My First Ever Loop!!

Hey guys im still leak testing for the 3rd day in a row. I had a bad first experience with water; it just starting to leak when I setted it up in my case for a the first ever leak test my case was going through. It starting leaking from the threads at the barb at the block. I didn't tighten it tight enough and thus the leak. I rectified the problem but over the night it started to leak again, and I figured it was the tubes that was twisted and it was twisting the barb thread out from the block. Now Ive tighten them as hard as I can by hand. I heard that overtightening them is bad since we are using o-rings around the barb. I'll list down my water cooling parts for you:

Radiator: BIX 2
Reservoir: Swiftec MCRES-Micro reservoir
Pump: MCP 655
CPU Block: Swiftec Apogee

The order its going through in my loop is: pump>block>rad>res

Pics!!!

my case is a cooler master mystique 631, not bad for a watercooling case. although i have my doubts on expansion in terms of adding another pump.



a close up!



guys, i have no idea why my res is frothing up, anyone want to have some? im using swiftec hrdyx. it was real weird cause when i put it in, it was like as if there was a chemical reaction, the water started to fizz and all of a sudden more bubbles coming from the rad and the pump became quiet. i don't know what happened. when i turn off my loop i see fizz/tiny bubbles coming from the barb that has teflon on it. any help?!?!



this is how i've mounted my rad at the back. im using rubber washers where ever the fan meets the rad. i don't know whether it makes a difference in terms of vibrations and noise because i've not tried without it. oh yes, im using 4 panaflo's FBA12G12H. i think they are one of the best in terms of CFM, although not in DBa.




my pump. im using the hose clamps as a coolsleeves. its kinking the very slightest bit. im also using a cloth inbetween the hose and metal hose clamp so that it doesn't cut my tubes.




my waterblock where my leaks occurred.




rad




the pics of my case







guys could you suggest a better way to route my loop? at the moment this is the best i can think of. there are 2 tubes that are slightly long. at the moment my tubing length altogether is 180cm.

thanks for your time.

Do you mind cutting holes into the top of your case? If not, im sure you could top mount that rad on the top of your case instead of having it stick out the back like that. How are you going to connect all your wires and cables?

Oh my... Well I know that my graphic card and sound card is ok aswell as the powercord for my PSU, but after you mentioning it, Im worried about my keyboard and USB. When I get back I'll look. But I do remember that I made sure everything can be plugged in.

INFO

Raise the coolant level in the reservoir up to about 1 inch from the top.

EDIT ++ Maybe it is just the way the picture looks, but I thought it might be sucking air and causing your bubbles.

It really looks like there is something in that coolant other than HydrX and distilled water? Were all the components new? Did you flush them with distilled water?

The two times I tried using HydrX and distilled water, both times my tubing ended up with a white haze on it. One of those times I added a few drops of iodine and it took longer to fog up but it eventually did.

I loved the water cooling experience, but I have since removed and sold it all and installed a AC Freezer 7 pro. It works very well.

Im using double distilled. I bought the watercooling parts 6 months ago, but due to time constraints and the case I was having previously and I was moving I did not mount it. I don't quite like the Hydrx, and Im only using it for the anti-fungal properties it claims. Other than that I can't think of my loop having different metal compositions to cause corrosion, unless the barbs that black ice pro are of different metal than the rad and the block then im not entirely sure.

I will fill it with more water. I noted in my previous post, could there be a chemical reaction between the teflon and the HydrX? For my next fill I will run pure water. But at the moment I don't know what is causing the foam. And it looks very foggy inside the res as well, but that could be because the pump is working.

Rickster said:

Im using double distilled. I bought the watercooling parts 6 months ago, but due to time constraints and the case I was having previously and I was moving I did not mount it. I don't quite like the Hydrx, and Im only using it for the anti-fungal properties it claims. Other than that I can't think of my loop having different metal compositions to cause corrosion, unless the barbs that black ice pro are of different metal than the rad and the block then im not entirely sure.

Click to expand...

In my experience, a few drops of iodine will prevent most growth.

INFO

I have another loop in a system I don't use often and it has Straight Zerex Super Racing Coolant in it. You may not like the reddish purple color, but it takes care of your components and the tubes are still clear as glass.

http://www.cooltechnica.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=Zerex-RSC

Not bad at all for a first loop! Is the res. just going to float up there like that? I also like Hit's idea of the radiator on top...

/me puts another vote down for top mount. Great job for a first time though, looks cleaner than my first try at WC

ctrl_alt_del_ said:

Not bad at all for a first loop! Is the res. just going to float up there like that? I also like Hit's idea of the radiator on top...

Click to expand...

I could be wrong but it looks like its hanging on by a strip of velcro in that top pic.

hahaha thanks guys. well the res is no floating. and nope.. no velcro strips. its mounted using a long screw and 2 nuts. i put foam tape in between the res and the metal crossbar to prevent overtightening and vibrations if there are any.

last night i went to check out my rad mounting to see if anything is blocking. well, it's not!! at the moment im only using a grpahics card, sound card and a light controller. although in the future i might want to add in a TV tuner.

at the moment im having a slight problem in mounting my pump. from the pics shown here, my pump isn't mounted, its just sitting on the floppy drive area. for the moment im thinking of just mounting it using the sticky pad swiftec provided. theres only 1 hole underneath that floppy drive area where the pump is sitting. either the sticky pad or i might have to drill holes in it. but i just got the case so i don't really want to mess around with it. otherwise my other idea would be to use a clamp like the ones a vice uses to clamp to the table.

oh yesterday i added some car battery water (as far as my knowledge goes battery water is plain distilled water) into the res and stopped the pump for a while and the foam has not completely vanished.

In looking at your loop, you have the cpu block feeding the pump inlet-bad idea.

Here is what you need to do.

Place the pump down onto the floor of the case. The pump outlet goes to the cpu, then to the top mounted rad, then to the res, then out from the res to the pump inlet. You will eliminate your kinks and ensure that your pump has a good supply of water. The pump should be feeding directly from the res.

As for additive, it is normal for Hydra X to foam some like that initially when bleeding. That will go away after a while. I personally tried the stuff once and didn't like it. I have always gone with water and some pentosin antifreeze (5%) with a few drops of povidone-iodine and a drop of algaecide to boot. You also can bleed a system overnight and then put your additives in after. It will bleed faster without the additives in it and then you can just add them. One night won't hurt anything.

Galvanic corrosion should be minimal anyway in a loop like that. As long as you're not running any aluminum and copper in conjunction you should be okay. Anodized aluminum counts.

7

Sorry guys I have been very busy lately, but I wanted to show some pics and at the moment I don't have access to my camera yet. The bubbles have vanished completely and at the moment Im doing up the PSU wiring management. I think the rad barb is anodized aluminium, Im not completely sure. I have to re-position my res to another area because I forgot to take into account the size of my PSU.

voigts, you are incorrect. this is my loop : pump feeds to block. block feeds to rad. rad feeds to res. res feeds back to pump. i cannot mount my pump at the bottom of the case without feeling safe about it. if i do it will almost be in contact with my graphics card, im using a 7900GT and its quite long.

I think the barbs we are using are nickel plated but in not 100% sure.

Most of the metals we use seem to be fairy inert, I have 3 or 4 differnt metals, copper, silver, brass, nickel. In my loop, it does not seem to have any major side effects. You should cut out that 3/4" hole at the back and move to the silver tubes I gave you. That will make you and I the only people in OCF to use silver tubes!

If you have problems with the res, maybe go for T line? that way you can put the res in some hard to reach place and just fill your loop from the T line.