If you're not supposed to mix aluminum and copper, why do sealed coolers do it? (to save costs yes) My h60 and h50 are a copper block with aluminum radiator. How does corsair get away with it while offering a 5 year warranty (meaning they believe it will be fine for at least 5 years)?
![[H]ard|Forum](/styles/hardforum/xenforo/logo_dark.png){kind=logo}
If you're not supposed to mix aluminum and copper, why do sealed coolers do it?
- Thread starter munkle
- Start date
They probably don't use a liquid that promotes galvanic corrosion. Or they are using a special aluminum alloy that keeps it from happening.
http://www.aluminiumdesign.net/design-support/aluminiums-corrosion-resistance/
http://www.preservationscience.com/materials/metals/PGC.html
http://www.aluminiumdesign.net/design-support/aluminiums-corrosion-resistance/
http://www.preservationscience.com/materials/metals/PGC.html
Tsumi
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2010
- Messages
- 13,757
They use a special coolant that prevents corrosion.
Is it possible to buy this coolant?
Edit: is this what I am looking for?
Is this really any different then distilled water and antifreeze (which to my understanding has corrosion inhibitors)?
Edit: is this what I am looking for?
Is this really any different then distilled water and antifreeze (which to my understanding has corrosion inhibitors)?
Last edited:
Tsumi
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2010
- Messages
- 13,757
My question is why are you looking for coolant to use?
I'm doing a little ghetto modding, I have an h60 attached to my video card, it cools quiet nicely. You can tell it gets saturated with heat, so I got a 3x120mm rad that I am going to have it go into as well as my h60 on my cpu. SO basically a Y from the h60 and h50 into the 320 and then a y back out. I'll keep the single 120mm rads as well in the loop.
Tsumi
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2010
- Messages
- 13,757
I don't think that's a very good idea. The pumps are known to be notoriously weak.
It's a great idea! I've got nothing to lose really, I have another h50 sitting in a box, it was free, and the h60 on my video card was $20 new. The video card will cause the system to shut down if it over heats, I know since I forgot to plug the pump in once and it turned off after about 20 seconds so its a fail safe if the pump fails I guess.
Dreamerbydesign
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2008
- Messages
- 6,234
Its been tried.... with horrible results. Save your pennies and buy something decent or just keep the AIO's and be happy.
Tsumi
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2010
- Messages
- 13,757
The far better idea would be to sell them while they still have value (before you cut them up) and use that money to get real watercooling parts.
Not going to work.
Yep. If you want an expandable loop, buy a kit that is made for it or build a custom loop. AIO's are only good as their initial sealed systems (and barely so).
To answer the question in the OP, many times radiators will have aluminum fins but brass tubing, which doesn't really have an galvanic corrosion with copper. Brass is also pretty cheap too. Therefore you save money on the rads and don't have to worry about corrosion. Anti-galvanic agents aren't fool proof and the fluid has to be changed often to keep protecting the anode, so it's a real pain. That said, probably isn't necessary since there shouldn't be any galvanic corrosion by design.
Nenu
[H]ardened
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2007
- Messages
- 20,315
I've been using an Eheim 1048 pond pump for years, its silent, pretty powerful and very reliable.
the video card cooler has already been cut, I needed longer tubes to mount it.
I guess I'm going to be a rebel,
. Honestly I just want to do it for a project. Buying something is going to cost quite a bit more and defeats my ghetto project funness. The rad I bought used for fairly cheap. I'll let all the skeptics know how it goes, haha. I don't mind if its a failed project, I made a custom case and I thought it would be cool if the cd drive opened coming straight up out of the case. I made the case, mounted the drive, and it turns out disks don't stay in the tray like they do if the drive is mounted sideways.
Tsumi
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2010
- Messages
- 13,757
the video card cooler has already been cut, I needed longer tubes to mount it.
I guess I'm going to be a rebel,
Well, we all sometimes do stupid things for the hell of it, go ahead and have fun.
To increase your chance of success though, I would ditch having them both go through the 360 radiator. Just have the video card one go to the 360 radiator only, and ditch the 120 radiator. That way, you also don't have to worry about coolant and just run straight up distilled water.
DarkStryke
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2001
- Messages
- 1,391
Actually it's a bad idea as noted above. The pumps in those units are anemic, and won't have flow rates worth shit through a 360 rad.
Erasmus354
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Mar 12, 2004
- Messages
- 9,450
The key word here is "inhibitors". You can't prevent corrosion, as was incorrectly stated above. You can only slow down the corrosion. Therefore, it is recommended not to mix metals when possible. This is generally sound advice when building your own loop because it is very easy to avoid aluminum and only use copper/brass parts.
AIO kits use aluminum because they save a few dollars and are able to eke out a little bit of extra profit. Even if there is corrosion in the system, it will still work for the 5 year period (most likely). It might however have degraded performance because of the corrosion gunking up cooling fins.