SOLVED Draining loop & changing the water?

Nocure · Apr 25, 2015

Hi there. So I'm a complete noob to watercooling, and I bought a watercooled PC used and the guy didn't show me how to maintain it. I read that you should swap out the water about every six months or so, and it's been more like eight now. So my question to you is; how do I go about draining my loop in the easiest way? There's no drain valve installed as I can see, where and how would a drain valve be best installed to make the process easier in the future?

My reservoir is sitting in the front, it's the XSPC res/pump combo one. From there it looks like it goes up to the radiator, out into the CPU water block, and then down through the graphics cards and into the Res again.

Pic of the loop attached.

GTXJackBauer · Apr 25, 2015

to OCFs.

Give us a list of your PC, water cooling loop as well as the temp of the CPU, GPU at full load and ambient if you're able too.

I notice your clouded tubing as well.

To quickly answer your question, the best place to have a drainage is at the lowest part of your loop.

Nocure · Apr 25, 2015

Specs:

NZXT Phantom 630 Case

Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H-CF Motherboard

1200W Corsair PSU

ntel Core i7 4770k 3,5 ghz (OC 4ghz)

2x GeForce GTX780's

16gb 1666mhz Corsair Vengeance RAM

Can't give much info about the actual loop unfortunatly. The cpu block seems to be made by kryos, the gpu blocks are made by aqua computer, fittings by acool, XSPC Res/pump combo, XSPC Radiator (fits 3 fans)

temp when just messing around on the desktop is 30-35c. Got no demanding games installed so can't tell you what they are under load.

Yeah.. I noticed the tubing going cloudy / yellowish, do you think I'd need to swap that out?

So for draining I would unscrew the tubing under the bottom graphics card I guess?

GTXJackBauer · Apr 25, 2015

Yes, I would recommend on getting rid of that horrid tubing as it might be plasticizing your H20 stuff. I would do a complete tear down and clean out your CPU block and rinse out the res, pump, GPU block and fittings. I would replace that tubing with PrimoChill Advanced LRT and stick with distilled water and a silver kill coil or dead water in liquid form for your biocide.

As for draining, yes I would take out the bottom tubing by the GPU. Make sure the reservoir isn't opened as of yet till you have that tubing in a bucket. Make sure to cover that area just in case of drops or splashes. If anything gets wet, have it dry out for a few days.

With that said, have a drainage after you redo the loop at the lowest part with a T-line.

I also want to add that isn't really enough rad for that CPU and 2 GPUs. If you're going to be pushing them, no way. You'll be getting air temps at best if not fairly hot. Even a high FPI and high RPM setup wouldn't suffice imho. I would add another 240mm at the minimum.

Nocure · Apr 25, 2015

Alright, thank you very much for the help!

Nocure · Apr 29, 2015

Hello again. So I've been doing a bunch of reading and checking up on stuff I need to buy, not cheap

The only room I can see that I have for another radiator is in the bottom of the case under my drive cage. This is the cheapest radiator I could find that is also well rated: http://www.ekwb.com/shop/radiators-fans-accessories/radiators/ek-coolstream-pe-240-dual.html But I noticed that the inlet/outlet is at the top of the radiator, at least it would have to be if I mounted it in the bottom. So how does that work for draining? as it would be my new lowest point in the loop.

EarthDog · Apr 29, 2015

Being the lowest part of the loop, that rad would then have to be removed in order to be drained. Is that what you are asking?

Nocure · Apr 29, 2015

So I'd unscrew the radiator and kinda lift it out and drain through the two tubes, and just turn the rad over?

EarthDog · Apr 29, 2015

There are many ways to skin that cat...

You can:

Pull a tube out of the rad and drain the 'top' half. then take out the rad on the bottom and drain it...

GTXJackBauer · Apr 29, 2015

Or you could go with Alphacool's radiators since they have ports all around as it can easily be used to drain with a valve.

camera_1_Alphacool_NexXxos_UT_60_120mm_e_360mm_Full_Copper.jpg

Nocure · Apr 29, 2015

Yeah, one of those costs double as much as the EK one though

By the way, if you can judge from the picture, how would you route the new tubing, since there would be two more tubes with the extra rad.

GTXJackBauer · Apr 29, 2015

Nocure said:
if you can judge from the picture, how would you route the new tubing, since there would be two more tubes with the extra rad.

Have the bottom GPU to the bottom rad and than the bottom rad to the reservoir and then if you get a rad like the one above, you would than use the side port of the rad as drainage.

Nocure · Apr 30, 2015

Would a second pump be necessary if I add that? Was reading about some guys loop in the same case I have, and he had two pumps.

GTXJackBauer · Apr 30, 2015

Nocure said:
Would a second pump be necessary if I add that? Was reading about some guys loop in the same case I have, and he had two pumps.

You never told us what XSPC pump combo you have.

Regardless, you should be fine.

Nocure · Apr 30, 2015

It's this one http://shop.xs-pc.com/xsp/XSPC-Acrylic-Dual-525-ReservoirPump-Combo-w-One-18w-DCC_36847.html

GTXJackBauer · Apr 30, 2015

Nocure said:
It's this one http://shop.xs-pc.com/xsp/XSPC-Acrylic-Dual-525-ReservoirPump-Combo-w-One-18w-DCC_36847.html

Perfect.

That pump can handle double the loop you have there no problem. You should be good to go. :salute:

Nocure · May 1, 2015

Awesome, saves a bit of money for that atleast

Thanks again.

GTXJackBauer · May 1, 2015

Nocure said:
Awesome, saves a bit of money for that atleast Thanks again.

No problem. :salute:

Keep us in the loop on this build with pics. Like to see other people's finished projects.

Nocure · May 2, 2015

Hello again

Ordered all of the stuff I need, just gotta wait for it to arrive

So.. I went ahead and took a look at my GPU waterblocks and saw that there were some discolouration on them, the bottom one looked worse than the top one. The pictures aren't the best, just kinda stuck my phone underneath it.

So a few questions:

1. Is this corrosion or just the plasticiser you talked about?
2. Do I need to swap them out?
3. I ordered a silver kill coil, and read afterwards that silver reacts badly with nickel plating. This is the block I have: http://shop.aquacomputer.de/product_info.php?language=en&products_id=3023. Is it okay to run with the coil, or would it damage them further?

GTXJackBauer · May 2, 2015

I believe that is the plasticize from the tubing and it could also have been the fluid used before. Just try to clean out as best as you can. Not sure if you can take apart those blocks but in any case, just run some distilled water through them. Even do a "rad dance" with each port closed and see if it helps clear it out.

As for nickel and silver coils, I've heard this as well, even from a EK rep. but I believe its still ok to use or in liquid form. That's another reason why I try staying away from nickel plated gear, hence why I don't use any EK products. I know there are many members and water cooling enthusiasts using a silver coil with the EK nickel loops no problem.

SOLVED Draining loop & changing the water?

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