I may have damaged my new radiator.

R

robothunter

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 19, 2008
Messages
369
I screwed a couple of my screws in a little too deep. I tried to take pictures but you can't really see anything. It's impossible to get a good angle. How can I tell if I just bent the tubing or if I punctured it? What can I do if I did puncture it? Can I put a little epoxy on it? It's a Swiftech MCR320. Thanks.
 
You can easily tell if you punctured it by running it outside of your pc to test for leaks.

Just let it run for a while with some paper beneath it to see if it is leaking.
 
Well, if it's like a car rad, you can just put an egg in there. The egg will boil and seal the cracks!
 
no you can not use an egg this also dosent work in cars trust me tried it.
you can fix it with something called ragweld it is like a putty it sets rock hard and seals the gap if you can get to it.
 
If it's leaking, it is best to replace it. Given the fact that we are cooling electronics with liquid, it is REALLY easy to fry said electronics and waste much more money than the cost of another radiator. If it is leaking, just chalk it up to an expensive lesson that saved you from an even more expensive mistake.
 
Good point. If I do a 12 hour leak test and there is no leak is it possible that it will develop over time? Will the water eventually erode the copper over time?
 
There's always some level of erosion, but highly unlikely you skinned it close enough for that to effect it. You'd have had to get the metal to less then the thickness of paper.
I was facing a similar problem with a radiator a while back. I put a screw in the wrong place. Luckily, i only bent the fins, and didn't touch the the actual tubing. A plumber had told me I could have soldered it, had I needed to fix the leak. The solder will act like a weld. I think the ragweld suggestion above is similar in approach.
Fingers crossed then, hopefully you don't even have anything to worry about.
 
Strip the paint off the area to make bare metal contact, add some flux over the area to prevent it from oxidizing while being soldered, and solder it with some plumbers solder that they use on copper pipes. You could probably take it to a local automotive shop, and they could repair it like any other car radiator as well. Also, I believe sidewindercomputers will fix it for you for a small price if you send it to them. Not sure on that one though.
 
Thanks. I was trying to decide whether to cut a hole in the top of my case and keep everything internal or mount the rad outside. I was testing out a Bitspower Rad support kit which went a little too deep and caused the problem. That just became an easy decision.
 
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