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quick question about metals used in watercooling

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max_clock

Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2005
Location
Braga, Portugal
Im building my own DIY watercooling system and I want to know if I can mix metals. I heared that Aluminum cant be mixed with copper in watercooling setups because of corrosion. I already made the waterblock, its all aluminum with zinc coated brass fittings, so I think the radiator will have to be made of aluminum too, right? Im with a very tight budget so were can I find a good radiator or heatercore? The pump is 15€ at a petshop.
 
You can mix metals in a cooling system.

You just have to use something for anti-corrosion.
(anti freeze/ water wetter...etc.)

There are a few different ones on the market.

A small vehicle Heater Core works well.
A lot of people use chevy chevette HC's.

I don't know what available where you are though.

Good pumps? Check the stickies for things to watch out for.

Head pressure. flow. etc.

:attn:
 
You can mix metals so long as you use the proper additives in you loop. AKA Anti-freeze. As far as a good radiator for a really cheap price. Check the junk yards for a few bucks you can always pull a heater core out of something. Because you are in Europe you are going to have ask somebody who lives across the pond on what make of car would suit your needs the best.

Edit: <Looks Up> Yeah what he said. LOL
 
i would just get a copper rad and use some additives since you will most likely be keeping your rad down the line over your aluminum block.
 
cars in my country usually are small, so they should have small heatercores. If I dont find anyone that fits for me I will try one from a motorbike. I´ll be with my eyes opened when I get the pump. As for the additive Im going to use Antifreeze and destilled water from my cars.
 
max_clock said:
cars in my country usually are small, so they should have small heatercores. If I dont find anyone that fits for me I will try one from a motorbike. I´ll be with my eyes opened when I get the pump. As for the additive Im going to use Antifreeze and destilled water from my cars.
sounds good
 
You can mix the metals with a good dose of antifreeze for anticorrosive, but it might be easier to find a small aluminum car radiator. Most car rads these days are aluminum and if you stick with all the same metal, you won't have a corrosion issue to deal with. Waterblocks are usually made out of copper as copper transfers heat much better than aluminum, so that is what we are used to using.
 
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