Water, cleaning & additives - advice needed

[TechJeff]

have read the WIKI here and some Google, but still have some questions about water and cleaning for my new water cooling setup.


Mainly, I know to use Distilled water, but most of what I find have things like added electrolytes and such. I don't think I should use those and just need to find plain Distilled water with nothing else added correct? Also, a lot of stores don't stock just plain Distilled water but do have "Purified Reverse Osmosis" water. When looking at Google, I am still unclear on the difference. It said "Reverse Osmosis" is similar to Distilled and a newer process that contains no minerals at all. Can I use Reverse Osmosis water if I can not find Distilled water in my system cooling?


Also, I was wondering about pre-cleaning the rads and parts. Some say to pre-clean your rads with Distilled water only and others say you can use tap water then rise them with Distilled. But many areas, like mine, have hard water and we get a lot of lime deposit on sink faucets, dishes, etc. In that case, is it still safer or should you use Distilled or reverse osmosis water all the time even for all cleaning? Also, some say to boil the water and put your rads in for a while, is that safe? What should I do to clean the rads?

For using water color, I have some for my loop, with no additives. I have seen where some say you must use something like a few drops of PTNuke or PrimoChill Liquid Utopia Bomb to the water in addition to your color when filling. But, it's important to note I have read where this is NOT advised by some water cooling companies. I have EK "Full Nickel" CPU water blocks that just came out this year and they say you should NOT use anything abrasive or aggressive and even vinegar is bad as it can damage the blocks causing them not to work and void warranty. I don't want to cause a problem either way and feel like I should follow what the company says about how to use it properly to not cause harm. Here is their statement:

"All blocks bases are made of electrolytic copper.
Nickel plated blocks are milled of copper and then plated with fine thin layer of nickel.

When cleaning blocks please do not use any aggressive chemicals (neither vinegar) or rough materials as you may damage block and void warranty.

Using corrosion inhibitors is highly recommended as nickel plating does not prevent corrosion of metals when environment for galvanic effect is created (mixed metal,...).
Please note also that due to presence of UV additives and other chemicals nickel layer may also become discolored/stained over time period. "

Does this mean to use something like the PrimoChill Liquid Utopia Bomb? I remain confused on this part.

Thanks for any info on this.

 

[USMCGrunt]

The disclaimer's that companies use when it comes to the kind of liquid being used is mostly just that, a disclaimer. That way if you DO damage the block using XX cooling fluid, they don't have to honor the warranty. EK has been known (and possibly still known) for having a shitty nickeling process that results in flaking of the nickel plating and not honoring warranties for it...even for people that have said they used nothing but pure distilled. I personally have three nickel plated EK blocks and they're good to go for the last 8-9 months so, YMMV.

I would suggest throwing a silver kill coil in your loop(s) unless your going to be using solid color tubing that doesn't allow light in....and even then it wouldn't hurt to use one just to be sure.

I've read about people having issues with colored fluids causing their tubing to stain that color. I've been using Ice Dragon White fluid and my tubing does have a slight hazing to it but the coolant says it will do that and you can't tell unless the tubes are empty.

I did not preclean my parts and ive heard just as much as you have about different methods of doing it so...i dunno about that.

 

[SonDa5]

I've been doing alot of reading on the topic and looks like the best for thermal performance health of loop is distilled water, PT Nuke and silver.

On top of that I think it is a good idea to change your water as often as needed. At least every 6 months seems like a safe time frame. If your water looks a little cloudy then change it.

 

[TechJeff]

After doing some research, I found the best to use is Mayhem Concentrates for the color and fluid. If you do, it has all you need in it and no need to add anything else. Also, most reviews and people are saying this is the best on the market and really good. I wanted a clear loop to see through and not the color tubes because most of those colors are basic and do not match my color scheme at all. So I went with PrimoChill Clear tubing.

Also, I going to boil some distilled water, just to heat it up and pre-clean my rads before use. Other parts are not necessary I was told, but the rads tend to have quite a bit of flux that comes out. So you just fill with hot water, use a hot glove or holder, fill/rinse and repeat as needed.

Then I will on to testing the parts before running in my system.

 

[magoo]

Never used Mayhem color, but be sure as hell there is an algaecide in that additive, period.
PT Nuke and silver coils are algaecides.

Algae spores are everywhere, and hot water plus light will allow those spores to grow, no matter how clean you try to be.

If you decide to boil your distilled before rinsing the radiator, use a pot that has no additives that could flake off into the water, that would be just as bad as the flux in the radiator.

 

[USMCGrunt]

Im not seeing how boiling water makes it any better. Youve got minerals in the water that arent going to boil out. Seems like youd need to boil the water, capture the vapor and let it recondense in a sterile container. At which point your boiling pot would be left with nothung but the mineral residue.

Im not saying im right, thats just what i think of when i try to imagine the process.

 

[baldrik]

Im not seeing how boiling water makes it any better. Youve got minerals in the water that arent going to boil out. Seems like youd need to boil the water, capture the vapor and let it recondense in a sterile container. At which point your boiling pot would be left with nothung but the mineral residue.

Im not saying im right, thats just what i think of when i try to imagine the process.

Boiling allows some of the gases disolved in the water to escape, so you end up with less gas in the loop overall. That's the general idea at least. I seriously doubt it is actually worth the trouble.

 

[USMCGrunt]

Boiling allows some of the gases disolved in the water to escape, so you end up with less gas in the loop overall. That's the general idea at least. I seriously doubt it is actually worth the trouble.

ahhh I C, I reread the thread and realized you were talking about distilled water being boiled....not regular tap water....duh...

 

[magoo]

ahhh I C, I reread the thread and realized you were talking about distilled water being boiled....not regular tap water....duh...

All I think of is......the boiling distilled simply is better at dislodging flux from the radiator when you first rinse it.
He's not talking about boiling the distilled to use in the actual loop....there's no purpose in that. The amount of dissolved gases would be trivial at best.