Vinegar in the radiator

G

Grady

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Messages
70
I flushed out my radiator with vinegar and boiling distilled water...but what I'm seeing now after a few flushes with just the distilled water are small bubbles that come out and slide all over the place. I'm guessing it's the vinegar trying not to mix with the distilled water. Similar to oil and water trying to mix. Is this the case? Will this hurt my loop if it stays in the radiator?

After all of this, I will be using 50/50 prediluted antifreeze to fill my system with. Will the vinegar effect the antifreeze?
 
Alright, thank you. So the 50/50 antifreeze is okay to use in the system? All of this came along because last time I ran antifreeze in my loop, I diluted it with distilled water but it was already prediluted. And...90% water with an aluminum GPU block = corroded to pieces. I also flushed it with tap water and let it sit over night, so it oxodized a little from that too. I just had to buy a new block and have been retubing and cleaning out all my parts to get the loose corrosion out.

I plan to use the same antifreeze again, but this time...I won't dilute it.

I've tried some other products for the coolant and it was so thick, it actually stopped the flow inside my loop.


EDIT:

Also, one more quick question:

I have a radiator that sits three 120mm fans on top. Is it best to have these exhaust or intake? I've tried them both ways...and I haven't been able to notice a significant difference except one draws in TONS of dust into the fins of my radiator.


Damn, one more question I thought of:

Is the antifreeze an anti-fungal? If not, is there any type I could get at a local store that would be safe to mix and would be safe with my system loop?
 
Have your fans drawing in cool air through the radiator. You don't want the hotter air from inside the case exhausting through your radiator. If you're worried about dust, put dust filters on top of your radiator or something. Really though, I have zero problems with dust in my 2x120 radiator intaking air. I guess it might depend on your environment though.
 
I agree, pull air is better, you avoid (somewhat, depends on the distance between the fan and the fins) the dead spot from the fan hub. It can get into a long technical debate but in general pulling has been shown to be a little better. However if you are not into cleaning frankly if you have seen on your individual rig, less dust one way than the other I would go with the less dust method. Dust in the fins will kill the performance worse than which way the fans are blowing. Its not going to matter much anyway.

Hmm I hate percentages, I guess it depends on the "mix" of the pre-diluted stuff. Without that its hard to figure out what the final percentage of antifreeze is. I am thinking (and without knowing it more of guessing) the premix is already in the percentage the manuf thinks is sufficient for corrosion protection, but maybe its mixed based on temp protection. arrrugggg - so I don't want to say.

Aye even a little of that antifreeze will kill anything in there and keep anything from growing. Frankly I cant quite figure out where that "stuff grows" comes from. I have never had an issue with my old school system that runs on 100% distilled water (all copper). /shrug. Clean as the day I put it together.


I just don't know about your mix, me personally, since it is already diluted, and you had a corrosion issue before, I personally would be thinking about a 75% premix and 25% water just to cut it down a bit. I think people get a little crazy with the extremes of theory( myself included), yes 100% water is best, but how much "best", and if your blocks are corroding who cares about a 1.5 deg improvement in loop temp. Again just IMO and without knowing the % of antifreeze (assuming its standard ethylene glycol with some silicates ) in the premix makes it all speculation on my part.
 
The antifreeze is a 50/50 mix. Or, so says the bottle it came in. So I'm guessing that's 50% antifreeze and 50% some type of water? Well, the new block I ordered is nickel plated so when I put that in, I won't have anymore aluminum in the loop. It will all be copper and nickel.

When I drained it this last time from the corrosion problem, it looked like there was a lot of "ugh" growing in there. It almost looked like algae which is why I figured I'd just stay away from the water completely this time.

About the fans, when they are intake, they take in a HUGE amount of dust, even with a mesh guard on top. I live in a very dust room with carpet and such =/

But the most important thing is the antifreeze/water issue. I don't want anymore corrosion and I also want to know what is best for my loop.

With the copper CPU block and the nickel plated GPU block and I guess whatever the metal is inside my radiator, would you recommend pure 100% distilled water Bill? Or try the 50/50 antifreeze again?
 
I think I may actually put my radiator fans as exhaust. This is due to the fact that when they are in this position, the dust in my radiator fins is significantly reduced. I guess the only issue to this is how it's pushing hot air from my case through the radiator. =/

But, are you able to get a better idea of the antifreeze now, Bill?
 
Ahh bare al on old setup, Nickle plate on new, should not have a corrosion issue if the plating is good but still some anti-freeze is cheap insurace. I would now back off the 75 - 25 previous suggestion with this new info. lets see what 50 50 does assuming mix is 50/50.


ah lol 2 glasses of wine too far to probably do this but just for fun (waiting for guildies to log in on my game)

to keep the math simple lets say you were going to mix up a gallon so you had plenty around for topping off etc, plus gallon jugs are easy to find etc. and assume you have plenty of the mix handy.

128 oz in a gallon
for 50mix/50 water.

1/2 gallon water = 64oz
1/2 gallon mix = 64 oz of which 32 oz is antifreeze and 32 oz is water.

so we have 32 oz of antifreeze in the 128 oz total for a 32/128 = 25% antifreeze.

( lol I bet a math person could have just looked and figured that out )

seems a bit high % now with that plated block but I dont remember what the current % recommendation is.

what would be a 10% antifreeze if making up a gallon.

10% of 128oz is 12.8 oz so we would need 25.6 oz of 50/50 mix and the rest water in a gallon jug to make a 10% mixture. Wow as I drink more I seem to figure out easiry ways to calculate it but my spelling get worse. Gonna go kill something, cya.
 
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