Brown sand/sludge in loop

ozzaman · 5 Nov 2018 at 20:42

Hello

Can anybody help diagnose this brown sludge/sand looking substance I found when dismantling my loop?

I have been running Mayhems H20 along with various EK/XSPC and Alphacool products/fittings. I have an EK, Mayhems and Black Ice radiator.

Since my clear tubing is also now tinted brown, I assume this substance is the cause?

If it helps I ran the Mayhems cleaning kit through my loop before this sludge started to appear, so I was surprised to see it materialism. Is one of my radiators falling apart or is this what corrosion looks like?

https://imgur.com/a/FgO0gAM

Thanks

Thekwango · 5 Nov 2018 at 20:44

ozzaman said:
Hello

Can anybody help diagnose this brown sludge/sand looking substance I found when dismantling my loop?

I have been running Mayhems H20 along with various EK/XSPC and Alphacool products/fittings. I have an EK, Mayhems and Black Ice radiator.

Since my clear tubing is also now tinted brown, I assume this substance is the cause?

If it helps I ran the Mayhems cleaning kit through my loop before this sludge started to appear, so I was surprised to see it materialism. Is one of my radiators falling apart or is this what corrosion looks like?

file:///D:/Downloads%202/IMG_20181105_194658.jpg

your image isn't showing anything. upload it to an image hosting site like imgur and post the BB code link
https://imgur.com/

p.s. brown sandy sludge does sound like oxidation of some sort

Distracted · 6 Nov 2018 at 10:43

Have you added any inhibitor or biocide to your loop?

ozzaman · 6 Nov 2018 at 14:14

I added the Mayhems biocide when I initially put the loop together and then again after a few months. The brown staining happened fairly quickly as the loop hasn't been in use all that long.

ttaskmaster · 6 Nov 2018 at 15:01

ubersonic · 7 Nov 2018 at 10:10

Best case: Algae, Plasticizer.
Worst case: Corrosion.

Mayhems H2O is basically just high quality water, you have to add things like corrosion inhibitor and biocide (or use it to dilute concentrated coolant).

ozzaman · 11 Nov 2018 at 22:47

I used Mayhems Biocide in accordance with the instructions provided, i.e. once every 2-3 months if I remember correctly.

I was just surprised by the rate at which everything turned brown. I should have mentioned that the EK monoblock I had in my loop also had some strange brown staining despite being new. When I contacted EK they told me that it was just some manufacturing residue/oil and 'wouldn't affect performance'.

It definitely seems to have affected the aesthetics though. I couldn't stand looking at a loop which looked like it was circulating fresh urine so I dismantled the whole thing. I'd rather not have to do the same thing again, so am just weighing up changing all the main components versus giving them a clean.

Undesirable · 13 Nov 2018 at 18:08

Radiator Crap™.

darket · 13 Nov 2018 at 20:20

Thats flux, you need to strip and clean . Get the mayhems blitz cleaning kit and part 1 the rads , strip and clean all your blocks and part 2 the whole system.