Watercooling fluid

[Mcnumpty2323]

Some mixed opinions here.. No matter what I go for are the Premixed bottles ready to pour in? I'm guessing that's why they're called Premixed

Yes they are
Have the water, the colour, corrosion inhibitors etc already in them

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Whats PH balance? sorry new to all this

Acid or alkaline
Ideally you want as close to neutral /in the middle pH as possible

 

[marlies]

Distilled/deionised water is the best for cooling performance. I have a silver kill coil in mine, and flushes my loop twice a year (I clean the kill coil while I am at it).

Do coloured fluids need mixing with distilled water or can they go straight in the loop?

Pre-mixed = straight in the loop.
Concentrate = mix with water
!Always RTFM!

Do they tend to clog up compared to clear fluid?

Define 'tend to'? Is it 50% of the products on the market? Or 33%? Generally, clear fluids will cause less problems. As usual, Purified water & biocide will cause the lease problem IF used in a similar metal loop.

Do I need to flush my radiator before fitting in the case? Its a brand new radiator from OCUK

Always, but especially so if they are second-hand. Some brands are know for having more dirty radiators.

 

[sparkymark75]

Just bear in mind that distilled water is not the same as deionised. Deionised may be okay for flushing out radiators but not for use as a coolant. Apologies if it sounds obvious but better to be safe.

 

[marlies]

Just bear in mind that distilled water is not the same as deionised. Deionised may be okay for flushing out radiators but not for use as a coolant. Apologies if it sounds obvious but better to be safe.

It's fine, water self-ionises anyway, also (and more relevant), the amount of metal (taken from the loop) is tiny (mg range).

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Have used
Deionised, distilled, even the water from my condenser dryer lol
Just because it says distilled or deionised
Or even reverse osmosis on the bottle
That doesn't actually mean much
It doesn't actually tell you to what extent its been done, only that it's been through
That process to whatever degree
Guess if it's marked laboratory grade then it may have went through more thorough
Processing

 

[pugheaven]

Mmm, glad seen this, as I'm currently buying all the bits and bobs and I was going to go with the "EK-Cryo Fuel Acid Green 1L Premix Water-cooling Fluid" premixed? Not sure how much I'd need tbh, but seems to have everything it needs?

 

[Mcnumpty2323]

Mmm, glad seen this, as I'm currently buying all the bits and bobs and I was going to go with the "EK-Cryo Fuel Acid Green 1L Premix Water-cooling Fluid" premixed? Not sure how much I'd need tbh, but seems to have everything it needs?

Yeah usually tells you it's got biocide, corrosion inhibitors etc
Usually 1litre should do
But depends on size/and amount of reservoirs and radiators
If in doubt I get the extra litre just to be safe it gets used eventually for topping
Up the loop anyway

 

[sepulchre]

I’m part way through my first water cooling build, picked up 5L of distilled water from the rain forest for about 7 quid. I was pleasantly surprised how little muck came out of the EK rads, 4 or 5 tiny black dots at most. The packaging did say ready to use, no flushing required...

I watched and read a lot of videos, as with most things there seems to be a few different ways to do the flushing, in the end I followed this EK video -

After doing two 360mm rads I probably have just over 1L distilled water left, I was probably more generous with the flushes than needed but as it’s my first time at this I thought better safe than sorry!