Colourant for testing leaks?

LuckyBenski · 21 Apr 2018 at 16:20

I'll be using clear coolant for the loop I'm building, and have plenty of distilled water handy for leak testing / cleaning and flushing.

My question is, is there a safe substance I can add to colour the distilled water so any leaks show up on kitchen roll? This way an overnight test should catch anything, even if it dries before I inspect it.

I'd happily use food colouring or ink but I worry organic materials might contaminate the loop. I have access to both.

pastymuncher · 21 Apr 2018 at 19:10

If you have a leak you will know about it. No need to add anything to make it show up easier.

oldbanana · 22 Apr 2018 at 05:58

And overnight leak testing is pointless aswell.

LuckyBenski · 22 Apr 2018 at 08:16

Fair enough - I appreciate WC parts have got a lot better these days. But I've certainly seen leaks that only develop a single drop after maybe 30 minutes while testing components. How long is a good test?

Habakkuk · 22 Apr 2018 at 10:17

I've been testing for 3 days for each part individually - I'm not in a hurry to install them and I'm very cautious.

oldbanana · 22 Apr 2018 at 11:01

I usually turn it on wait 5 minutes and if its good, I go live, never had a problem.

skyripper · 22 Apr 2018 at 11:16

oldbanana said:
And overnight leak testing is pointless aswell.

Odd statement to make. A slow drip can't always be found with 20 mins of running the pump.

What it doesn't do though is find leaks that only manifest when the loop is warm, ie. after running the CPU and GPU on decent load for a while.

These days I'd probably do half hour just pump running, then if everything clear I'd move to running with the system up and keep checking over the various connections while putting some load on the system.

A good torch helps here too.

Awahwah · 22 Apr 2018 at 12:11

Ran mine for 4hrs while working. Had plenty of toilet paper round the fittings and the like to see if it was leaking - I dyed the water to show more easily if it was leaking. Then flushed and stuck me coolant in.

Dunno if that was enough of a leak test but that is all she got.

pastymuncher · 22 Apr 2018 at 13:21

oldbanana said:
And overnight leak testing is pointless aswell.

It most certainly isn't, especially if the pump is the only thing being powered. Leaving just the pump on to circulate water overnight will make it easier to find slow leaks which would take a while to show up in normal use and by the time you have found it chances are that something has just failed from water dripping on it while powered.

oldbanana · 22 Apr 2018 at 20:19

It is ur just paranoid...

Jokester · 22 Apr 2018 at 20:31

Some leaks can take hours to develop.

They might not be big enough to cause immediate problems but you don’t really want to find 6 months later you’ve run the pump dry and all you’ve got left is dry residue of your coolant somewhere inside your case.

Space Monkey · 22 Apr 2018 at 20:35

oldbanana said:
It is ur just paranoid...

You gonna pay for his new PC if it goes wrong then, how kind

Habakkuk · 22 Apr 2018 at 23:19

Yes. But why risk it with minimal effort?

oldbanana said:
It is ur just paranoid...

LuckyBenski · 22 Apr 2018 at 23:22

Ok, so for the people who think it's worth doing... How do I tell if there's been a small leak overnight? It will dry faster than it drops in this weather, and textured kitchen roll doesn't look that different after getting wet

Jokester · 23 Apr 2018 at 00:54

Use tissue paper. The texture changes once it’s been wet, even once dried you can tell the difference.

pastymuncher · 23 Apr 2018 at 09:34

oldbanana said:
It is ur just paranoid...

It's called common sense, something that seems to be lacking these days. Why risk several hundred pounds worth of components instead of leaving the pump running all night to rule out leaks? It will also get rid of any trapped air in the system as well.

skyripper · 23 Apr 2018 at 10:35

As someone who fried a graphics card in my early days of watercooling (it was an Ati card which tells you how long ago that was!) due to my own stupidity, and later killed a AMD 6950 when a radiator developed a drip (corrosion - the fittings were bone dry) I've learned that watercooling despite getting easier, still has risks.

When graphics cards now cost way more than ever they did, it pays to be cautious when you are mixing electronics and water. I'd be gutted to fry a £700 card.

My gaming pc is cooled with a sealed loop. My previous rig was a full custom loop, and my sons is still a full custom loop - so I am definately in the "watercooling is a good thing" camp. Just know the risks and work around them.

Bugbait · 23 Apr 2018 at 10:52

Jokester said:
Use tissue paper. The texture changes once it’s been wet, even once dried you can tell the difference.

This is the method I use too and works well. I usually fill any new components with distilled water and leave them for several hours, often overnight sitting on tissue or toilet paper. Part initial flush, part basic unit leak testing. Once mounted I usually run the pump for a minimum of 30 minutes if I'm particularly impatient, usually an hour, maximum maybe 2 hours to do an integrated leak test. I spot check with a torch during this period for any droplets.

james_2k · 23 Apr 2018 at 10:53

i used to test it for a few hours. now i just throw it together and let it fly.

LuckyBenski · 23 Apr 2018 at 14:45

Tissue paper is a good call. Hopefully I'll be ready to test tonight! This was progress at the weekend:

The little loop bothers me but those components are far too close together, and I don't have any fittings that would do the job nicely.