Water Cooling fluid

Admiral Huddy

Admiral Huddy

Admiral Huddy

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Which water cooling fluids would you advise?

If using distilled or deionised water, then which anti-corrosive additives would you recommend etc?

Thanks
 
Admiral Huddy said:
Which water cooling fluids would you advise?

If using distilled or deionised water, then which anti-corrosive additives would you recommend etc?

Thanks
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I replaced mine yesterday.
I was using deionized water from Halfords with Zerex but this time went for the same water but added some G11 and a few drops of PT Nuke to keep the bugs at bay.
There's also the argument that pure distilled or deionized water alone is fine if all your components are copper and not mixed.
 
You don't need anti-freeze (coolant) if you aint mixing metals as nothing will corrode (galvanic corrosion). So if all your blocks and rad are copper just use some di-ionised/distilled with maybe a couple of drops of iodine/copper sulphate as an algaecide.
 
Halfords de-ionised water and Zerex here. About a fiver for the 5L bottle of water and another couple of quid for the Zerex. Don't see any point in spending a fortune on this ready made up stuff.
 
w3bbo said:
You don't need anti-freeze (coolant) if you aint mixing metals as nothing will corrode (galvanic corrosion). So if all your blocks and rad are copper just use some di-ionised/distilled with maybe a couple of drops of iodine/copper sulphate as an algaecide.
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I've always wondered about this, purely because most barbs are either nickel-plated or brass... which is carries a different electro-potential to copper/aluminium.

If using plastic barbs, then the problem goes away. IIRC, the Laing DDC has a nice stainless steel component in it, too. Which , believe it or not, will also rust given the right conditions.

Just use a bit of antifreeze, tbh, together with distilled/de-ionised water. Feser is for people who can't plumb their loops correctly. ;) :D
 
mrthingyx said:
I've always wondered about this, purely because most barbs are either nickel-plated or brass... which is carries a different electro-potential to copper/aluminium.

If using plastic barbs, then the problem goes away. IIRC, the Laing DDC has a nice stainless steel component in it, too. Which , believe it or not, will also rust given the right conditions.

Just use a bit of antifreeze, tbh, together with distilled/de-ionised water. Feser is for people who can't plumb their loops correctly. ;) :D
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The general consensus is that mixing aluminium & copper is a big nono. Mixing any 2 metals will corrode to some extent but it depends how far apart they are on the noble table. Copper and brass are fine as brass is apx 70% copper anyway. With regards to Stainless steel there are many grades so it's virtually impossible to tell how much this will effect your loop given the variances.

For a clearer picture take a look at a Nobility table and the further apart the metals (Cathodic vs Anodic) the worse the effects of corrosion there will be.

Nothing in your waterloop should rust, don't confuse rust with galvanic corrosion.

In short, the best thing anyone new to watercooling should do is avoid aluminium like the plague - copper, brass, nickel and chrome plated equipment/barbs are fine and have no evidence to support any significant corrosion.
 
w3bbo said:
The general consensus is that mixing aluminium & copper is a big nono. Mixing any 2 metals will corrode to some extent but it depends how far apart they are on the noble table. Copper and brass are fine as brass is apx 70% copper anyway. With regards to Stainless steel there are many grades so it's virtually impossible to tell how much this will effect your loop given the variances.

For a clearer picture take a look at a Nobility table and the further apart the metals (Cathodic vs Anodic) the worse the effects of corrosion there will be.

Nothing in your waterloop should rust, don't confuse rust with galvanic corrosion.

In short, the best thing anyone new to watercooling should do is avoid aluminium like the plague - copper, brass, nickel and chrome plated equipment/barbs are fine and have no evidence to support any significant corrosion.
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Oh, I'm aware of all this as I'm a materials scientist. I've worked with stainless steels for three years as part of my research into hip replacement alloys. I've looked at the sensitivity of stainless steels to corrosion, etc.

Galvanic corrosion will occur if there is any difference in electro-potential. Stuff will even corrode by itself because of different stresses and slight changes in composition (i.e. between individual crystals) induce different electro-potentials across its surface. As a result, I've often found it curious that the copper-nickel/brass was ignored...

There have been a couple of interesting threads on this forum where people have cleaned out their systems and found the waterbloocks/etc. have been either eaten away or covered in crud and it's been a useful lesson to all...

If one is going for no corrosion whatsoever, they need to use one metal, and one metal only: i.e. a copper block, copper radiator (even though this will probably be a different alloy to the block), plastic barbs and plastic pump components.

But feser = for wimps. :D
 
I wish Swiftech shared your knowledge.

Only they could release a block with a copper base and aluminum top, and then charge £20 for a replacement copper top.
 
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