Another WC failure

[SemperFiGuy]

So you may have read my thread over the past few days regarding replacing the pump in my WC loop. art finally arrived and I got the whole system back up and running fine. Until today that is... I wired the pump to a switch I pulled out of an old PSU so I didn't have to unplug / plug the thing to turn on and off. This morning in a haze of waking-up I turned on my PSU, then my computer ... COMPLETELY FORGETTING TO TURN ON THE LOOP... /ftl

Thank God that Swiftech uses plastic in some of their construction! I came back from breakfast mess to find a black cloud in my room, and a weird smell... There's coolant all over the bottom of my computer. Everything gets shut off at this point and the flashlight / q-tips come out to figure out where the leak is. FOUND IT! Turns out that the GPU got so hot it melted the plastic top of my MCW55 (or 60, can't remember which the GPU block is).

Ordered another today, expect it to be in on Tuesday, and now I have another WC horror story to add to the 5 year backlog of success and failure.

This block looks amazing .. I wish I had a digi-cam, The plastic is bubbled / deformed and fused to the copper block. I'm lucky I came in before the card destroyed itself (my poor college budget wouldn't allow me to replace the 512 Mb X1800XT ) So Swiftech, if you're out there... THANK YOU

[AlucardCasull]

Dang, that really sucks. But you should get a pic, sounds like it was a good time in that respect.

[maxfly]

wow.your rigs still operable?

[Dragoon42]

@.@ why'd you have it on a seperate PSU? ^^ I have a second PSU, but I only hook that one up when I wanna do test runs

[Phrenetical]

yeah sheesh man, get it all on one PSU.

this is bound to happen with that kind of dual PSU setup.

[ƒÓÒl]

Close one bud, hope everything's alright when the new block arrives.
I plug my 110 pump into the same power strip that the computer's on, and turn it on and off by that switch. You might wanna do the same to avoid a repeat.

[voigts]

I want to see a picture of this!

[WonderingSoul]

Agreed picture would be awesome! I am sure someone in the dorm has a camera :D

Well atleast it is your waterblock and not your video card. It's going to suck to drain and refill your system though >.<

[hitbyaprkedcar7]

Well, uh. Hows your gpu?

http://members.boards.ie/patrick/Pwned.jpg

[SemperFiGuy]

Hah, thanks for the humor in that picture.

--> New block was ordered on Saturday morning, 2nd day air, shipped today > The switches for my PSU and Pump are right next to each other, so it's natural for me to flick the one on as I do the other. The reason I keep them on separate switches is so I can leave the loop on for 5+ minutes after shutting down the computer. In 4+ years of using this setup this is the first mishap, it just so happens that it came on the heels of a dead pump. When the block gets here I'm going to take the time to replace some tubing and fill / bleed the loop for the third time this week (don't ask why it's not the second.)

--> Working on getting you guys a pic. And yeah, I'm pretty sure that everything's ok in my system itself, if not I'm screwed; no way can I afford to replace an X1800XT right now. Time will tell though@! Wish me luck.

[Immortal_Hero]

It's going to suck to drain and refill your system though >.<

I am pretty sure the drain part is taken care of... :beer:

Good luck man, hope that vid card is still living... doesn't sound great.

[Borbosha]

Hah, thanks for the humor in that picture.

--> New block was ordered on Saturday morning, 2nd day air, shipped today > The switches for my PSU and Pump are right next to each other, so it's natural for me to flick the one on as I do the other. The reason I keep them on separate switches is so I can leave the loop on for 5+ minutes after shutting down the computer. In 4+ years of using this setup this is the first mishap, it just so happens that it came on the heels of a dead pump. When the block gets here I'm going to take the time to replace some tubing and fill / bleed the loop for the third time this week (don't ask why it's not the second.)

--> Working on getting you guys a pic. And yeah, I'm pretty sure that everything's ok in my system itself, if not I'm screwed; no way can I afford to replace an X1800XT right now. Time will tell though@! Wish me luck.
Not sure what types of switches you have but if they are the kind that stick out from the case you could stick a small bar going accross the bottom of the switches so you can either have the pump on by itself or it will turn it on with the computer. This would provide a failsafe of sorts that would still let you run it without the computer on.

Hopefully that makes sense.

[Alien1099]

Just curious, but why do you have to turn on your PSU first, then your pump and your computer? Why don't you keep it simple and just turn on your computer and have the pump turn on with it?

[Sleepy_Steve]

Just curious, but why do you have to turn on your PSU first, then your pump and your computer? Why don't you keep it simple and just turn on your computer and have the pump turn on with it?
He said he wanted to be able to leave the loop running for a few minutes after the PC was shut down to get rid of the residual heat in the system.

[aaronjb]

He said he wanted to be able to leave the loop running for a few minutes after the PC was shut down to get rid of the residual heat in the system.

Completely unnecessary to do that. There isn't enough "residual heat" to cause any damage to the cooling system or the CPU.

[Sleepy_Steve]

That may be, but i was only answering a question - not passing judgement on it.

[||Console||]

Wow thats crazy , I had my pump on a different psu but after 3 times in a month of forgetting to turn that psu on when i turn every thing else on i just put every thing on the one psu . Mine never fried but then again each time i was sitting there then pc started to act messed then crash then i smack my self in the head and turned the pump on.

[Immortal_Hero]

He said he wanted to be able to leave the loop running for a few minutes after the PC was shut down to get rid of the residual heat in the system.

@ this point I think I would rethink that...

[Alien1099]

@ this point I think I would rethink that...

Agreed. Once the power is cut the CPU/GPU aren't producing anymore heat. The temperature of the water is only lukewarm too, which is much cooler than normal air cooling. Any heat left over will be radiated out via the tubes/blocks/radiator slowly until they reach ambient.

I think it's one of those things that sounds like a good idea, but throw the human element into the equation and the reality is that it's just one more thing to go wrong as the original poster has shown (no offense intended what-so-ever).

[Immortal_Hero]

Put it this way... Does you car's cooling system keep running once the engine is off? Nope... and it makes a whole lot more heat.

[||Console||]

Put it this way... Does you car's cooling system keep running once the engine is off? Nope... and it makes a whole lot more heat.
It does if you have a turbo timer =)

[Alien1099]

It does if you have a turbo timer =)

That's a bit different. I think that's because of the oil getting messed up (coked?). Turbos aren't exactly standard. You usually have to pay a lot more for them. They are like extreme overclocking for your car. The analogy he made still stands.

Edit from Wikipedia:

A turbo spins very fast; most peak between 80,000 and 200,000 RPM (using low inertia turbos, 150,000-250,000 RPM) depending on size, weight of the rotating parts, boost pressure developed and compressor design. Such high rotation speeds would cause problems for standard ball bearings leading to failure so most turbo-chargers use fluid bearings. These feature a flowing layer of oil that suspends and cools the moving parts. The oil is usually taken from the engine-oil circuit and usually needs to be cooled by an oil cooler before it circulates through the engine.

[||Console||]

Yes it does fit i was just being a smart ass