Replacing component in loop - need to change fittings / hose or not?

Michaeljcox24

Michaeljcox24

Michaeljcox24

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On Wednesday when it get's delivered, all being well I'll be swapping a 690 for a 980 with XSPC block.

I didn't want to have to strip the whole rig down, and ideally I'd like to just open the drain tap, and catch all the coolant in a bucket. Loosen the fittings up, take the card out, put new card in, etc etc. Re use coolant.

Because I've had compression fittings on the hose, is it good practice to replace the hose or not? Or will it be good to go? I've only had the loop running since late August, so it's not time to do the annual maintenance yet.

Also, when do the o rings in the compression fittings begin to wear?

btw, I don't have quick disconnects, and wont be buying any because the next purchase will be a new board and cpu so will be probably stripping the whole lot down.
 
It'll be ok once or twice, but eventually the plastic will fail and you would need to cut off the end to get a fresh piece of tube if there's enough slack. Personally I won't remake a compression fitting onto the same bit of tube more than once.

Never had an issue with o-rings failings following re-use, just don't go overboard with a spanner tightening them up to tear them and you'll be fine.
 
Looks like you need some tips in lazy watercooling!

I don't know whether you 690 is underwater but either way you don't have to drain your entire loop. If you can, isolate the point where you are going to open the loop and put a bowl underneath it and make sure that when you open the loop that all the liquid will go straight into the bowl. If you are clever with case orientation and really reduce the amount of water physically above the point of opening then very little fluid will leak out.

You can then attach the new block, fittings, tubing as all the fluid in your loop will be held in place by mavity. Make sure it is leak proof and then you can stand your case back up, add the fluid that you drained back into your res and voila, component change complete!

I did exactly this when I changed the fittings on one of my top rads and my CPU block. First time watercooling and it was easy.

Here is a mid way shot of me changing from barbs to compression (for nothing more than uniformity) on my CPU block.

m39Vu8Ul.jpg

Cause compression fittings do not rely on the elasticity of the hose to hold them in place, I would have no qualms reusing the hose again and again and again. I have had to cut the ends off hose that was used with barbs as the barb had stretched it to the point of plastic deformation and it would no longer grip hold the barb. But compressions do not stretch the plastic.

I would also not worry about O-rings wearing as long as you haven't overtightened the fitting or physically damaged one.
 
Thats what i Luv about barbs+clamps, you could swing your rig around your head holding onto your loop. People like a pretty looking PC though so everyone went off them, if ya never fitted a window into your case like me its no problem :) Im still using some tygon tubing i must have bought 10+ years ago.

Im the same as you disco, i just pull my loop apart and replace stuff live, cba draining everytime i wanna swap summat around.
 
I have a 240 in the base of the case with a drain point coming out of the side. It was something I never put in the old loop, which caused a massive headache when I came to change it. I was hoping to just take the plug out and reuse the coolant because it's only been in the loop 4 ish months.
 
Others may have different views on this not sure, but I've reused the mayhems pastel stuff I have in my loop at the moment twice, did the same when running distilled water a few times. It's not going to do any harm, make sure its a clean bottle you collect in.

edit: Realised you were talking about tubing. If it's got enough length you could try trimming down by half a centimetre, give the fitting some fresh tube to sink into. I usually have one long piece installed with enough give.
 
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I'll usually use the current fittings/tube if it's the first time I've changed components but I will take the age of the tube into account and replace if its lost flexibility at all. I do check the O rings for any damage/flats and replace if needed.
 
Changed it over today, and the 980 is stable at 1520. Process was relatively pain free, apart from a slug of coolant stuck behind an airlock that was going into the GPU

The new GPU beats the 690 max overclock for max overclock. I added 2000 points onto my Firestrike score. Worthy purchase, because I desperately needed the VRAM.
 
2GB of ram is really holding some nvidia cards back.

I struggled for a year with a 2GB 680 @ 1440p.

Now I cannot fill 3GB.
 
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