preping water cooling

[bigKr33]

I haven't quite got all my water cooling parts yet, but i heard that before you even put everything together that you should flush the block, and the radiator. What do you use to flush these two.

It might be a little while before i can actually start building my wc because my thermochill pa120.2 is on back order, and my pump and the rest of the stuff isn't here yet. The only thing thats here in my storm rev.2, and my panaflo fans for my radiator. Don't you use vinegar or something to clean the parts? I just want to prevent buildups, i know i'm being a little parnoid.

 

[sparkey]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/index.php

hi there bigKr33 i cant remember if i linked you to this befor but between this forum and the linked on you will get an answer to your question

maxx over at xs has stickeys up in the water cooling section that are a very good read so while you have a little time befor your rad gets in stock read the stickeys and use what you like and discard what you dont

i used pure vinegar filled half full shook the rad for a looooooooong time repeated a couple of times then rinsed with distilled water i used about half a gallon

hth and have fun with the build
tom

 

[TrevorRC]

It'd be better to post this in C&C; but anyway:

Like Sparkey said, head read the Stickies at XS.

Also, to answer it anyway, YES.

Flush everything out with a good vinegar bath, and make SURE to have it COMPLETELY submerged in vinegar. [[the blocks, anyway. Partial submersion leads to copper-oxide, which isn't pretty I learned that the hard way.]

You can probably set up an open loop with the radiator and pump to flush the radiator out. o_o Just a thought.

Let it sit for quite a while, btw. 5 minutes doesn't cut it.
--Trevor

 

[bigKr33]

Yeah i've been a member at XS for about 2 weeks, but as always there servers arent working right now. That website is always screwed up, but yeah i think i do remember seeing something on preping water cooling.

 

[sparkey]

its just the last 2-4 weeks that they seem to be having trouble

seems when ever i want some info from them thats when their down

really hope you have fun with your new cooling solution
tom

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: bigKr33
Yeah i've been a member at XS for about 2 weeks, but as always there servers arent working right now. That website is always screwed up, but yeah i think i do remember seeing something on preping water cooling.

okey if the item is NEW, then all you need to do is just flush the system with DI water. DONT USE VINEGAR, there has been a lot of problems with people using vinegar. What happens is when you use vinegar, the cooper changes color and simi oxidies if you dont rinse imediately. This will cause all your new equiptment to become worthless and you will need to do another vinegar dip again.

The easiest way i have learned to flush a system is just use the 1 gallon bottle as your resivor, do not connect your blocks but do a micro loop in this order:

1 gallon bottle: have 1 tube come out from the top -> pump -> rad -> to another bottle

Use a turkey baster to pump air from in the tube to prime your pump. So basically your gonna suck one side of the tube so water goes up from the bottle to the pump. Once you do that, the your pump will do the rest of the work. Then turn the pump on and allow the water to circulate in the system a few times. I usually go though the entire 1 gallon bottle when i flush my system. Once the bottle that had water is near empty, turn the system off, and then carry the rad pump and tubing outside. disconnect the tube with the pump carefully use gravity to force the water out of the pump but let there be some water in the inlet and outlet tubes for the rad and then shake the living hell out of your rad. Then Drain your rad. It should take out all the lose particles. Some people suggest you do this a few times, i do it probably twice at the most.

Remember use DI water and not TAP. Tap will leave a mineral deposit in the loop and that can lead to problems later on.

80% of the people ive talked to say vinager is only needed when you buy used parts, or your going though a flush in your system because you had some sort of corrosion, or your copper is oxidized. Also you need to use a special type of vinager and not just regular one, personally i have never flushed a new system with vinager and they all were perfectly fine. But i state again, a NEW System.

 

[bigKr33]

So basically just run distilled water through the radiator, cpu block, and gpu block(if i get one)

I don't really have to setup my pump to do this do I? Couldn't i just fill the radiator, drain it, and do it again a few more times to get the particles out. And as for the cpu block and gpu block wouldn't i just have to take it a part and just soak the parts in distilled water for a little bit?

Off topic, but i was thinking of purchasing a danger den maze4 gpu block as i here they work very well. Danger den is selling them for $44 and you can get ram sinks as an option too which i believe i would need to keep the other parts cool on my gpu.

 

[nealh]

I would use vinegar on the radiator as a soak as per Maxxracer...my rad has been soaked 3-4 times and the crap keeps coming out....

I have not saok my waterblocks for fear of the oxidation ...but the rads needing the slightly acidic vinegar to get rid of crap....

I think use a no less than a gallon of water to rinse the rad...my rad holds 12oz...so I figure rinse , shake, soak for a bit 10x after vinegar has helped

Yes never use TAP water..only distilled water

 

[bigKr33]

Do you reuse the acidic vinegar to flush the radiator when you do several passes, or do you use fresh vinegar each pass? I fear for oxidation too, but somewhere i heard that only when you first install the water cooling parts for the first time you use only distilled water. And vinegar if you're cleaning your buildups of corrosion.

I just purchased my danger den maze4 gpu block today and received my storm rev.2 recently, but do you even have to flush them out or is it okay to just install them?

But really do you or do you not have to use the vinegar? Or is it perfectly fine just to use distilled. And can you just keep recycling the distilled water to clean the radiator or do you have to keep buying a gallon at a time to clean the damn thing out.

This water cooling thing is a little confusing for me, but i will figure it out. Just like how i was confused with overclocking, and inevitably its almost second nature.

 

[nealh]

if you read over at XS..Maxxracer recommends the vinegar to remove the gunk that is in the rad that will get in the loop and clog the waterblocks....

I only flushed my waterblock but had serious temps issues on opteron....open the storm rev 2 and cleaned out plugged block

I would recommend you follow Maxxracers guides

I use new vinegar for each soak...vinegar 1/2gal was $1.70, distilled water was ~$1 gal...I have gone through like 10gallons

I can not open my MCW60..no tool came with it..I will contact swiftech later

I am amazed at the crap in the rad....I got a PA160....poor h20 in there ..let it soak and see the small crap floating in there...not sure whether vinegar actually makes this worse or not

but after soaking in vinegar again..then soak in h20 and rinses..water is clearer

Rad:...flush or rinse a ton, soak in vinegar(I got distilled white vinegar at publix)...flushed and rinsed with distilled water

I only cleaned my block with h20 flush, except I took apart my storm rev 2 again...

I am doing my loop again....will be hopefully leaking testing again today or tomorrow