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What coolant are you using?

T

Talisker

n00b
Joined
Nov 14, 2005
Messages
48
I'm ordering my parts and suddenly think about coolant.... isn't that funny... :D
Anyhow, I was wondering what you guys are using and how often you change the fluid in your system.
Also, is there another additive to make the pump last longer? I'd assume since those pumps are made for Aquariums they are built to last?

I was looking at Swiftech Hydrx as a possible choice, is it any good?
MCT-5 Non Conductive Fluid would be nice (and expensive)... guess I just pay more attention clamping the tubes togehter...*G*

Regarding the hoses... whats the recommodation? Plastic clamps or the metall ones with the screws?

Thanks
 
i use pentosin blue antifreeze with distilled water, myself. looks nice and works fine.

i use metal gear clamps, nice thick ones from the hardware store. there are reasons that i don't use the plastic ones anymore, however those don't really apply to a norma rig: things just went horribly wrong in peltier land, and boiling water can exert quite a lot of pressure on tubing.

if you like the looks of the plastic ones: use them and squeeze them down tight with a pair of pliers. if you don't care about looks and are paranoid, metal gear clamps work just fine.
 
I'm new to this, I decided for my first setup I'd go with MCT-5 ... the cheapest I could find it would be at Directron.com ... After buying the bottle and paying for USPS Priority (2-3 day) shipping, the total was around $29... as far as clamps, I've been doing some hard research of my own, I'm not touching anything other than worm clamps for my first setup... safety, safety, safety... the metal worm clamps that you seemed to have described are the best, from my gathered knowledge of the oppinions of this forum.

And if you dont want heat-to-tube problems like Dashi described with his different setup, get the Clearflex 1/2" ID cables that have about 3.5 mm of extra girth, they are the ones listed as lab safe and able to take up to 160 F.
 
Iria said:
I And if you dont want heat-to-tube problems like Dashi described with his different setup, get the Clearflex 1/2" ID cables that have about 3.5 mm of extra girth, they are the ones listed as lab safe and able to take up to 160 F.
Click to expand...
i'm using thick-as-hell tygon 1/2" tubing with 1/8" thick walls and is also rated for 160F sustained opperating temps. this is massive overkill for a normal loop with normal opperating temps.

i had a blowout due to a closed loop and water hitting boiling temperatues from roughly 300 watts of heat-dump with the fans off. no normal rig will ever have this as a problem, even if the pump quits.

what i have is overkill for normal applications, and even for my own application. tubing with 1/16" thick walls are plenty for the pressures and temperatures that a normal loop will see, even if the worst happens.

i melted solder in my little mishap. things hit temps so far beyond what you guys have to worry about, it isn't even funny, and the precautions that you guys need to take are correspondingly less drastic.
 
Metal worm clamps...... ahhhhhhh. I guess that would be the proper name :p I prefer being paranoid. *S*
 
Low-Tox anti-Freeze and distilled water.................... :cool: Nothing special mind you.
As for clamps, whatever I have sitting around the house, plastic, metal worm clamps or wire ties, doesn't really matter, they all work just fine in a normal loop. Just not DFI Daishi's Pelt loop................... :eek:
 
Anime Fan

I assume you are also using a Blacklight, does the Hydrix look good?

How about the maintenance? As much as I was able to find out.... change the coolant about every 6months?
 
i had a blowout due to a closed loop and water hitting boiling temperatues from roughly 300 watts of heat-dump with the fans off. no normal rig will ever have this as a problem said:
What did your room look like? Lasting impressions? :D
Click to expand...
 
DFI Daishi said:
things just went horribly wrong in peltier land, and boiling water can exert quite a lot of pressure on tubing.
Click to expand...

LMAO......thats a bit of an understatement.

I'm using dist. water and the standard hyrdix that came with my Apex at the moment. When I redo my loop next time (hopefully when I get my u2-ufo) I'm going with the blue pentosin to match my led fans and such.
 
I'm running "green" anti-freeze and distilled water at a mix of 3 parts water to 1 part anti-freeze and it works pretty well although I've never run anything else so I have no real comparison since I have to run a higher ratio of anti-freeze.
 
obviouslytom said:
Am I right in reading that you are using antifreeze for a car? and does it work well?
Click to expand...
That's basicly what all the different anti-freeze is, automotive type. As long as you don't over do it, it'll all work just fine........... :D
 
Thanks Bio-Hazard,

I just made a new tank for my system which is now about 5 times bigger then it used to be. So now I know what to do about increasing the amount of coolant.
 
i use

DangerDen MCT-5

cant be too careful with those expensive parts!

Plus i got it for free, becuase DD threw it in with my order over $100 :)
 
I used MCT-5 and It was a life saver

I also used plastic POS clamps and they sucked ass.

The tubing to my pump slowly slipped off letting my MCT-5 leak everywhere.

If I had to do everything again. I'd simply use the metal clamps with the screws. Worm clamps i think they're called.

MCT-5 For sure. It has been proven to get a better 1-2 c on load

hiughly reccommend
 
It says that MCT-5 has some stuff in it that makes it look cool.... what is it? It is not UV- reative right?
 
it is green UV reactive... its not a lot, but definately glows green.

i have some left over, i probably could take a pic if needed.
 
