Water cooling risk inquiry

[DarkJediSleikas]

The perception of the risk of water cooling seems to vary widely from person to person. Some people shudder at the thought of mixing water with their computer, while others think its an efficient, quiet way to cool a computer. I thought that a good way to find out the truth about the risk of water cooling would be to ask people who have already done it. Perhaps this should be made into a poll?

For those of you who do or did watercool your PC, which category do you best fit into?

1. I have never had any leaks or come close to damaging anything as a result of water cooling.

2. My water cooling setup did leak, but it did not cause any damage to my computer.

3. My water cooling setup leaked and damaged one computer part.

4. My water cooling setup has leaked and has damaged more than one computer part.

[altec]

I would have to vote for 3. I am still a n00b when it comes to all of this and the leak was my fault...so as long as you are careful, you will be ok. Dont do what I did. ;)

[EgeWorks]

2. My system only leaked coz of a dodgy homemade waterblock gone wrong. It was only on filling it though, I was smart enough not to turn it on. It's been going 12 months with no other problems.

[thorilan]

1 X 75

[ssgohan434]

also if u did have a leak or a problem please post a short summary of what the problem was.

edit: would u please also add how long u have been watercooling

[EluSiOn]

1

[nealric]

2 x 20 or so :D

I must be one of the luckiest folks alive, but Ive had leakage on many components and never fried a one.

The list:

First attempt ever (Bad hose barbs). Water ALL OVER mobo- spewing everywhere.

Second attempt. Slow leak, despite addition of barbs, a little water on mobo.

Thrird attempt. Added silicone, still a little leak, more water on mobo...

months later...

massive condensation- block of ice on gpu block :eek:. Both the vid card and sound card covered in water (antifreeze). The computer went nuts and refused to boot. Dried everything out and all good now.

Im running pretty heavy duty insulation now, so havnt had problems (knock on wood)

[ssgohan434]

what part (cpu waterblock, radiator) was causing the leak? what brand?

[stryder2720]

BIG 'OL 1

[thorilan]

you are going to find that in 90% of all leaks people have had it has been user error not equipment

[buzzby]

1 and 2
My homemade res did leak until the sealent set correctly, didn't leaveit to dry long eneough. When i say leak it was a very slow dibble and as res and rad are in rad box there was zero damage to anything.

As long as you test alll of your components before they go in the computer the only prob should be down to user error

[mikieboyblue]

I've been water cooling for 36 hours now and I'd say that I am a 1....

....although during set up and testing I had a few leaks due to my clamps were not tight enough around one barb on the water block and on barb on the heater core (only had leaks with brass barbs...all the plastic ones were fine.

My thread about my setup and thank is under the topic of Water Cooling and the "Moving Man" Part 2.....

[Chaos Snake]

1 for me. I take extra care with my watercooling. I have metal clamps on every conection and the only water i hve going inside my case is the waterblock. There will be no leaks here.

[Neco]

I have never had W/C destroy my PC.

All my leaks have happened because of user error, and were discovered during a leaktesting period.

In most cases the hose clamps I used were not tightened enough. In other cases, it's faulter reservoir sealings (my own fault).

[Grimdeath]

#1

[Big_Baller]

My last setup wouldn't stop condensating, so I stopped for awhile. (I'll be back one day) When I saw the metal hose clamp condensating and dripping on my video card that was it. But the video card was fine after an alcohol bath. It gets tricky when your water gets in the negitive temps. At least it has been for me.

[Gautam]

2. The impeller of my pump leaked for a couple weeks, dripping down to the bottom of my case, and harming nothing but temps.

[McWarren]

#2, seeing as not tightening one of my hose clips caused a lake to appear over my precious Ti4200. Luckily, the system wasn't on so I dried it all up, tightened the clips and everything booted up nicely.

Back in November, my abomination of a waterblock killed a (t)rusty 1400 Thunderbird, which was a shame...

[YviE]

1 for me, but i've only been using water for about 2 weeks, so far so good :)

[lemmyslender]

#2 - I may have a slow leak on my radiator where I added a barb. Some pooling on the bottom of the case, otherwise no issues. Haven't lost any parts yet (knocks on wood)

[NeoMoses]

1. I have never had any leaks or come close to damaging anything as a result of water cooling.

It all comes down to common sense. Leak check before giving power to your computer. Inspect well, and use hose clamps. Water cooling is not that dangerous.

[ssgohan434]

Originally posted by Big_Baller868
My last setup wouldn't stop condensating, so I stopped for awhile. (I'll be back one day) When I saw the metal hose clamp condensating and dripping on my video card that was it. But the video card was fine after an alcohol bath. It gets tricky when your water gets in the negitive temps. At least it has been for me.

how did ur water temps get below ambient temps?

[camel]

#1, and I'm so fuggin happy with it, but its only been 3 weeks ;)

Very humid today, and I'm getting some condensation on my rad(exterior rad in front of A/C window unit).

[Caffinehog]

#1

USE HOSE CLAMPS!!!!!!!!!

[altec]

I used a hose clamp and the hose still slid off my Pump output and drenched my board. R.I.P Abit NF7-S Rev. 2....:cry:

[camel]

Originally posted by altec
I used a hose clamp and the hose still slid off my Pump output and drenched my board. R.I.P Abit NF7-S Rev. 2....:cry:

Thats a drag altec, that would suck. I have 2 clamps on my out, I thought if anywhere that would need it.

[DarkJediSleikas]

I PM'd the mod (Hoot) to see if I could get this converted into a poll.

It seems like watercooling is a lot riskier than you guys make it out to be. Either that, or the people who have had no trouble are too lazy to post :) .

