Switching from soft tube to PETG

drifterr · 19 Feb 2017 at 22:46

Evening all,

This would appear to be my first post (though I was sure I had posted here before..) so Hi all.
Apologies if this has been asked, search A LOT but can not find anything on these 2 specifically.

So I've been running custom loops for the past 4 years always with soft tube and compression fittings.
changed my case 5 months ago to the core p5 and now I want to change the tubing to PETG.
Purchased all my parts and just waiting for the last bits to arrive from OCUK which are coming tomorrow.

Now I have the Monsoon 16mm OD PETG in 90mm length with Alphacool HT compression fittings for hardtube, after having a little play earlier to see how the assembly was and the fit etc it seems I am able to pull the tube from the fitting. Now I'm tightening as much as I can but doesn't seem to make too much of a difference.

Has anyone run this configuration or do I need to change the fittings/tube?

Pic of my current build. Also changing the my res to the EK with a 250 res with multiport as I want to use the top as my return.

Smffy · 20 Feb 2017 at 08:29

Two things, first you will always be able to pull it out as it's not literally compressing the tube in hardline... But it should be difficult.

Second, pretty sure all the Monsoon stuff is actually made in imperial not metric - quite an annoying problem with how they are listed. The thing with hard tube is the OD is critical to sealing, the above I think is 5/8 not 16mm though not 100% - where did you get it? It's quite common for it to be listed as '5/8 (16mm)' but the problem is that 5/8" is actually 15.875mm so depending on the fittings it can come up a bit loose or worse and leak.

Long story short only use metric with metric and fitting vendors will only guarantee if you use both their tube and fittings. EKHD tube is decent and relatively cheap...

Hope it helps.

drifterr · 20 Feb 2017 at 08:40

Smffy said:
Two things, first you will always be able to pull it out as it's not literally compressing the tube in hardline... But it should be difficult.

Second, pretty sure all the Monsoon stuff is actually made in imperial not metric - quite an annoying problem with how they are listed. The thing with hard tube is the OD is critical to sealing, the above I think is 5/8 not 16mm though not 100% - where did you get it? It's quite common for it to be listed as '5/8 (16mm)' but the problem is that 5/8" is actually 15.875mm so depending on the fittings it can come up a bit loose or worse and leak.

Long story short only use metric with metric and fitting vendors will only guarantee if you use both their tube and fittings. EKHD tube is decent and relatively cheap...

Hope it helps.

So annoying as the description said 16mm and no mention of whether metric or imperial, since this seems to be a vital thing you would think it would be listed in the descriptions.....

EK don't do longer than 500mm lengths which is the reason I went with Monsoon as it is the longest I have found and that anyone had stock of. OC have stock of the Monsoon fittings which use the collars, may just be best off using those as they will not come out just not keen on the looks of them :/

Any other manufacturers that use imperial sizes?

Smffy · 20 Feb 2017 at 12:19

Pretty sure there is a long thread on this somewhere where the guy wanted to bend coils...

How loose is it? Monsoon is American so pretty sure it's all imperial and listed as such on OCUK. You sure you need longer than 500mm?

drifterr · 20 Feb 2017 at 12:36

I had to order for the tube from another site as OC didnt have any in stock, and when I called asking when it would be back in they said March.
Yea 500mm will not fit as I have purchased another res which im mounting on the res plate which sits at the bottom.
The tube going from res to cpu I have measured at 730mm (due to that stupid over sized gpu I have to take a silly route...) and the cpu to rad is 650mm.
Reason for the lengths is I wanted to use only vertical and horizontal lines, no point in going diagonal (imo) as if I want to do that I'll just stick with flexi.
Anyway the main thing I wanted to do was replace the res as it looks a bit small to me so I may just swap out the res and stick with flexi for now.

Appreciate the feedback! Lesson learned next time I will not assume it all fits the same lol..

Smffy · 20 Feb 2017 at 13:19

You could get the EV2 fittings - £28 for 6, I've just put 20 in mine and they will fit the tube perfectly.

Sell the old alpha or return, job done. How many do you need?

haszek · 20 Feb 2017 at 14:40

Smffy said:
You could get the EV2 fittings - £28 for 6, I've just put 20 in mine and they will fit the tube perfectly.

Sell the old alpha or return, job done. How many do you need?

You probably bought them all out

I wonder when they are back in stock:/ They've been out for quite some time.

Smffy · 20 Feb 2017 at 14:58

Yeah seems that way... Sorry

They look like early March (10th) on some so not overly long to wait, I think there were only a few packs in the first place because they're new. They come with 2 O-Rings though so fit 15.2-16.2mm which would suit you well, 6 pack is exactly what you need also!

This is what they look like fitted in mine, worth the wait I think: