I shouldn't be allowed to watercool my pc

Caporegime
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Okay. I really should give up building my own watercooled PC's and just get * pack to do them.

My list of disasters of my last build range as follows

1. Bought what I though was an orange internal case second hand and then bought everything to match orange but then when checking the case discovered it was red so sent everything back and swapped for red.

2. Selected 16/13 hard tube which discover you cannot buy the correct size rubber insert from anybody in the world including the manufacturer's own insert listed for that tube which turns out to be actually only 11.7mm

3. Not happy with my bends and wastes weeks and about 2m of tubing trying to get the right.

4., Resort to buying more 90 and 45 degree bends as just cant get some fo the bends right

5. Bought a brand new reservoir which leaked like a sieve on first build test run.

6. I have built several watercooled PCs in my life and never had one leak before. This one had 3 leaks on first test.

7. Was missing loads of cables that I didnt realise I would need and 5 LEDS dont work despite being brand new. Had to strip down to replace.

8. Just rebuilt loop last night and 2 of the newleds are the wrong colour now :(

9. Reason i had to rebuild last night? After two weeks of perfect running and finally enjoying my build which took me three months which included a brand new TitanX sitting in its box for two months, my pc on Sunday decided to drop all its fluid all over the floor. When I say all and you think it was an exaggeration, I lost 1.5 litres in total. Was gaming in the dark and never saw the pool of red blood forming on the floor.:eek: Checked temps and cpu and gpu were sky rocketing and had hit 60C

10. Track down leak to the pump *sigh. Strip down, strip down pump to see why it was leaking (has EK top on) discover when I built it I never put the O ting in the pump :eek::o Surprised it lasted two weeks.
 
Soldato
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2. Selected 16/13 hard tube which discover you cannot buy the correct size rubber insert from anybody in the world including the manufacturer's own insert listed for that tube which turns out to be actually only 11.7mm

I have just bought the same tube. You bought the Monsoon insert?

Go to the bay type in silicone o ring cord 13mm ;) I have some on the way. Like yourself I was struggling to find a piece but I managed to find a German manufacturer then this.
 
Associate
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Primochill uses imperial system to measure their tubes and fittings while other manufacturers like EK, Monsoon, etc use metric system. I found this out from my first buy, Monsoon 13/10 tube is a tad smaller than Primochill's.
 
Caporegime
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I have just bought the same tube. You bought the Monsoon insert?

Go to the bay type in silicone o ring cord 13mm ;) I have some on the way. Like yourself I was struggling to find a piece but I managed to find a German manufacturer then this.

No never saw the Monsoon insert. Best I got was some Burrows tube which was 12.5mm. Not ideal and still left kinks if you werent very very careful.

No lube needed at all.

Stupid Alphacool not making an insert to fit their own tube. They make one and its listed for the 16mm mm tube but is actually imperial so really 1/2 inch on the packet and then in reality its 11.7mm by calipers. Bloody useless for 13mm tube.
 
Caporegime
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Primochill uses imperial system to measure their tubes and fittings while other manufacturers like EK, Monsoon, etc use metric system. I found this out from my first buy, Monsoon 13/10 tube is a tad smaller than Primochill's.

so what imperial size is their 16/13mm tube then? it is 13mm as well, not 12.7mm and their insert for it which says its for half inch/12mm tube (which they dont even make an 12mm ID tube) is like I say 11.7mm
 
Caporegime
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I have just bought the same tube. You bought the Monsoon insert?

Go to the bay type in silicone o ring cord 13mm ;) I have some on the way. Like yourself I was struggling to find a piece but I managed to find a German manufacturer then this.

Too months too late. Its all built now, mainly with lots of 90 degree fittings :p

Not stripping it down again!

I might bear it in mind next time I am re piping it though and buy some ready
 
Soldato
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No never saw the Monsoon insert. Best I got was some Burrows tube which was 12.5mm. Not ideal and still left kinks if you werent very very careful.

No lube needed at all.

Stupid Alphacool not making an insert to fit their own tube. They make one and its listed for the 16mm mm tube but is actually imperial so really 1/2 inch on the packet and then in reality its 11.7mm by calipers. Bloody useless for 13mm tube.

