I screwed up

computermod14

computermod14

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 6, 2003
Messages
327
Prior to deciding on which coolant I was going to use, I had individually ran a distilled water and vinegar mix through all three radiators, my pump/res, and both CPU and GPU blocks, followed by a gallon of distilled to flush. This is what I'd always done in the past, though using Mayhems Pastel premix. All three radiators and my pump/res are new, CPU and GPU block are reused.

I then decided to run EK Cryofuel (Mystic Fog) and ended up with poor results after just 24 hours, as many of you would have expected. I didn't even think to check on the system prep prerequisites as I never had issues when using Mayhems Pastel.

Initial results from Nov 10 (good, yay!):



24 hours later (slightly fading, still okay):



And when I flushed on Nov 14 it was completely clear and all of the fallout that had settled started to break free (not good):



After the fact I had then read that Cryofuel does not play nicely with vinegar. I take full responsibility for the results I obtained, so lets get that out of the way.

This is where I'm at now. I had disconnected my loop from the reservoir return and directed it into the sink. I then flushed two gallons of distilled water through the entire loop. After the first gallon, I cleaned the insides of all tubes as there was a residue, water was also clear at this point. I topped off with the distilled water and have been running it through my loop now for 9 days.

What are my chances of having better luck the second time around if I throw more Mystic Fog in (I have 1 more liter), since I've been running distilled for over a week? I know it's ballsy of me to attempt, and I could just throw in some Inhibitor + Hades and call it a day, but I do prefer white or Mystic Fog so I'm looking for some opinions first.
 
This why I just use straight distilled water in my system. They look all cool at first but they all end up discoloring or breaking down.
 
I've cleaned my radiators with vinegar before using CryoFuel and it has worked just fine.

That said, I obsessively flush them out for days after before using them.

Fill with distilled water, flush for a few hours, drain. Repeat 10+ times.

If there is any vinegar left in the loop after that, it's beyond trace amounts.

In general CryoFuel is a very very good coolant. It has protected my blocks such that they look brand new even after years of use.

That said, the number one rule of coolants is this:

NEVER EVER NEVER USE ANY OPAQUE COOLANT FROM ANY MANUFACTURER.

No, not even Mayhems.

They usually state something like "For show purposes only" in the fine print, but even if they don't, don't trust them.

Colors are fine, but opaque coolant always require small particles that WILL get stuck in and gunk up the microchannels in your blocks, regardless of what the manufacturer or anyone else says.

If you want it to be opaque, just use opaque colored tubing.
 
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Zarathustra[H] said:
I've cleaned my radiators with vinegar before using CryoFuel and it has worked just fine.

That said, I obsessively flush them out for days after before using them.

Fill with distilled water, flush for a few hours, drain. Repeat 10+ times.

If there is any vinegar left in the loop after that, it's beyond trace amounts.

In general CryoFuel is a very very good coolant. It has protected my blocks such that they look brand new even after years of use.

That said, the number one rule of coolants is this:

NEVER EVER NEVER USE ANY OPAQUE COOLANT FROM ANY MANUFACTURER.

No, not even Mayhems.

They usually state something like "For show purposes only" in the fine print, but even if they don't, don't trust them.

Colors are fine, but opaque coolant always require small particles that WILL get stuck in and gunk up the microchannels in your blocks, regardless of what the manufacturer or anyone else says.

If you want it to be opaque, just use opaque colored tubing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback Zarathustra[H] !

I do have a hard time agreeing with you on the opaque coolant rule that you have. Embarrassingly, I used Mayhems Pastel White in my system for 3 years without maintenance. Truth be told, the CPU block, pump and res had no stains and cleaned up very easily. Trust me, I couldn’t believe it. The coolant had the same look and integrity that it did from day one. So this is why I’m having a hard time here and was caught off guard with the Cryofuel.

It does sound like I’ll be in good shape if I want to give it another go. We’ll see!
 
I use strictly opaque, I like the way it looks. Fluid has come a long way and many of the "never opaque" club hasn't used any in years. I have had great experiences with mayhems pastel purple and EK's pastel white. Using both those for 2 plus years, no maintenance. I have had an issue with color dropping out when using a pastel pink. I dont know the reason as it was on a brand new build. Your build is cool, i think the mystic fog sets it off nicely, if you have flushed it many times through go for it.
 
vegeta535 said:
This why I just use straight distilled water in my system. They look all cool at first but they all end up discoloring or breaking down.
Click to expand...
I've had good luck with the clear Cryofuel or any of the Koolance fluids. I've run the latter in a couple of Exos 2.5's I use for review systems and have for more than ten years.
 
Dan_D said:
I've had good luck with the clear Cryofuel or any of the Koolance fluids. I've run the latter in a couple of Exos 2.5's I use for review systems and have for more than ten years.
Click to expand...

Clear Cryofuel is awesome. it has protected my loops perfectly for years.

I like having a tiny bit of color in there though. It makes it easier to spot leaks. I usually use one part blue Cryofuel and two to three parts clear. It creates a coolant that is still pretty damn blue (they use way too much colorant in the colored formulas) so if there is a leak and I wipe it I can tell for sure, yet it is also still fairly easy to flush out of the system.

With the straight blue there is so much colorant that gets stuck in there that even 5 fills and flushes later, I still get some blue coming out of the system. It's crazy.

I'd probably use less of a blue to clear ratio, but they come in liter bottles (or 100ml concentrates that make a liter when diluted with distilled water) and my loop fits about 1 US gallon of coolant, so that is the ratio I wind up with when I buy one bottle blue and fill the rest with clear.
 
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