Plastic reservoir warning for water cooled systems

[Billvill]

Hello,

If you use the electrical junction box made of gray plastic ( what type of plastic it is I don't know ) you don't want to use chemicals in your system.

The other night I had my machine open to add on a frontx panel and decided to clean my water system. The tubing was ugly looking from a former addition of water wetter . another chemical that I removed right after I put it in. Anyway I added just a cap full of bleach and let the water system run for about a half hour. Good thing I was not in a hurry and had the machine open a while. about an hour after I added the bleach the reservoir developed a minor leak. At first I though that because I had the machine on an angle that the gasket was leaking. Upon further examination I found a minute crack in the corner. It stood out like a soar thumb because it had a trace of red to it ( I assume from the water wetter that was in the system before. )

I have had two problems with my water cooling system. Once when I added the water wetter, the pump went south. and this experience. Keep in mind I use a plastic submersible pump. I have to believe the chemicals and plastic do not play well with one another. I am going to change to a stainless resovoir in the near future.


For what its worth , Billy

[Neco]

I just got my system in October, and added water wetter to it, I havent looked at the tank at all since I closed it up but I havent had any kind of leaks yet.

Now I know to watch for it at least, hope I don't have to switch to a metal box, my pump seems to be running fine as well..

I'll be checking it after I build a new shroud for when my 2 120mm fans arrive, so hopefully it will be ok - it's a pretty thick box, and I've got about 1 ounce of water wetter in it.


maybe you just got a bad/weak box ?

-Neco.

[ButcherUK]

It may depend on the material the box was made from. Junction boxes come in various materials and water wetter may have caused issue with your box. Since you say it's a crack thought it could also be a stress fracture especially if there is no evidence of corrosion other than the crack.

[The Overclocker]

i was going to use a abs plastic project box for my res, but no i have decided against one altogether, if the chemicles you were using ate away at the plastice then it may be somewhere else in your system, check your pump and water block

[Kingslayer]

All those boxes are is either ABS plastic or PVC plastic. Both of which are not found on engine cooling systems. Where water wetter is designed to be...

[azhari]

That brings up another concern. I don't have water cooling yet, but in the process of designing it. If these chemicals do "eat" some plastics, what plastics don't they eat?

More specifically, the hoses are usually plastic, and the reservoir I'll be using will be made of Lexan (it is a type of plastic too). Am I gonna have to worry about these?

[ButcherUK]

Originally posted by azhari
That brings up another concern. I don't have water cooling yet, but in the process of designing it. If these chemicals do "eat" some plastics, what plastics don't they eat?

More specifically, the hoses are usually plastic, and the reservoir I'll be using will be made of Lexan (it is a type of plastic too). Am I gonna have to worry about these?

I checked on Redline's site but they don't list which chemicals are contained in their products so it's hard to say which plastics are safe.

Hoses and lexan should be fine as other people have used them without issues.

<begin speculation ;)>
It may be that ABS is attacked by water wetter in which case a lexan reservior would prevent this from occuring. ABS has poor resistance to solvents according to its data sheet (http://www.plasticsusa.com/abs1.html). Whereas PVC is listed as having good resistance to solvents. Another common junction box material is polycarbonate, this has poor resistance to solvents also. If we assume that a materials resistance to water wetter is related to it;s solvent resistance this would make PVC a good material and ABS / PC bad materials for reservoirs. Of course Al is a good material for a reservoir as water wetter is specifically designed to work well with it.

[KLowD9x]

I remember reading somewhere, I think it was here, this person was using watter wetter in their system, and one monring when they came in, they heard a crackely noise. Then shut down the system, and cleaned the watercooling lines and pump. While cleaning, they found a section off of the fins of the pump. Watter wetter?