Safe to leak test WC setup inside computer?

[Viper87227]

I just ordered all the parts for my first endevor in water. I got the following:

Swiftech MCW6002-64
Ehiem 1048 Pump
Black Ice Micro II
Dual 5.25 resavor

It should be arriving next week. I understand I need to leak test this for atleast 24 hours, but as long as my PC stays off and unplugged, would it be safe to do this with everything hooked up? Otherwise I ahve to hook it up, leaktest it, drain it, install it, and then refill it, and hope tehre are no loose hoses to create new leaks or something. If I could just fill it, hook it all up, and then run it with my PC unplugged for 24 hours, woudl that be safe? If there was a leak, I woudl make sure to fully dry my components, but can they still get damaged?

 

[Br0k3nman]

It's generally allright to do so. If it does leak, don't turn anything on. Make sure it all dries out before ever turning anything on again. The only problem is it may be harder to get access to somewhere water has leaked.

 

[iamtrout]

Yeah, just leaktest it inside the case. If you've mounted everything nice and tight, which is fairly easy to do the first time, nothing will leak. One thing that you can do is add a UV additive to the water and shine a black light on your loop to illuminate all the leaks/puddles, if any.

 

[Viper87227]

Well, I dont have UV die. I coudl always order it tho. I also, do not have a blacklight, which might be a bit more tricky. I know I could get a bulb anywhere, but I need something to shine it with.

Is Zerex UV reactive? I heard it was.

 

[iamtrout]

The UV isn't ABSOLUTELY necessary by any means. You can always just feel for wetness during the test. I was just commenting because some people already have these items laying around their case for the bling factor, and if you have them on hand, they can actually have a neat purpose beside the bling.

But a couple of UV cathodes and some UV additive aren't that much, and IMO make a watercooling loop look pretty good for minimal monetary investment. Unless you don't have a window. Then it's just stupid.

You can get UV cold cathodes almost everywhere. Xoxide, Newegg, Coolerguys, etc. Same with additives. Heck, green highlighters (the type used for highlighting textbooks) is usually UV reactive.

 

[Viper87227]

Yeah, I concidered dye, but got blue UV tubes instead. Same effect, less mess. Also, I have blue cathodes in my rig already, and id rather not replace them with UV. I think stuff with UV looks cool, but I dont like the purple light UV cathodes give off.

 

[Viper87227]

Well, the stuff actually arrived tonight, about 2 hours ago. I decided to play it safe and test it outside my case, and boy am I glad I did. The radatior leaks like no other. There has to be a hole in it, coz as soon as the water hit it, I had a mess everywhere. This thing is going back pronto.

 

[iamtrout]

Damn, nice call. Does the rad look damaged? Where is it leaking from? I usually flush out my rads before putting it in the system just in case there's some grime in there.

 

[Viper87227]

No, it appreared fine. I did some searching under a flashlight and found that the very bottem corner, there is a crack. Thats where I lost all my water. Hopefully danderden can get me a good one the 2nd time around. I tell you tho, this is definatly not the way I wanted to start off my first go at watercooling, not exactly reassuring.

 

[iamtrout]

For the time being you can test your loop without the rad and make sure other things aren't going wrong.

I wouldn't worry about it. I've had about a cup of water spill on my brand new GF4 Ti4400 back in the day. It was cool.

(and turned off)

 

[zakee00]

Originally posted by: Viper87227
Well, the stuff actually arrived tonight, about 2 hours ago. I decided to play it safe and test it outside my case, and boy am I glad I did. The radatior leaks like no other. There has to be a hole in it, coz as soon as the water hit it, I had a mess everywhere. This thing is going back pronto.

:shocked: yeah, leak test the rest of your loop while you are waiting on the rad.