Associate
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With just distilled I thought you always should still use a biocide of some sort to stop bacteria growing?
Disgusting Loop
- Thread starter dancook
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Yes, biocide or silver.
I don't think there's bacteria, just the nickel reacting with silver - I didn't flush the system after removing the silver, so probably the particles still in there?
What you see in the photos is just corrosion of nickel showing the copper behind.
Soldato
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I think ultimately those blocks need a proper clean, and tubing should be replaced somewhere in between the frequency of the liquid and the main hardware AFAIK. Do most of your cleaning with a toothbrush and water, and minimise the vinegar use! It works but it will also dissolve the copper, continuously.
And replace your fluid a bit more frequently in future!
And replace your fluid a bit more frequently in future!
Hah no silver and nickel! For a start...
I followed advice here on forum to add silver coil.. Didn't know there would be issues
Using a good quality coolant will pretty much prevent corrosion even in mixed metal loops. I went and retrieved my koolance 380i block from my previous intel build which ran the same coolant for almost 4 years straight. @Illuminist , might be of some interest to you as I only showed you a the condition of a block after 6 months. This was a mix of approximately 20% GM dexcool antifreeze and 80% distilled water. The loop contained 2x alphacool brass/copper radiators, a koolance cpu 380i nickel block, an EK Titan copper acetal block and all cheap nickel plated 1/2" barbs. Not only was there no hint of corrosion anywhere, there was also no significant signs of buildup either. The only disadvantage to the fluid was the fact it stained the tubing pink. I repeat what I've said before, if it can prevent a huge mixed metal cooling loop containing both aluminium and copper from corroding itself to dust over 23 years, it's easily good enough for my pc.
Thanks, so you're suggesting instead of typical coolant I should use GM dexcool antifreeze and distilled water in future loops?
When I google it, GM car users suggest it's destroying their cars..
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/automotive/gm_dexcool.html
https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/08/gm_dexcool.html
but i'll be ok?
I might just use black tubing anyway
And you'd suggest buying this over, regular coolant and just not mixing your metals?
Man of Honour
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Just buy some Mayhems X1. It has all the additives needed to prevent corrosion and algae. If you go for coloured tubing just buy the clear version otherwise pick the colour of your choice. I have been using Mayhems tubing and Blood Red X1 for 18 months now and have not had any problems with my loop.
I’m not personally recommending dexcool itself, just a quality premix that has good corrosion inhibitors.
I’ve since changed from dexcool in the car because it was designed for cars from 2001 and mine is a 1995 model. (Took some research to find that out) There were also claims that there was compatibility issues with it and silicone hoses due to one of the active ingredients. I’d changed most of the old rubber hoses to silicone at a hefty cost so didn’t want to risk it. I’m now using basf glysantin g-48 which is designed for my car. It also happens to be a lovely dark teal colour too. I’m running this at the same mix ratio as before in my Threadripper system.
I get the feeling that many of the issues in cars were caused by excessively long service intervals. There is also a well known fact that dexcool doesn’t play nicely with other coolants and usually results in precipitates forming. (Sludge no less) I tested this myself by mixing a little g48 with it and getting a solid precipitate form. (Likely a silicate of some description)
I’ve since changed from dexcool in the car because it was designed for cars from 2001 and mine is a 1995 model. (Took some research to find that out) There were also claims that there was compatibility issues with it and silicone hoses due to one of the active ingredients. I’d changed most of the old rubber hoses to silicone at a hefty cost so didn’t want to risk it. I’m now using basf glysantin g-48 which is designed for my car. It also happens to be a lovely dark teal colour too. I’m running this at the same mix ratio as before in my Threadripper system.
I get the feeling that many of the issues in cars were caused by excessively long service intervals. There is also a well known fact that dexcool doesn’t play nicely with other coolants and usually results in precipitates forming. (Sludge no less) I tested this myself by mixing a little g48 with it and getting a solid precipitate form. (Likely a silicate of some description)
The closer together metals are in anodic index the less they react.
Brass, copper and nickel are basically close enough to each others to avoid galvanic corrosion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galvanic_corrosion#Anodic_index
Indeed. Dissimilar electronegativities will result in galvanic corrosion. The smaller the difference the slower they react.
Brizzles sticky thread contains a great deal of info on this already. Well worth a read for those not in the know.
Brizzles sticky thread contains a great deal of info on this already. Well worth a read for those not in the know.
I just checked the sticky from Shayper, which is where I got the idea that distilled water and a silver kill coil was the norm......
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/custom-loop-guide-how-to-watercool-your-pc.18290835/
"Again, this is almost entirely up to you. The norm, however, is to use distilled or deionized water for the loop, and place a silver kill coil in the res to prevent algae and other little buggers from growing in your loop."
I would say that the two stickies need to be merged and updated. IMO, silver coils are utterly pointless as the whole point to them is to disperse silver ions into the fluid which inhibits bacterial growth but accelerates corrosion of dissimilar metals in contact with said fluid. Using a corrosion inhibitor would pretty much prevent the silver from doing it’s job as a biocide.
Pastymuncher’s suggestion of x1 is ideal. I went with what I had on hand and know can do the job over long periods of time. I didn’t like the idea of buying specific fluid for my pc as I’d then need to keep spare fluid whereas using the car coolant concentrate, I’d always have some on hand to top up both the car and the pc.
Pastymuncher’s suggestion of x1 is ideal. I went with what I had on hand and know can do the job over long periods of time. I didn’t like the idea of buying specific fluid for my pc as I’d then need to keep spare fluid whereas using the car coolant concentrate, I’d always have some on hand to top up both the car and the pc.
Distilled and silver can be an issue when nickel plated (especially from EK) blocks are used. In a pure copper block loop it's not a problem I've noticed, I ran one for 4+ years without draining and never had any growth. The only thing staining anything was the plasticizer from the crappy Masterkleer tubing.
That was bad I have a machine here which I use for old games its window xp and its fully watercooled the fluid is still clear and apart from being a little bit off its original colour its fine and that been sitting around for two years haven't used it in a year, I use the xpsc ec6