Alphacool have two different sizes available 12/16mm and 13/16mm.

Could it be you bought the 12/16mm version instead of the 13/16mm one? They do have a 13mm rubber core available but it appears to be as rare as hen's teeth. Only available from elsewhere in the EU or the USA and only a few places seem to stock it.
 
Caporegime
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Alphacool have two different sizes available 12/16mm and 13/16mm.

Could it be you bought the 12/16mm version instead of the 13/16mm one? They do have a 13mm rubber core available but it appears to be as rare as hen's teeth. Only available from elsewhere in the EU or the USA and only a few places seem to stock it.

Ah that will explain that then. The site I bought the 16/13mm tube from didnt sell the 16/12 tube but did sell the 12mm insert. Mad I tell you!
 
Associate
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As someone who's built/rebuilt my PC many times with different watercooling kit I feel your pain especially with the leak and faulty bits.

You would think by now I'd know what I was doing but every once in a while I make a mistake like the missing o-ring or in my most recent error neglecting to fit a stop plug to one of the g/card ports after swapping which ports I was using for in/out :(
 
Soldato
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Ah that will explain that then. The site I bought the 16/13mm tube from didnt sell the 16/12 tube but did sell the 12mm insert. Mad I tell you!

It is mate, the sizing is all over the place. Not helped by the 'mericans and their crappy imperial to metric conversion. I bought two of the "13mm" Monsoon bending inserts and they're 11mm, if that. £8 wasted, would cost me £2 in return postage just to send them back.

The design of hardline fittings seem generally pretty poor too. I get that the tube being rigid is more difficult to seal, but some of the fittings only have a single o ring to hold the tube in place. Over the top of hardware that costs potentially thousands of pounds, who the **** thought one o ring is a good idea..!?
 
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Soldato
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Hey Greebo - feel your pain mate, but as they say no pain no gain Lol.
Sure we have all made similar mistakes along the way - me included. The important thing is to appreciate what you have achieved when you finally succeed.

Onwards and upwards as they say. Enjoy your build now, and lets hope no more problems for a while.

Mark
 
Caporegime
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Hey Greebo - feel your pain mate, but as they say no pain no gain Lol.
Sure we have all made similar mistakes along the way - me included. The important thing is to appreciate what you have achieved when you finally succeed.

Onwards and upwards as they say. Enjoy your build now, and lets hope no more problems for a while.

Mark

Yeah but I should know better. I have been building watercooled pc's for decades!

Can't believe I made the rookie mistake of leaving the O ring off :(

Oh and I forgot one other disaster. One of my radiators sprang a leak as well, another first which has never happened before, and it would have been the most awkward one to get at which involved taking the cases to bits on three sides to gain access :(
 
Soldato
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Just got home from work to find the 13mm silicone I ordered from the bay arrived.

Gave it a quick test and its pretty much bang on :) not too tight, has a little bit of room to easily insert and remove it from the tube, but not loose like the others.



Forgot how annoying it can be to link a simple image sometimes lol.
 
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Caporegime
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Just got home from work to find the 13mm silicone I ordered from the bay arrived.

Gave it a quick test and its pretty much bang on :) not too tight, has a little bit of room to easily insert and remove it from the tube, but not loose like the others.



Forgot how annoying it can be to link a simple image sometimes lol.

Nice. Can you email in trust where you got it from please? I'll have to do more bends at some time in the future.
 
Associate
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Yeah but I should know better. I have been building watercooled pc's for decades!

Can't believe I made the rookie mistake of leaving the O ring off :(

Oh and I forgot one other disaster. One of my radiators sprang a leak as well, another first which has never happened before, and it would have been the most awkward one to get at which involved taking the cases to bits on three sides to gain access :(

I think you are very unlucky not to pick this up during the leak test.

Sounds like you did the right things and made one mistake.
Could have happened to anyone.
Anything I disassemble I put into an ice cream tub less likely to lose anything then.

The reason I've avoided hard tuning is that it seems like to much hassle for me.
 
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