EK predator 280 leak

vapor matt · 22 Dec 2016 at 21:26

Well when working they are very good, I have a predator 360 cooling my CPU only, and then bought a predator 280 to cool GPU only, its been running perfect for 3 weeks and then yesterday I had some bubbles in the 280 system, I thought fine, I will top up. finished toping up and all good once again.

Then this evening I switched on to find more bubbles in the system, which I thought strange as I only toped up the 280 yesterday, on closer inspection the pump fitting had a drip. which is kind of weird as its been fine and not moved for 3 weeks plus.

after removing the 280 and inspecting the pump fitting I found the plastic to have hair line cracks around where the fitting screws into the pump. the wall thickness of the plastic tube coming from the pump where the fitting screws into is to thin. obviously over the period of the 3 weeks where the fitting is screwed into the pump the thread walls developed hair line cracks and of course started to leak as it relies on an O ring to seal to the end of the outlet of pump, once the hairline cracks appear water seeps past the thread and drips.

Now the dilemma, Parts and RMA possibilities on the 22nd of December wanting to use my PC over the holidays. Only one choice really and that's fix it. so I found me some solid tubing to go over outlet of the pump which left a gap of 3mm all around the original outlet.

from there I filled the gap with chemical metal, so I now have a nice thick wall to the outlet of the pump, once at the same height you can file flat so you get a nice seal for the Oring on a decent flat surface that wont leak and you can tighten up nicely.

predator 280 refilled and refitted and leak free from that fitting connected to the pump. I am considering doing the same thing to the 360 predator to avoid this hair line cracking which these pumps seem to suffer from.

anyway fixed, leak free, much stronger and I can now use my PC

HoneyBadger · 23 Dec 2016 at 10:26

Well done for showing initiative and possessing the skills and materials to do it - but it's an expensive unit and it simply shouldn't have happened!

implosiveturnip · 23 Dec 2016 at 10:45

Good to see you got it fixed, but if that had been me I would have sent it back. Now if something else fails in the loop you've probably voided the warranty.

That being said, you're probably not too concerned if you can fix it yourself!

vapor matt · 23 Dec 2016 at 11:09

I did send a web note to EK about the pump outlet wall being to thin to be threaded on the inside as it makes it a weak point. EK have always been spot on in the past with any issues so hopefully they will send me a replacement outlet part. if not my fixed version is much stronger so either way I am not bothered to much.

would be much better if the fitting screwed into a solid block outlet instead of a threaded tube outlet. anyway its fixed and leak free

VKleita · 23 Dec 2016 at 11:17

Nicely done!

Any chance of a pic?

Interested to see what the original and your "fix" is like and thus where the design flw lies.

Nice one and sorting it yourself

DRSEire · 23 Dec 2016 at 11:21

Amazing work well done.Had to RMA a 360 myself recently.Same issue,worked great for 3 weeks and then leaked.Hair line crack also.

implosiveturnip · 23 Dec 2016 at 11:22

DIY patch job aside, how do you find the Predators? I'm building again in the new year, and although I have all my watercooling parts left over from this machine, I'm not sure I can be bothered with it again, and GPU blocks are expensive!

Performance wise, do they compare to a similarly-specced custom loop?

DRSEire · 23 Dec 2016 at 11:27

implosiveturnip said:
DIY patch job aside, how do you find the Predators? I'm building again in the new year, and although I have all my watercooling parts left over from this machine, I'm not sure I can be bothered with it again, and GPU blocks are expensive!

Performance wise, do they compare to a similarly-specced custom loop?

The replacement I recieved is working flawlessly the last week but it's still early days.The performance when working is excellent imo.My 6800k 4.2Ghz never goes above 60 full load and the connected TXP hits 55 full load +200 core +500 mem.I can't comment on a custom loop as I have no experience in that area yet.That will change soon though

implosiveturnip · 23 Dec 2016 at 12:06

DRSEire said:
The replacement I recieved is working flawlessly the last week but it's still early days.The performance when working is excellent imo.My 6800k 4.2Ghz never goes above 60 full load and the connected TXP hits 55 full load +200 core +500 mem.I can't comment on a custom loop as I have no experience in that area yet.That will change soon though

Thanks, that's good to hear. Not far off from my loop which I just drained on my 3770k @ 4.5 and 980ti @ 1450\8000. That was with a 360 and 280 rad.