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Water Cooling Horror Stories?

C

covertclocker

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 10, 2004
Messages
498
Hello all,

I have been lurking the forums for a little while and I feel now is a good time to ask. Has anyone ever had problems a few months after buying a water cooling kit? I ask this because a few of my friends are telling me its insane to watercool because of the potential for the water to spill all over your internals. I do agree that there is a potential for it to spill all over the place, but if you screw up the install and dont leak test it first. But there is always that question of time. Has anyone ever had a problem of a hose giving out on them a few months after having the kit installed? I need to know if their fears are unfounded or not. I want to get the watercooling, its just a matter of getting these monkeys off my back. Thank you.
 
Krazy_Joe said:
fluid xp
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It's pretty damned expensive, but I've read reviews where they poured the stuff right in the computer and everything ran just fine. If you're that paranoid than go for it, but if you test and setup everything properly then you shouldn't ever have any problems.
 
i just read an article about the stuff and I must say it is impressive, but also expensive. They claim that the performance isn't that far off from using water, has anyone or does anyone know of a side by side comparison?
 
Falls Included said:
can't you use distilled water... its isnt conductive...
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Thats not entirely true. Distilled water is still conductive. I think you are thinking of de-ionized water, which, even still will be slightly conductive after putting it into your water loop with metal radiator and water blocks. Theres a bunch of threads out there concerning this matter.

Yes FluidXP is effective at being a zero conductivity liquid. Yes, FluidXP is a complete waste of money. Many people (myself included) have had a bit of distilled water spill onto their components with nothing happening. Unless it starts spilling all over your computer in signifigant volume or spraying into your power supply (which I have seen happen...), distilled water won't hurt you too much. Well, if you just let it keep dripping all over your stuff it might, but if you catch it quick enough and let your components dry off, you'll probably be fine. Do yourself a favor and pay $1 for distilled water and just leak test your system instead of wasting $25 or whatever on FluidXP. Save $24 by not being lazy and leak testing your loop for 24+ hours before you put it in your computer.
 
Just about every review i have read recommends leak testing a kit, so that would be number one. My primary concern was that further down the road, say a few months after having the kit, has anyone run into a tube somehow snaking off a connector or anything? The Fluid XP does look like a waste of money, I dunno who wasted their time inventing the stuff. so far no one has had any stories, so my friends look like idiots thus far. :D
 
Just make sure that you have tight hose clamps on all of yoru junctions. If you do that, and leak test fine after 24 hours or more, you should be fine. I've had my newest setup running 24/7 since early April with no problems. I accidentally spilled a bit of water on my video card out of my T-Line right before that though. :eek: Turned out fine though... and I revised my T-Line setup after that too. :D

If you follow those steps, in my opinion, your biggest risk is forgetting to turn on your pump if you have 120V thats not on a relay or something. So, if you want a horror story, heres one:

My old roomate (moron) forgot to turn on his pump to his dual 1800+ setup with 226 watt pelts on both of them. Got the water so hot it melted his tubing at the CPU's and sprayed water into his PSU. His computer no longer existed after that... But, then again, there aren't many people as stupid as that guy. ;)
 
Fluid XP isnt a wast of money. It does slightly better with load temps, non conductive, and it has a shelf life of 5 years. Meaning you wont have to change the liquid in the system for 5 years. As apposed to distilled water and antifreeze, were corrosion and algee begin to form. Also, the FluidXP lubricates your pump a whole lot better then water can (if it can)
 
Suntar said:
Fluid XP isnt a wast of money. It does slightly better with load temps As apposed to distilled water and antifreeze, were corrosion and algee begin to form.
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Proof of the loads temps claim?

And you can use water with other additives and completely avoid corrosion and algae problems.
 
covertclocker said:
Just about every review i have read recommends leak testing a kit, so that would be number one. My primary concern was that further down the road, say a few months after having the kit, has anyone run into a tube somehow snaking off a connector or anything? The Fluid XP does look like a waste of money, I dunno who wasted their time inventing the stuff. so far no one has had any stories, so my friends look like idiots thus far. :D
Click to expand...

NASA invented it
 
accually i read that they had nasa scientist working on its formula and how many ways they could use it.

And no, it is not a wast of money. Its up to you to go to lengths of running a good WC system, and up to you how to manage it.
 
You should be able to get de-ionized water from a hospital or a lab. I'm planning on getting mine from Emory. Then you can just add some additives.
 
Chicken Penni Pasta said:
You should be able to get de-ionized water from a hospital or a lab. I'm planning on getting mine from Emory. Then you can just add some additives.
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Whats the point of getting deionized water when it instantly becomes ionized again as soon as you introduce it to you copper waterblocks and heatercore?

Just get distilled water. Its cheap. Its effective. End of story.
 
Dark Ember said:
Just get distilled water. Its cheap. Its effective. End of story.
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Just run a good 24 hour leak test and make sure all your hose clamps are on good and tight... and you shouldn't have a single problem.

And check your system every week or two weeks to make sure no connections are moving...or coming loose.
 
Sounds resonable enough for me, thanks guys for your insite and input. This forum rocks for a reason, hehe
 
Dark Ember said:
Whats the point of getting deionized water when it instantly becomes ionized again as soon as you introduce it to you copper waterblocks and heatercore?
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Oh c'mon, metals aren't that soluble in water!!
 
I leak tested my first setup in the case, thinking I had every power cable disconnected so it would be ok.

Unfortunately, there was one molex still plugged in, the small one on a 9700 pro. Of course the leak I had was from the cpu block, so it dripped off that block, right onto the vid card and ended up in the agp slot. I thought I got it before it cooked anything, but I guess I'm wrong.

That card now gets artifacts 24x7, is like 4 vertical bands, each about 2 inches wide, evenly spaced, of junk. I let it dry out for a month, tried it in another rig, same stuff.

Is possible I fried it in between moves, since it'd been in my parts bin for awhile(was using 9700 pro/aiw instead, but block wouldn't fit on that card without modification).

I ended up grinding down the mounts of the vga block just enough so it'd fit on the 9700 p/aiw, and everything was fine.

Oh, then part 2, which wasn't as horrible, I get a 6800gt and the bolts for the block won't fit through the holes on the card. A few delicate minutes with the drill took care of that! :D

The fluidx stuff looks nice, I just don't like the fact that I can't get it from a vendor I've already dealt with. Maybe on the next rig I build I'll go that way.
 
My tygon tubes went brown after more than 18 months running with water+hylighter+water wetter. Yes even with changing the water. Of course then I just took the extra tubing I bought and cut replacement tubes. ALWAYS LEEK TEST. If you cant be bothered to do this then watercooling isnt for you.
 
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