Am I playing with fire

timmothy · 22 Jun 2013 at 10:09

I have recently built my first watercooling rig, apart from trying to fit a triple rad into a tiny case everything went smoothly.

The reason I am making this post is that when i added the water I just added regular tap water with about 1/10 VW antifreeze. I did read that you were supposed to use De-Ionised water but I was too impatient to wait so used regular water. I have been reading some horror stories of green gunk and destroyed fittings and blocks.

Should I rinse the system and do it correctly with de ionised water or will it be okay as it is? It's been about 4 weeks and the water is still like the day I put it in if that helps

tipes · 22 Jun 2013 at 11:05

I would advise you change to de ionised asap. Tap water has all sorts of impurities in it, and is likely to cause all sorts of problems to blocks etc. When you change - make sure you rinse out the rad, block etc several times with de ionised before the final fill. You should also use some biocide in the final fill to stop algae etc from forming in your loop. Need any more help - just ask.

Mark

reflux · 22 Jun 2013 at 11:10

Yeah, either use deionised or w/c fluid.

timmothy · 22 Jun 2013 at 11:12

Thanks guys, this is going to be a nightmare taking everything apart. It's definitively not what I wanted to hear

DavidS14 · 22 Jun 2013 at 14:06

I wouldn't take it all apart.

Drain it, refill with deion run for a bit drain, refill with deion, run for a bit drain.......

Repeat a few times and then fill with your chosen coolant.

tipes · 23 Jun 2013 at 07:13

DavidS14 said:
I wouldn't take it all apart.

Drain it, refill with deion run for a bit drain, refill with deion, run for a bit drain.......

Repeat a few times and then fill with your chosen coolant.

+1 for this idea - would save a lot of work/hassle. Just fill/run/drain about three times before doing the final fill with new de ionised water and all should be fine. Don't forget to add some biocide to the final fill or use a killcoil to stop those nasty bugs. Lol.

OLDPHART · 23 Jun 2013 at 08:55

Hi, yes flush out your loop, instead of messing about with de-ionised water + silver coil or biocide, just use a pre-mix EK Clear coolant fill loop job done no worries.

As for servicing my EK Clear has been in just over a year still clear no change in temp's, tubing is fine, will change coolant + tubing in 2 year's. If you want colour use a coloured tubing, read so many horror stories about dye's and coloured coolant, why take the risk?

When l first built this loop l did not change the tubing + coolant for 2 year's, there was no alien's, floater's, or what ever. Just a slight tarnish in my CPU block, even filtered the coolant from the rad nothing at all and by the way no change in temp's..

EK Clear £6 to Mayhems £15 the **difference** is STAGGERING! what difference? errr yes to your pocket.

From a OCUK user review -
Amazing - Mayhems Pastel - Ice White Coolant 1L £15 -If you love all things nano, this is the fluid for you! I never really believed the idea that nano-fluids were so effective until I picked one up for myself, the **difference** is STAGGERING!

After tasting this delicious sample of mayhems nano fluid, I will NEVER go back to normal fluid again!

timmothy · 23 Jun 2013 at 10:00

Thanks for the advice guys. I am off to Egypt at the end of next week so will tackle the problem when I get back. Wish I had been more patient.

user_name · 23 Jun 2013 at 10:37

OLDPHART said:
--snip--

So whats so special about this Mayhems Coolant that it warrants a £15 a Litre price tag ?

Kei · 23 Jun 2013 at 12:08

I'd just drain and flush with distilled then refill using the same method as before with your 1:10 ratio with antifreeze using distilled water instead of tap water.

I'm 3 months in and not had an issue with my system running saab antifreeze at 1:10 with distilled water. Cooling performance has been consistent and the fluid has not changed in appearance or viscosity. No need to run anything else as antifreeze is an effective corrosion inhibitor and biocide all in one. (hence it's use in mixed metal car cooling loops)

tipes · 23 Jun 2013 at 14:49

user_name said:
So whats so special about this Mayhems Coolant that it warrants a £15 a Litre price tag ?

AFAIK - it is distilled far more than ordinary distilled water to remove probably 99.9% of impurities. It is also less conductive I think. Sure Mick from Mayhems can confirm this is right or wrong. As for the price - only you can decide if it is worth it to you? I would just use ordinary distilled with biocide or a killcoil, or if you prefer you could use some pre mixed fluid.

Mark

Avenged7Fold · 23 Jun 2013 at 17:49

After what i spent on my loops, the little bit extra for coolant was not really an issue for me. I also water cool for aesthetic reasons as well as practical and nothing looks quite as wonderful to me as some of the coolants mayhems and phobya have to offer.

Diagro · 23 Jun 2013 at 17:59

Drain it before you go away, otherwise anything in the water will settle

ubersonic · 24 Jun 2013 at 08:58

Kei said:
I'd just drain and flush with distilled then refill using the same method as before with your 1:10 ratio with antifreeze using distilled water instead of tap water.

I'm 3 months in and not had an issue with my system running saab antifreeze at 1:10 with distilled water. Cooling performance has been consistent and the fluid has not changed in appearance or viscosity. No need to run anything else as antifreeze is an effective corrosion inhibitor and biocide all in one. (hence it's use in mixed metal car cooling loops)

I second this, Antifreeze/DI was the water coolers preferred method (apart from the ones that ran just DI then sulked when they got corrosion or aliens ofc) until all the cool fluids started showing up on the market. Even today if your okay with having a limited choice of colours and toxic fluid (its like kryptonite to cats) then AF/DI is the best £/performance coolant available.