Leak testing - How to color the water without expesive additive?

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RobotChild

Gawd
Joined
Jul 4, 2006
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It's time to leak test all of my gear, I wont be here for most of the weekend so I'll be needing it to stain the paper towel to see leaks easily.

I know there are plenty of colored additives but I don't wish to buy one, and none can be found locally.

Any poorman solutions?
 
Swiftech's Coolant bottle good for 1 litre distilled water $2.99. You cannot find any cheaper than this and it is top product we are talking about.
 
annaconda said:
Swiftech's Coolant bottle good for 1 litre distilled water $2.99. You cannot find any cheaper than this and it is top product we are talking about.
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It'd take some time to arrive. Time I don't really have right now.

I just need it colored for leak testing. The water will be drained and new fresh distilled water will be put in.
 
Don't use food colouring...

Awhile ago (first WC setup... 2 years ago?), I coloured my water blue with food colouring.

I came back from holiday to weeks later... and the water was clear.

"Huh..."

Cleaning out my radiator was alot of fun... It had all settled inside one of the tubes.

It didn't hurt my temperatures though.

Radiator leak test stuff (The one that glows under UV) is a great thing to try.
 
I decided to try food coloring anyway.

The water will only be there for at most two days. I'm hoping it'll all be fine.
 
RobotChild said:
I decided to try food coloring anyway.

The water will only be there for at most two days. I'm hoping it'll all be fine.
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It'll be perfectly fine. You'll need to flush the system out with some vinegar and tap water (then flush it finally with distilled water to remove the tap water residues).
 
Kuyt said:
Just get some Pentosin and don't look back.
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If you want some of that I have a gallon of that stuff (its the blue G11). I would be more than glad to give you some at a small price. Ive only had it around a month. I have a gallon of it so thats good for about 100 gallons worth of water cooling coolant. :p

As for leak testing look into UV radiator leak tester. Yes, it is an additive but its also clear. Of course you need a UV light to look for leaks. I used to have some until I spilled the damn stuff on my floor. Now it looks like a crime scene when someone pulls a UV light out! :D
 
i never used coloring when i did leak test on mine. i used some paper from staples that if u drop water in it the paper will blot.
 
Close to a year now and I've had no problems with the ink from a standard highlighter. As a bonus, it's UV reactive as well.
 
If you are leak testing, another solution would be to take the loop ends and vacuum test the loop with a vacuum pump available at an autoparts store.
 
Just curious, but what would be the downside to just adding coolant as was suggested above? That seems like by far the easiest thing to do compared to using food coloring and having to flush the radiator or using paper and having to look for blotting or using vacuum pumps. Ive always thought that the easiest thing to do is just use some actual coolant which is made for this application (passing through radiators) and comes in colors right out of the jug.
 
I dont add any color. Pentosin G11 is blue directly out of the jug. I just used UV leak detectant when I first put my setup together to ensure there were no leaks a the barbs.
 
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