Gunk

I took all of my watercooling apart today since I am waiting on my motherboard. I noticed that the tubing was really cloudy as I drained the system, but I thought nothing of it since I use water wetter. Well I decided to see if the stuff would come off so I took a toothbrush and put isopropyl alcohol on it and inserted it into the tube and moved it around a lot. The stuff came off the inside of the tubes, so I was happy. Then I took a flashlight and looked into the barbs of my white water to see if it was still clean in there. The was a thick layer of this green gunk all over the inside of the block. I was a little worried to say the least. So i took a bunch of isopropyl alcohol and poured it in there and have been letting it sit. I dont have an allen wrench the size of the block to open it up and scrub it right now, but I am getting one. Is the alcohol in there a bad idea? How long should I soak it? If it is a bad idea, what should I clean the inside of the block with? Thanks for any insight you guys have.

CLR is also good for cleaning out waterblocks. Not exactly sure about the alcohol.

What is CLR? Can I pick it up at a local Ace Hardware?

Calcium Lime Rust Remover. I know Home Depot carries it. Im not sure about Ace Hardware. Here is a link:

http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDU...hcgelceffdfgidgjl.0&MID=9876&frmSearchStr=CLR

er.. what caused the green gunk? .. water wetter? or corrosion between copper and aluminum etc... the copper should't corrode at all once the top surface has oxideise , but the aluminum could corrode. but water wetter is ment to stop this .. and how eaxtly can somthing that clogs up your water block be called a water wetter? .. the clogs would kill the flow!

Im not too sure what caused it. I think it was the antifreeze I used before I switched to the water wetter, distilled water combo. I will be going to Ace hardware soon, si I will look for CLR. Thanks for the help. The Isopropyl Alcohol is still in there though, it wont cause any problems will it?

nope, just rinse it out once u're done with it and its all good...

when they say "not good" they usually mean don't sit the thing there for like two whole years under constant bright sunlight while having extreme moisture and mildew on it etc....


though if u're really worried, once you take apart the block, use some vaseline (petroleum jelly) and rejuvenate teh o-ring if you really feel like it.... though i'd doubt you NEED to do that...

Thanks fafnir. In another post, I noticed that nCLR mshouldnt be used on aluminum. The top to the waterclock is adonized aluminum, should I not use it in the block, or just make sure to only use it on the copper

Ace carries CLR, I work there. LOL.

Since it's green why not trying some alge-be-gone type stuff. I picked some some little tablets from Pet'smart taht prevent alge growth. 1 tablet protects like 10 gallons so I thinkI'm ok.

I may also do that. The water loop has only been up for 2 weeks, and the pump has been turned off for maybe a total of 12hrs out of those 2 weeks. I really dont think that it is algae, I personally think it is the slimy residue that gets left from the antifreeze in there.

For my heatercore, will this CLR stuff work on its own or will it require scrubbing? I cant open the heatercore up, so the only way I can see to get all of the gunk out of there is to soak it with stuff. I had isoproply alcohol in there all last night, and when I poured it out, it was a pink color that definatley had some green stuff in there too. Should I just get a new heatercore or what? I am already in debt, so if it is possible to save this one, it would help.

A pipe cleaner (or even better a baby bottle cleaner) should rub that stuff right off of your block.

CLR should be strong enough to remove the gunk without scrubbing the heatercore, as you can dunk your showerhead in it and it gets spotless.

Alright. thanks for the help guys? Should I be worried about it doing damage to the copper tanks in the heatercore?

ok, u live in the states right? so therefore you have a garden hose thing lying around in a yard or something right?

for the waterblock, just host the thing down with a pressure nozzle,... or dump in dishwasher if gunk looks like its moving or trying to run away or something.... (NOT ON HOT, and remove the o-ring first,...)

for the heatercore, use whatever hardcore solution you can find, though just take a dab of it to a small area first (e.g. bare alluminum/brass pipes on heatercore, use some sand paper if you can't find one,... just along the bottom and the otuer edges of the outlets or something) and see if it reacts badly... e.g. explosions/catches fire/turns black/glows/whatever... if it doesn't, just pour it in the heatercore and let it sit for about 2min... that should be enough... then take ur garden hose and with a 3/4 to 1/2 hose adapter from hose depot also, and take a cut up section of hose with a "hose mender" also availble at home depot/osh/aces hardware and basically attach ur garden hose to ur heatercore and let the thing rip... might wanna hold down ur heater core though... *observe a 20ft high colunme of water shooot out from the other end* ... flush the radiator both ways and then hose it down before mounting it again...

and btw, what kinda antifreeze r u using?

Thanks for the tips fafnir...very helpful.

I used some PRestone Anti-freeze/Super Coolant, and it left this residue all over everything. This ****es me off. I wonder if it reacted with the water wetter that I added to the water when I emptied the anti-freeze/water mix.

yeah, it might have... use only one thing or the other...

and for decent antifreeze, use toyota red or zerex...

I only used one or the other at the same time, but I think the residue that the antifreeze left may have reacted with the water wetter.