million boxes of parts, manuals, pieces of paper, screws, plastic baggies etc. scattered about my apartment so i'm sure i missed the warning. I ordered another with 2day air shipping so hopefully i wont have to wait too long to get it. I needed some mosfet coolers for my GPU anyway.

I will definitely use the credit card trick next time. That seems like a great idea and one I wish I would have seen before haha.

thanks again
 
BillParrish said:
It boggles my mind that the rad company would provide screws that could do that. It not like the thickness of a standard fan (25 and 38 mm) is not known and the need to use spacers or washers not included with the hardware/radiator is pure bullshit.

Only if there where installation instructions you ignored is this your bad.

I would be on the phone to whomever supplied it with some pointed but polite comments about scew lengths and or warning labels.

Normally I hate the "WARNING - Do not use this hair dryer while taking a shower" kinda thing but you where booby trapped. It would take almost no effort or extra cost to include the proper length screws even if a custom length or washers or just a damn slip of orange paper warning you about the issue. Piss poor engineering, you always take the customers expertise or lack of it into account when you design/sell end user installable items. Well a good engineer would.

Sorry man, but you are not the first to do it. Give them a call/email and gently scream about it some and maybe you can be the last by prompting the company to resolve/prevent this from happening again. This is a problem that should never have happened. IMO.
Click to expand...

Bill you should make a sticky post of preventative steps and a basic walk thru and checklist a for the first time water-cooler . . .I am sure lots of us would be glad to help you . . .maybe we can save members some grief upfront . . .errr. . . I guess there is one . . .maybe add this issue to the list in BOLD . . .
 
well i finally got my replacement. Yes, there is a warning in the box on a little printed out slip of paper. I must have missed this the first time. However, there is only 1 size of screw provided and no washers. Luckily I had some other rubber washers around but still had to double up with a metal washer to get a snug fit without vibration. In the end I could only put 2 screws on each fan instead of 4 until I can get some more washers. So in closing, yes it was my fault, but seriously danger den, how hard would it be to stick some washers in there for lower profile fans?
 
DarthBeavis said:
Bill you should make a sticky post of preventative steps and a basic walk thru and checklist a for the first time water-cooler . . .I am sure lots of us would be glad to help you . . .maybe we can save members some grief upfront . . .errr. . . I guess there is one . . .maybe add this issue to the list in BOLD . . .
Click to expand...

That is an excellent idea - looking into it now.
 
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