Check your clamps !

I set up my watercooling system in July of this year, checed for leaks and found none. Closed case and forgot about it. But on Friday I was reading an E-mail and all of a sudden the screen went crazy-colored stripes and a little box where the mouse pointer was. Shut down and started looking for leaks. Again I found none, rebooted and all was well , last night while playing D3 same thing. Shut down and removed all waterblocks. I found all the worm drive clamps had loosened up. The WB on my north bridge had leaked a small amount of distilled water on my video card and cheesed one of the traces. It still works so I got luckly.
I redid my cooling loop and replaced the clamps and tubing-clearflex.

So this is a word of warning , worm drive clamps hold well but may loosen up. I will be checking my clamps once a month from now on and may look into plastic clamps and/or zip ties.

I'd wager that it wasn't the clamps loosening up, but the tubing being held by it.
That type of clamp relies on the elasticity of the tube to keep it's pressure applied to the fitting.

That's why I'm gonna use the constant force spring clamps from HomeDepot. They look better, and work better too.

Diggrr said:

I'd wager that it wasn't the clamps loosening up, but the tubing being held by it.
That type of clamp relies on the elasticity of the tube to keep it's pressure applied to the fitting.

That's why I'm gonna use the constant force spring clamps from HomeDepot. They look better, and work better too.

Click to expand...

Have you tried those yet? I saw those about 3 months ago in homedepot and wondered if i should use those rather than Zip Ties?

Clamps? What clamps?

Diggrr said:

I'd wager that it wasn't the clamps loosening up, but the tubing being held by it.
That type of clamp relies on the elasticity of the tube to keep it's pressure applied to the fitting.

That's why I'm gonna use the constant force spring clamps from HomeDepot. They look better, and work better too.

Click to expand...

How much more $?

Like a $1.00 for a pair of 'em. I couldn't find my receipt to be sure.

I've used them before, but I'm not watercooling right now. I'm stuck on air until my new case is built.
The spring clamps rock, and they're paintable too.