New here. Need help with new loop

SiiXPooL · Aug 17, 2015

So I got my first loop together. Everything went relatively smooth and everything was fine. Until I added dye to my loop. Now i have an issue and need some help with it. I have this gunk building up in my blocks and am not totally sure what it is. I did a pH test and my water is not acidic. Added X1 UV clear blue to it. Everything was fine before hand. I have some fittings on the way, when they get here, I'll set up a drain tube, but want to wait til then because it's a PIA to drain it like it is. Basically have to let it drain and soak up water with a rag in the bottom of my case because it runs everywhere lol. Pics included.

I found a thread on this site but OP did not post what the problem wound up being.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-747628.html

I hope it's just the dye, and not corrosion. I have alphacool rads, EK nickel blocks and pump, and bitspower black sparkle fittings, with primochill advanced lrt clear tubing.

GTXJackBauer · Aug 17, 2015

What fluid was used prior to introducing the dye?

Did you do a complete clean out prior to installing everything, including radiator "dances", rinsing your blocks and the likes?

SiiXPooL · Aug 17, 2015

GTXJackBauer said:
What fluid was used prior to introducing the dye?

Did you do a complete clean out prior to installing everything, including radiator "dances", rinsing your blocks and the likes?

I rinsed out the rads with near boiling distilled water probably somewhere close to 10 times each. Let them sit while more water was heating up, drained a little bit and then shook them a lot. I looked down inside them in the chambers and it looked pretty darn clean. I'll note this stuff is also inside the rads, I looked in one by taking one of the plugs off. Didn't rinse the blocks because didn't think I needed to. I was running just distilled with pt nuke before for a week or so, no problems, everything was crystal clear.

edit: I'm going to tear it down, when idk, don't have a ton of time on my hands, just have to do it when I can. I was getting no more than 44C on my GPUs before this stuff, now my 1st card is hitting 52C. I can't really see it because it's behind the other one but it looks worse. Just want ideas on if it looks like corrosion. I would have to make time, to at least tear them apart sooner rather than later if it is. I know water gets in there where the stuff is at, because I seen micro bubbles in it when I first filled it, so maybe the dye is getting trapped in those places.

caddi daddi · Aug 17, 2015

that looks like hardware store tubing to me.

SiiXPooL · Aug 17, 2015

caddi daddi said:
that looks like hardware store tubing to me.

primochill advanced lrt

trents · Aug 17, 2015

caddi daddi said:
that looks like hardware store tubing to me.

Is hardware store tubing a no no?

trents · Aug 17, 2015

Hey, I just built my first custom water loop a couple of weeks ago so I'm a neophyte as well. But I've seen lots of warnings on this forum against using dyes. I wonder if the dye is precipitating out of the solution.

Conumdrum · Aug 17, 2015

Not sure what dye. Yes there has been may instances of the dye precipitating our of solution and clogging fins. Depending on the dye it can also 'stain' the inside of radiators etc (or pretty much stick in small bits) everywhere so it's almost impossible to get out of the rads. Vinegar doesn't help. It doesn't break the dye down.

That's why we don't recommend dye. Just distilled and biocide/silver. I went over 2 years with it and my loop was almost as pristine as day one.

Now the secret. I built this rig on 6/11. It's been TWO years and I NEVER changed the water, I just added for standard evaporation.

Hmm, I guess I need to tell you a dark secret.

Alrighty folks. The big build in my sig is no more. I'm using my media rig now. Plenty fast, quiet as a mouse and less power. I tore down my 920, GTX 470s under water over the last few weeks. I used distilled, 2 killcoils, and Petras PHN nuke. EDIT, pics are too large, have to resize...

www.overclockers.com

Here are some bookmarks about dye etc I kept when I was big into watercooling.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/717099-Coolant-dye-sucks
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/708096-Green-Water
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/659542-Build-Up-In-GPU-Loop?p=6665651#post6665651
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?258898-What-lies-beneath!!&p=4544766#post4544766
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...**WARNING-graphic!**-also-pump-disintegration

SiiXPooL · Aug 17, 2015

Conumdrum said:
Not sure what dye. Yes there has been may instances of the dye precipitating our of solution and clogging fins. Depending on the dye it can also 'stain' the inside of radiators etc (or pretty much stick in small bits) everywhere so it's almost impossible to get out of the rads. Vinegar doesn't help. It doesn't break the dye down.

That's why we don't recommend dye. Just distilled and biocide/silver. I went over 2 years with it and my loop was almost as pristine as day one.

