Cascade users - don't use food coloring!

Thread at overclockers.co.uk with pictures of what can happen

that sucks... is there any news on how UV dyes and stuff work?

where can i buy a cascade?

Man that sucks. I hope it cleans up nice, cause that is a lot of money to go down the drain.

i sure hope uv dye and water wetter are ok =)

thorilan said:

i sure hope uv dye and water wetter are ok =)

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Me too, been running mine that way for a few days
If anything adverse happens I'll make a post, but so far so good

I think it might be possible that something else clogged the works, then picked up the coloring.

That makes me wonder what else the food coloring is building up on or around.

bigben2k said:

I think it might be possible that something else clogged the works, then picked up the coloring.

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I'm with you on this one. Food dye has a very very low solid content. Looks more like dyed algee or something else.

NEVER use food coloring, it is organic and will always find a way to screw things up. Your lucky it got your block and not your pump. I would recommend using only DISTILLED WATER, and maybe some water wetter or other type of SAFE COOLANTS. UV dye is a waste in my opinion, it could only lead to bad things. Think about the steps you guys are taking.. You are willing to chance the CPU overheating or a pump failing, so that water will look cool with it's additives? All my logic says... WHY bother..

....WHY bother..

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Speaking for myself, the UV dye is only for leak detection. I have an external rig and no window mod, so the dye is purely for function

Leak detection? By the time you realize you have a leak.. it's probably too late man. So once again.. WHY bother

PalominoBURN said:

Leak detection? By the time you realize you have a leak.. it's probably too late man. So once again.. WHY bother

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Maybe by the time you realize you have a leak it's too late. Not in my case, though, as I added the dye before firing up the system for the first time during leak testing, and actually caught a leak that I would have otherwise likely missed (leaking about a teaspoon or so over a few hours from a hose-barb).

To each their own, I suppose, but I consider the $3 investment well worth it, imho.

I like the idea of using it for leak testing. I never thought of that.

Well I don't doubt the idea, it just seems if it takes UV dye to detect a leak then you already didn't test it well enough, IMO.
I would dry dock test for 24 HOUR first. If it's gonna leak it do so in that time period (all things constant, you didn't cut a hose installing stuff,etc).

... Does that sound wrong? I guess I am confused why you would be looking for a leak why the comp is running. I mean if your that concerned then you probably shouldn't have it. Believe me I am OCD about some things, so I understand your concern. I was referring to the fact that a leak while running will more then likely do it's damage before you can react to prevent the disaster.

I think I see where you're coming from. No, I didn't intend to leak test my system all the time while in operation... I'm careful, but not quite that paranoid

I just mixed in about a capful of Rit (a teaspoon or so) in my setup after I installed it in both my comp and the external box. My sytem holds a little over 1 and 1/2 gallons total, so the amount of dye was minimal, and not likely to have any major effect on my liquid's cooling efficiency one way or the other, imo. I then ran a leak test after installation with my computer off and caught the aforementioned leak on a hosebarb located on my northbridge block, using a portable uv.

Every now and again I turn on the little battery-powered uv lamp and do a quick check over my connections, but it's not not a regularly scheduled routine.

The UV served it's purpose during the initial leaktest, and it was merely easier to leave the dye in than to flush my system to remove it.

I just found the addition of the dye to be a convenient and inexpensive way of making an efficient leaktest. By no means am I an authority on any of this, but am just passing along info pertaining to what seemed to work well for me

OK I get what your saying now. Makes sense, I like it.