sprung a leak

twist3d0n3

twist3d0n3

twist3d0n3

Soldato
Joined
3 Aug 2008
Posts
10,477
Location
Bath, England
hi all,

put my new w/c loop into my rig the other day, made sure everything wasn't leaking and all was well.

just been watching some tv shows, when all of a sudden my pc switched off, i went over and opened up the case: a burning sort of smell (no smoke tho). it would appear one of the mosfet blocks has leaked, onto my top gpu, and presumably the motherboard/psu (at the bottom of the case).

what do you think the chances are of everything being destroyed?

i'm going to take a hair dryer to it for literally a week and makesure it's completely dried out before trying to turn it back on again...
 
surely the PSU would have a failsafe for a short of some kind? i'm pining my hopes on it cos i can't stand to lose this much pc :(
 
Sympathy from me man, I managed to kill a GTX 280 earlier in the year when my CPU block leaked. What fluid were you using?
 
You may be ok. I had a leak onto my mobo once, all over the CMOS chip, once dried out it was fine, still runnign 24/7 and heavily OCd.

I would recommend getting a can of compressed air - no amount of hair drying will remove any liquid trapped between IC's and the PCB, Give each one a good blast at close range to push out any hiding fluid. Also cotton buds will aid in cleaning up between components to absorb the liquid you find.
 
twist3d0n3 said:
surely the PSU would have a failsafe for a short of some kind? i'm pining my hopes on it cos i can't stand to lose this much pc :(
Click to expand...


It would have cut-off to prevent a fire but not to save your components as it's the short that would have caused the trip in the first place. Hope all is not lost for you :(
 
vertica said:
You may be ok. I had a leak onto my mobo once, all over the CMOS chip, once dried out it was fine, still runnign 24/7 and heavily OCd.

I would recommend getting a can of compressed air - no amount of hair drying will remove any liquid trapped between IC's and the PCB, Give each one a good blast at close range to push out any hiding fluid. Also cotton buds will aid in cleaning up between components to absorb the liquid you find.
Click to expand...

He had a burning smell though.

Sadly it doesnt sound good mate, hopefully nothing much taken with it.

What fluid were you using, been asked but not stated yet
 
i've got feser one uv orange stuff in there. judging by the amount of liquid on the gpu it doesn't look like a huge amount has leaked. i've got a load of tissue in there at the moment, and will get some compressed air as soon as possible and give it a thorough cleaning, and obviously rebuild the loop... such a pain in the ass as i've got my dissertation to be getting on with now as well :(
 
ok i've had a little look around inside the case this morning to see if i can find anything noticable (a bit of charred pcb etc) and can't see a thing.

now, i flicked the switch on the psu, motherboard lit up so it is receiving power from the psu, but on pressing the on switch on the front, everything lights up for half a second and then darkness again.

now, before i go replacing bits, does this seem more psu or motherboard - death related? i'm guessing it's motherboard as the psu seems to have the 'will' to live but something is holding it back...

cheers for all the responses so far guys :)
 
Thing about Feser is that it's supposed to be non-conductive, so there should have been no damage.

No, that didn't stop it from killing my 280 either.... :(

Since it leaked onto the mobo, that would be my first port of call to replace.
 
what do you think is the best plan of action? i'll see if i can borrow a psu from a friend and see if i can power the pc using that (obviously this is going to be after i've taken compressed air/hair dryer to everything), then if no luck, surely that means it is the mobo?

yeah i understand that feser is non-conductive, but if it's in contact with electronics doesn't the stuff gradually become electro-conductive?
 
oh btw when i say it leaked onto the mobo, it would appear that where it's dripped down from the mosfet block (nearest the back panel) onto the upper graphics card, it's gone into the pci-e slot. i've been sticking tissue in the slot to clear it out, but i'm presuming (without having the chance to get everything out of the case yet) that it would then have run down the main board....
 
Hi,
Some advice from someone who has worked in the Electronics industry for a long time and used to do component level fault finding for years.

You PSU has on over current protection circuit that will cut it off if far too much
current is drawn from it.
Sadly tho the current required to trip this could totally knacker most electronic circuits without too much trouble.

I would dry it out over the space of several days (hair dryers MAY create a
bucket load of static electricity if used to dry it , you could try earthing the
mobo while doing this to minimise the static build up) , if no permenent damage
is done , you might get some life out of it if you fully dry it.

I have often wanted to try water cooling, but the whole leak = boom thing
has always put me off doing it.

Good luck mate
 
many thanks for your reply.

i'll take everything out and let it dry out properly then, for a good couple of days, and as vertica suggested use compressed air to clear out any liquid that might be stuck in tight spaces/under ic's.

i'll report back once i've got everything back up and running (i expect sometime over the weekend now as to give it ample time to dry).

many thanks to all who have given me guidance through this HIDEOUS situation!
 
Just curious, did you actually leak test the system for 24 hours or so?

Hope it works alright for you in the end once totally dry etc, good luck.
 
i leak tested,yes, by way of setting it up and tying tissue around all the inlet/outlets, and seeing if it leaked (this is with the system off). once i had everything back in, and ready to run, i turned it on for a few hours without it plugged into monitor/keyboard etc with tissue around the joins to see if anything was leaking, but still everything was dry when i pulled the tissue out.

after it had been left off overnight, i came to switch it on again in the morning (thinking it was completely leak free) and preceeded to have a good gaming sesh, for a couple of hours then started watching a tv show, this is when it turned itself off. i felt inside and the gpu was damp on top near the pci-e slot, with the culprit block being the mosfet block directly above, which, i made sure was extremely tight and the jubilee clip was fastened tightly. it seems that the o-ring on the barb just wasn't good enough and water forced itself through...

thanks guys, really hoping i don't have to shell out on a new mobo and psu :(
 
Sorry, but a 24-hour leak-test with no power to any components except the pump is not optional. Only very experienced water-coolers can avoid this and even then it's not too smart!

I know you want to get on and play with the new shiny toy but this is precisely why you shouldn't.

Sorry to dump the blame on you but the advice is out there for a reason.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom