Why expensive metal fittings and not just cheap plastic ones?

Would you honestly trust cheap plastic fittings around potentially thousands of pounds worth of computer equipment? I know I wouldn't!

It's probably been tried in product development, but I suspect plastic doesn't have the longevity or reliability.
 
You're probably right but there's obviously a reason it's not been done in the PC space and it can't be just down to looks.
 
Vidar said:
it can't be just down to looks.
Click to expand...
It is.

When water cooling started (aquarium pumps, aquarium fittings, card heater matrix radiators, small-batch or DIY blocks) it wasn't all pretty metal fittings. It wasn't as pretty, but it was much more interesting, and it still worked.

The rot set in when windowed PC cases became the norm.

Is hardline tubing more effective than flexible tubing?

Does individually sleaving every cable make the computer work any better?

Doers lighting the case up like a Christmas tree do anything useful?
 
The central heating fittings are mostly a lot bulkier and only used once kind of thing. Wouldn't work so well in a computer build. I don't think there's any need for plastic ones.
 
Is there not the concern of plastic leeching into the coolant, perhaps and gumming up the block fins?
I don't believe aquariums and central heating have such things in their loops?
 
I think part of the reason is profit margin. As people moved into buying flashy gear to show off the profit margin on the plastic stuff is too low to bother stocking. You can still get plastic barbed fittings with a simple search.

Nothing wrong with them...I still have some nylon ones in my current loop since there was absolutely no need to replace them.


Where the metal stuff does excel is with the rotatable fittings as these can be really useful in awkward spaces.
 
Reality|Bites said:
You're thinking about the plastic used to make soft tubing I assume?
Click to expand...
It inspired the thought, in that certain types of plastic fittings might also break down and leech particulates, yes...

Reality|Bites said:
What about the plastic used to make waterblocks?
Click to expand...
I think acetal is too brittle to use as a compression fitting, isn't it? You'd want something with a bit more flex.
Certainly there is also concern about slivers of it being stripped off through repeated use of the 1/4 threads, or through misuse, though most of that would probably fall outside the system rather than into it.
 
Vidar said:
Would you honestly trust cheap plastic fittings around potentially thousands of pounds worth of computer equipment? I know I wouldn't!

It's probably been tried in product development, but I suspect plastic doesn't have the longevity or reliability.
Click to expand...

The price in a niche market is whatever the manufacturer thinks you'll pay. The quality of the fittings for their purpose is totally separate.

Plastic connections of plastic pipe get you your pressurised water supply and handle your waste water. Plastic parts for liquids and gas will be in your white goods and vehicles.

It's good engineering to use the most appropriate material for the purpose. It's bro science to argue plastic isn't good enough for things it's clearly good enough for because "plastic".

But that touches on a real thing. You have the impression plastic means junk when actually junk is junk no matter the material. This is a niche market and the manufacturers of this commercial product want to present themselves as premium, deserving of the premium price and that means dodging the implications of plastic.

You're not going to get the custom designed products for home watercooling made of a proper engineering plastic such as nylon even if its good engineering if the manufacturer can't see it being a good business decision.
 
I don't know if it's gone much further than concept, but Alphacool showed on their Facebook a while ago some Nylon 66 compression fittings they were working on. Big discussion about dying them black or leaving them clear.
 
Probably more because they are more reliable to the average user. People installing water mains and waste pipes are likely far more experienced than the average person.

I could see a lot of overtightened, snapped off and cracked and split fittings as a result of manufacturers using plastic ones.

Brass fittings are a bit more robust in that sense and the price difference I doubt would be all that different.
 
No the price would not be significantly less for well made plastic fittings.

Thinking about it, I guess a selling angle could be the colour options. Maybe even RGB options with embedded LEDs. Match with pipes and you have glowing tubes and fittings.

Not my thing but a major point of custom water is for the looks.
 
I think probably what it comes down to is, anyone looking to build a custom loop is already a pretty extreme user. There are plenty of good options for air or AIO cooling and most chips don't have much overclocking headroom so the main reasons to do it are if you enjoy the process and want the aesthetics.

Those people are already spending a bunch of extra money over the more practical, generally "good enough" solution (air cooling) so they're probably more likely to be happy to spend a bit more on something that looks good and feels more solid when it comes to fittings too.

With that in mind, there's not much incentive for a company to sell a cheaper product with lower profit margins which might not sell well.
 
bremen1874 said:
It is.

When water cooling started (aquarium pumps, aquarium fittings, card heater matrix radiators, small-batch or DIY blocks) it wasn't all pretty metal fittings. It wasn't as pretty, but it was much more interesting, and it still worked.

The rot set in when windowed PC cases became the norm.

Is hardline tubing more effective than flexible tubing?

Does individually sleaving every cable make the computer work any better?

Doers lighting the case up like a Christmas tree do anything useful?
Click to expand...

I miss those days, danger den block, fiesta radiator, 15mm copper pipe, garden hose and a eheim pump.

People these days are missing out I think like you say just not as interesting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom