Watercooler's nightmare.

Gertford · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:04

So. I just opened my rig for some general dusting and to top off the res as it's only been running about 2-3 weeks and the air from the radiators had finally worked itself out as it usually does once a loop settles, and something struck me as odd...

Hmmm... Couldn't have been THAT much air in the rads...

Holy mother of kinking, that's kinked....

Uhhh..... Uh oh?

Yup... Definitely an "Uh Oh" moment now..

I have absolutely NO idea how that tubing has become so kinked on it's own. I've checked to make sure it hasn't been squashed by the fan on the side of the case and it's not. I'm pretty sure the fitting at the top of the top isn't screwed in properly but I also think the pump/top is leaking too.. What do you guys think?

Typical this happens when money is super tight at the moment. I'm just happy I've caught it this early.

NoNameNoNumber · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:07

I guess the warmth of the fluid softened the tubing just enough for it to collapse... At least you caught it though!

Gertford · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:10

Yeah, it's been running now for about a half hour and that top fitting is leaking pretty badly. Looks like it just needs tightening up though so at least I can get it fixed up quickly.

NoNameNoNumber · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:11

Sweet

snips86x · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:12

Just don't use pliers, it will kill the fitting!

Gertford · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:18

snips86x said:
Just don't use pliers, it will kill the fitting!

Well there goes my plan to do it without draining the loop. Ha.

Uncle Petey · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:22

Unlucky mate.
Glad you caught it before anything worse happened

Gertford · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:25

Secondary question.... That condensation in the res is normal, right?

Jokester · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:43

As you've lost water, you've effectively reduced the pressure on the pump inlet to below air pressure causing it to collapse.

Gertford · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:50

Am I going to need to re-tube it or will it just sort of bounce back once i've drained the loop and tightened the fitting?

NoNameNoNumber · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:51

Unscrew the lid.

Jokester · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:54

Gertford said:
Am I going to need to re-tube it or will it just sort of bounce back once i've drained the loop and tightened the fitting?

Depends on how long it's been like that, you might find that's now permanently weakened/deformed. As said above, unscrew the top of your res to let the pressure equalise again.

panyan · 21 Aug 2014 at 21:59

Gertford said:
...it's only been running about 2-3 weeks...

I normally run my rig open so i can see it for as long as i can before closing her up

If i run it for a week with close observation under a variety of tests then i am happy to close it up for long-term use

Gertford · 21 Aug 2014 at 22:32

Yeah. I got a bit cocky with experience. I'll be definitely keeping an eye on it once I get everything sorted tomorrow.

Ragnahex · 22 Aug 2014 at 00:38

this makes me almost want to open my pc to make sure everything is running fine......nah the carpet isn't blue yet so nothing too bad has happened

DavidS14 · 22 Aug 2014 at 12:57

To me it looks like you had a twist in the pipe, maybe when it was fitted. When the pipe warmed up the twist pulled the sides of the pipe inward.

Tighten the fitting into the pump, slip the compression ring over the pipe, push the pipe onto the fitting. hold the pipe and tighten the compression ring without letting the pipe turn with it. You should only need to do the ring finger tight if the fittings/pipe are the correct size.

Gertford · 24 Aug 2014 at 14:35

So all is fine now. The fitting at the top of the pump was screwed in all the way. Chalk this up to me being cocky and not double/triple checking everything before I fill the loop.

I need to do some retubing and some tube rearranging in the next few weeks once I get some cash in to buy some more angled fittings to make things look much neater but for now, it might be a bit of a botch job but its doing the job for now.

Thanks for all your input, guys as always!