[altec]

Most peopl do not have any trouble with it, but it takes patience, and if you make sure that you know what you are doing, you wont have any problems. I rushed into my project, and made an error. The clamp obviously wasnt tight...so if you are careful, you will be fine.

[wormwood]

I guess it depends on the definition of "risky". Yes, there is risk. I doubt anyone would dispute that.

You can minimize that risk. In my case, I chose to air-preasure test everything before putting water in the rig, and I let it run for days before I applied power. I used TONS of hose clamps.

By ensuring there was no possibility of leaks, I eliminated one of the risks. Even with all that care, I still got water on the motherboard while filling (but it all evaporated before I ever applied power). There are still risks, though.

One such risk is the pump dieing. Fortunately, Xeons aren't quite as problematic as most, but regardless, I will be placing SCRAM circuits on all the computers soon. They cut power if the block ever goes above 50c. It beats relying soley on software that may not be running if the computer hangs.

Another risk is evaporation. I have mine sealed air tight, (it can even run upside down without problems), so it's not an issue, but if you are using evaporative water cooling (bong) it can be a problem.

Condensation is not a problem unless you are chilling the water or the chips. I do neither, but some people go to great lengths to ensure their Extreme Cooling doesn't end in disaster.

Another risk is corrosion, and bacteria. Either is lethal to water flow, but corrosion can kill your block permanately (and potentially leak or cause the CPU to overheat). Don't mix metals. It's harder than it sounds, and at a minimum, you'll have copper with brass (and possibly steal). Throwing Aluminum into the mix can be bad, but even if you don't, be sure to use Water Wetter or some other anti-corrosive aditive. Brass (used in fittings, heater cores, hose barbs, etc.) can react to copper.

As corrosion happens, it can leave your water more conductive than when you put it in, speeding corrosion further. It's a good idea to chane your water every 6 months or so.

On my main computer, I have two loops, one aluminum and one copper. I couldn't get copper hard drive blocks, so they are on their own loop with an aluminum radiator (transmision cooler). All just an attempt to inhibit corrosion.

Other risks? Glad you asked:

Plastic hose clamps can become brittle and break (use metal worm gear hose clamps).

Over heating a block can melt tubing spewing steaming hot water on your computer (i.e. use motherboard monitor software and/or SCRAM).

Dust in the radiator can inhibit cooling. Clean it occasionally.

Unervolting your fans too much can cause them to not spin up. As a fan ages and gets dust in it's sleves or bearings, it may not start up at 5-6V anymore, meaning if you are low-volting via a pot, occasionally check to make sure your fans are actually spinning.

Electronics hate heat. You still need some air flow, or water blocks on EVERYTHING. Your CPUs aren't the only thing that needs to stay cool.

Ack, I type too much. You get the idea.

[MaxiKana]

2

First one was when i had installed everything and did a finall check with water inside the comp. A barb at the block leaked. Sollution? holes in hoses are not watertight.

Second was when i was filling it with the "real" mixture. A barb on the rad started to leak. Sollution, tighten hose clamp.

[aka665]

1 for me. Had mine for 2 years or so. I never check on it... I mess with it maybe once every 2 or 3 months. Nothing has ever happened to it. I don't use hose clamps and it still works perfectly. Guess I've been lucky, and hopefully things will stay that way.

[aka665]

speaking of risks... it's quite risky too if your CPU fan goes out and the heatsink gets to like 70 C in like a minute. That's happened to me before where a fan went out. I mean... water pumps probably have longer useable hours than some fans out there. It's just that you must take good care of your components and make sure everything that could leak is sealed somehow. That's why I don't build waterblocks myself cause of the risks. But yeah, pretty safe imo.

[rogerdugans]

#2 on the list.
I have been water cooling for about two years...I think...

My exceptions to the #2: When I built my water cooled briefcase- I was filling the system and spilled some water. It all appeared to be dry and I fired it up- wrecking the psu, lol.
No damage to anything else. User error.

The only other parts I lost were due to a frozen radiator in winter- not enough antifreeze and the radiator was outside: RIP mobo and cpu....and water block quick-connects. That block might have been a bit warm.......;) User error there too.
I still say #2 because the losses I did have were NOT due to leaks- they were caused by my failure to observe OTHER precautions.

As far as leaks: I am often messing with things in one system or another- testing different plumbing configurations, blocks, radiators, etc.
Often I do not use clamps for a quick test: this is stupid :D
I have had water on video cards, nics, mobos and in my case: no parts lost. User error.

My conclusion: as long as outlandish, silly things are not tried.....and you pay attention to detail there is little to worry about. Running software such as ShutDownNOW! is a wise choice...and would have saved my mobo/cpu during my freezing incident (as would have the proper amount of antifreeze- DOH!).

Water cooling is not inherently any more dangerous than air cooling: how often have people crushed/cracked cores or had a cpu toast from a mis-mounted heatsink?

I still have plans on water cooling my psu, too: the fans in there are just WAY too noisy :D

[Azeroth]

2 (will find out if its 3 after my waterblock top arrives tomorow).

First leak happened when my Via Aqua leaked from the bottom, some JB Weld fixed that up. Second leaked occured when my poly top on my TC-4 block cracked. Still waiting for my new top to arrive and see if anything was damaged.

[TonyMc]

I'll go with 1. Even though I build my own blocks I am very careful at what I do.

[exothermic]

1, I've been running my current watercooling setup for about six months. Did one complete disassembly and cleaning (bacteria), replaced hoses, etc. Put it back together, threw on metal hose clamps, and everything is fine.