My Coolit Domino ALC blew up

[MagicPants]

Just warning people a few days ago my Coolit Domino ALC liquid cpu cooler went bad. I'd just bought Majesty 2 on steam, after playing for an hour or so I heard a load popping noise and the screen went purple. I turned off the machine as fast as I could and when I opened it up I found the Domino leaked all its coolant on my two gtx 285s, x-fi and psu.

After cleaning it, airing it for a day (with a big fan), and stripping it down the the bare essentials out I can boot to windows, but starting games causes serious issues (crashes or massive video corruption).

If you have one of these in your box I suggest turning it off right now, taking it out and shooting it. Then go get an air cooler.

Anyway here are some pictures:

The first is a shot of the whole system right after I unplugged it you can see some water on the psu:

Full Case Shot

Here's a close up of the psu:

Water on the power supply unit

Here's a shot of ground zero, if you have trouble seeing the fluid look at the edge of the card nearest the camera:

Water on the x-fi

The last shot is the cooler after removal. The blue arrows show where fluid was flowing out.

The bad Coolit Domino ALC

Coolit has offered to replace the Domino. I said "no thanks".

Since then I've found a bunch of consumer reviews from people who had similar problems:
(27 of 77 reviews I've seen indicated failure, and most of those resulted in damage to other components)


Amazon user reviews:
Amazon Reviewshttp://www.amazon.com/CoolIT-DM-1000-Domino-L-C-Cooler/product-reviews/B001LKMU56/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addOneStar


NewEgg user reviews:
The newegg review page.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835227005



If you happen to be a professional reviewer who's reviewed this product, please consider updating your review and warn your readers.

 

[thilanliyan]

That sucks about your vid cards. How did the tubes actually come off? Or did the pump itself break apart?

I suppose this could happen to any water cooling setup but after the water block on a Gigabyte kit I had started cracking, I went to a full custom setup...hopefully it doesn't fail on me.

 

[Tullphan]

I assume the company won't do anything about you video cards?

 

[AAjax]

This is why I stay away from all pre-built WC set ups.

Question: Did you leak test the unit for at least 24hrs before installing? Always a good idea.

 

[aigomorla]

yeow... that hurts..

it seems like it was a poor clamp that was used...

Sorry to hear your loss. :\

Try cleaning the cards up more, and by pulling the sink off, and putting in some elbow greese.

 

[MagicPants]

Hey all, I've been in contact with Coolit. Without going into details I will say they are treating me fairly and to my satisfaction.

There is indication that my case involved isolated circumstances, but as always use your own best judgment.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: MagicPants
Hey all, I've been in contact with Coolit. Without going into details I will say they are treating me fairly and to my satisfaction.

There is indication that my case involved isolated circumstances, but as always use your own best judgment.

there is no way u could of escaped this.

Special circumstances my ass... Its called improper QA check.
Does a coolit vendor want to clash with me?
Because i see a POORLY SEALED ORING, or Defective CLAMP.

And the water damage is totally uncalled for.
If they inspected the QA and did proper leak tests, they would of found out the clamp was defective, and this would of never happened.
Expecially if its a preassembled kit...

Are they gonna replace the videocards for you?
Because as i see it your out 600 dollars on a video card which is almost 10x what you paid for that cheap water setup.

If you went 200 dollar water setup, and followed my rules in my sticky, im sure your 600 dollar videocards would of been fine, and you probably would of still been happy.

:

Either way most vendors wont replace the parts damaged by there hardware. So your kinda assed out, but most water vendors assume its you installing the parts together.

If coolit doesnt at least give u a partial compensation, i swear thats a really cheezy company, and i dont think you should at all speak nicely about them.

Expecially when its 1000% there products fault.
Ask them, Your product was 100% defective, it leaked because it was improperly inspected b4 it went to retail, and damaged about 600 dollars in gpu hardware. Are you gonna at least partially compensate or replace the damaged hardware that your failed product made?

 

[daw123]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

If coolit doesnt at least give u a partial compensation, i swear thats a really cheezy company, and i dont think you should at all speak nicely about them.

Expecially when its 1000% there products fault.
Ask them, Your product was 100% defective, it leaked because it was improperly inspected b4 it went to retail, and damaged about 600 dollars in gpu hardware. Are you gonna at least partially compensate or replace the damaged hardware that your failed product made?

I agree with Aigo.

Its a pre-assembled unit. Therefore its not your fault and Coolit should compensate you for the damage caused by their faulty product (whether its against their Terms and Conditons or not).

 

[MagicPants]

Hey aigomorla and daw123,

I not much into water cooling so this is a new experience for me. Also remember that water cooling is a very niche market and that everyone including Coolit is new to bringing it to the mainstream. Coolit is currently helping me in good faith and I'm not getting screwed by anyone. If things don't turn out well I'll be back posting about it, but it's surprising how reasonable and easy things can be if you assume the best out of people.

There are certainly people that will take advantage of that and this puts us all in a defensive situation, especially corporations like Coolit. However when faced with genuine problem most people do the right thing.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: MagicPants
Hey aigomorla and daw123,

I not much into water cooling so this is a new experience for me. Also remember that water cooling is a very niche market and that everyone including Coolit is new to bringing it to the mainstream. Coolit is currently helping me in good faith and I'm not getting screwed by anyone. If things don't turn out well I'll be back posting about it, but it's surprising how reasonable and easy things can be if you assume the best out of people.

There are certainly people that will take advantage of that and this puts us all in a defensive situation, especially corporations like Coolit. However when faced with genuine problem most people do the right thing.

well helping you out how?

By telling u its a "special problem" and then refusing to replace hardware?

The only thing they are willing to RMA with you is the coolit device.. Well im sorry, but i dont think you personally would want to go though that ordeal again with the same product, even tho they say its a "special" problem.

To be honest with ya, leaks happen on the expensive side of H2o as well. But we dont call it a "special" problem.

We call it a OOPS or negligence 80-90% of the time because its called lack of testing.
However on a coolit unit, the testing should of already been done for you since u cant open or add liquid.

So whose fault is it then?

In any regards... i would get coolit to AT LEAST get the vendors to RMA my cards.
No amount of im sorry, and ass kissing will make up 600 dollars in broken hardware because they forgot to test it though QA.

LOL... OP im getting mad for you.. because your getting screwed by coolit everywhere i see.
And there blaming the problem as a "special" problem to get there asses out of liability.

I consider myself pretty dayam knowledgeable when it comes to H2O.
From what i can see, that inlet tube fell out. Its the inlet because its leading the center of the pump which from what i see looks like a middle inlet then fed to rad.

That clamp or joint fell out. <--- Special Problem eh?

Dont let the support Bullshit you around. If they wont help you RMA your cards, ask for a BOREAS to make up for your lost hardware as an RMA.

You can sell that and try to recover your cards.. although u'll still be under the table.


EDIT:
Special problem eh? LOL
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...19/coolit-domino-alc/5

Sorry Op... its called a Fubard product.
Should of NEVER left the warehouse.
Infact Coolit should of done a FULL RECALL.

Have them give u a BOREAS if they wont assist in the RMA of your cards.
If they tell u to RMA the cards directly, have them give you a letter with pNY authorizing the RMA.
Its so not fair for pNY to have to replace hardware that u broke because coolit didnt pull a defective product.

 

[zagood]

I have a feeling they're helping him out with the video cards, but he's under some sort of legal agreement so that people don't try and take advantage of them.

 

[aigomorla]

well if they are helping him out, then they deserve respect.

They took responsibility like a good company should.