Sorry for the slight thread hijack, but can someone confirm my choice of additive for my WC rig? I'm mixing metals in my watercooling loop for the first time, as I have copper-based Swiftech blocks but a 1m tall aluminium passive rad/res.

Will Zerex or a regular automotive antifreeze (someone on another forum suggested Toyota red additive in particular) mixed with distilled water will do the job of preventing galvanic corrosion? I would go for the DangerDen custom fluid, but I'll likely need quite a lot to fill the res, so that could work out expensive.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[k]
 
[k]ar| said:
Sorry for the slight thread hijack, but can someone confirm my choice of additive for my WC rig? I'm mixing metals in my watercooling loop for the first time, as I have copper-based Swiftech blocks but a 1m tall aluminium passive rad/res.

Will Zerex or a regular automotive antifreeze (someone on another forum suggested Toyota red additive in particular) mixed with distilled water will do the job of preventing galvanic corrosion? I would go for the DangerDen custom fluid, but I'll likely need quite a lot to fill the res, so that could work out expensive.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[k]
Click to expand...
any "dexcool" rated automotive antifreeze has passed standardized anti-corrosion testing, however i think that might be a north american rating, so it may not be printed on antifreeze sold in the UK.

if you really need anti-corrosion, and it sounds like you do, you will likely need to go a bit heavier on the anti-freeze than the 9:1 - 10:1 water:anti-freeze ratio that a lot of people use.
 
Thanks for the info, Daishi!

It only just occurred to me, whilst browsing another thread regarding additives, that I should have mentioned the rad/res I am using is anodised. Will this make a difference? Whilst it looks like a pretty good finish, there are a couple of places on the interior where the colouring is not 100%; hence I guess there will still a need for some anti-galvanic protection, such as you mention.

Is there any particular reason to go for Zerex over, say, the Toyota red antifreeze (which my car uses)? The reason I ask is that alot of OC shops over here seem to carry Zerex along with water wetter and FluidXP / MCT-5. TBH, if there's no difference, it would be easier for me to go with the Toyota red as I can then also use it in my car!

Thanks again!

[k]
 
[k]ar| said:
Is there any particular reason to go for Zerex over, say, the Toyota red antifreeze (which my car uses)? The reason I ask is that alot of OC shops over here seem to carry Zerex along with water wetter and FluidXP / MCT-5. TBH, if there's no difference, it would be easier for me to go with the Toyota red as I can then also use it in my car!

Thanks again!

[k]
Click to expand...
zerex and water wetter both reduce the surface tension of water, allowing the water to get into closer contact with the metal heat exchange surfaces. there is some improvement to performance, but adding a few drops of liquid dish soap to regular water and antifreeze might give you a similar result.

zerex also has the anti-corrosive thing in it's favour, and a single bottle of it from the auto parts store will last you for quite a few loop refills. since zerex is a high performance automotive coolant additive, made by valvoline, there is no reason not to get that for use in both your car and loop. :)
 
I buy a gallon of distilled water, take out 1 cup of water, put in 1 cup of water wetter, 1 cap of isopropyl alcohol, and 4 drops of blue food coloring- TADA
 
[k]ar| said:
Is there any particular reason to go for Zerex over, say, the Toyota red antifreeze (which my car uses)? The reason I ask is that alot of OC shops over here seem to carry Zerex along with water wetter and FluidXP / MCT-5. TBH, if there's no difference, it would be easier for me to go with the Toyota red as I can then also use it in my car!

Thanks again!

[k]
Click to expand...



The "red" Toyota oem stuff is GREAT, every bit as good as the Zerex. They also have the premixed 50/50 "pink" Toyota stuff now. Either works good, just mix it to about a 3:1 water:coolant ratio. Has worked wonderfully in every H2O setup I ever used....thats 4 of them. No corrosion and the color is coolio! It will do everything you need it to do as far as galvanic corrosion.


P.S.- I worked for Toyota for over 10 years...I know what I am talking about.
 
Thanks everyone for your advice! I know where I'm headed now with this, but Dillusion - why do you put iso alcohol in your mix?

TheRapture - thanks for the confirmation. I have a Toyota 2ZZ-GE motor in the back of my Lotus, and that uses the red coolant additive. I needed to get some for top-ups anyway, so I'll get some for both car and PC!

Thanks again everyone :)

[k]
 
oh oh to keep my hoses clamped on i use my most favorite all around tool... zip ties :) i use 3 zip ties on each hose and I have yet to get a leak
 
wuts the mct 40 for? just curious, wut kind of water cooling makes the liquid hit -40c? iv never used water cooling before so i dono much
 
xdkimx said:
wuts the mct 40 for? just curious, wut kind of water cooling makes the liquid hit -40c? iv never used water cooling before so i dono much
Click to expand...
water cooling doesn't hit sub-ambient temps, chilled fluid does.

i've never seen anyone use MCT 40 in chiller loop. i haven't looked too hard, however i usually see people running with off the shelf fluids like high purity alchohol.
 
I'm using MCT-5 and it's saved my butt already on my new rig. Dam thinwall tubing is hard to keep secured to barbs.
 
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