Now the secret. I built this rig on 6/11. It's been TWO years and I NEVER changed the water, I just added for standard evaporation.

Hmm, I guess I need to tell you a dark secret.

Alrighty folks. The big build in my sig is no more. I'm using my media rig now. Plenty fast, quiet as a mouse and less power. I tore down my 920, GTX 470s under water over the last few weeks. I used distilled, 2 killcoils, and Petras PHN nuke. EDIT, pics are too large, have to resize...

www.overclockers.com

Here are some bookmarks about dye etc I kept when I was big into watercooling.

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/717099-Coolant-dye-sucks
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/708096-Green-Water
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/659542-Build-Up-In-GPU-Loop?p=6665651#post6665651
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?258898-What-lies-beneath!!&p=4544766#post4544766
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums...**WARNING-graphic!**-also-pump-disintegration

Thanks for the links. I'm probably going to go ahead and tear the loop down when I get a chance and get everything clean. I imagine it will be somewhat of an all day job, considering I'm going to have to clean out the rads. I guess just let them soak in warm water first and see what happens? I'm going to setup a drain, so I'll be able to drain it if stuff starts dissolving into the fresh water.

trents said:
Hey, I just built my first custom water loop a couple of weeks ago so I'm a neophyte as well. But I've seen lots of warnings on this forum against using dyes. I wonder if the dye is precipitating out of the solution.

I think this is likely what is happening. That or flux, but because the stuff has also coated my radiator, I'm going to go with dye.

What happens when a pH level is too high?

Conumdrum · Aug 17, 2015

PH level? Dunno, we don't discuss that much. In the stickies (yellow top of forum) I did tests on water, your welcome to read it. PH isn't a problem with distilled water (cheap) and a biocide.

Rads almost boiling, HOT soapy water. Do the rad dance. Many times. It's in the stickies.

A day at minimum, don't rush it. Read my rebuild stickies.

SiiXPooL · Aug 18, 2015

Conumdrum said:
PH level? Dunno, we don't discuss that much. In the stickies (yellow top of forum) I did tests on water, your welcome to read it. PH isn't a problem with distilled water (cheap) and a biocide.

Rads almost boiling, HOT soapy water. Do the rad dance. Many times. It's in the stickies.

A day at minimum, don't rush it. Read my rebuild stickies.

Thanks for all the help. Do you think this stuff could damage the nickel or cause it to start having a reaction? That's really the only question I have.

Conumdrum · Aug 18, 2015

Nope, don't worry about it. Nickle is just fine. THat's why they use it.

caddi daddi · Aug 18, 2015

hardware store tube has stuff that leaches out and clouds the tube and turns it to junk.

don't get me going on dyes, they stain every thing and you get to do the rad dance for a long, long time to get them out.

GTXJackBauer · Aug 18, 2015

caddi daddi said:
hardware store tube has stuff that leaches out and clouds the tube and turns it to junk.

In case you missed it Caddi.

SiiXPooL said:
primochill advanced lrt

SiiXPooL · Aug 20, 2015

Thanks for the help everyone. It did wind up being dye. It just wiped off. It was sticking in the fins of my blocks and starting to gunk stuff up. Spent the past two days cleaning this thing out. On the bright side, found that the tube going from my cpu block to rad was kinked a bit and probably leading to my cpu temps being higher than normal. I noticed the flow in the loop now is way more than what it was. On the bad side, the UV blue tubing I got is too thick, and my collars won't go on my fittings with it. I tried the clear tubing and collar went right on. Going to be seeking a refund for this tubing. So all in all, had to ditch the dye, and now don't have uv anything. The hassle continues. This build is cursed!

GTXJackBauer · Aug 20, 2015

Just purchase some colored tubing from PrimoChill. Just hope you've rinsed the hell out of your components, especially your rad.

SiiXPooL · Aug 21, 2015

GTXJackBauer said:
Just purchase some colored tubing from PrimoChill. Just hope you've rinsed the hell out of your components, especially your rad.

I did. Primochill Advanced LRT UV blue tubing. Looks great, but can't get the collars on the fittings. It's thicker than the clear tubing of the same brand/type. Idk if a defect, a characteristic of the colored tubing vs clear or what. Emailed the seller, asking for them to do some comparisons.

On another note, with the kink removed, under load on prime 95 small FFTs, cpu doesn't go above 60C, where before it was hitting 85-90, and now my GPUs running Witcher 3 maxed out 1440p only hit 40C, usually stay 38-39C. That's after an hour of playing. Before when running distilled, they hit 44C, then when the dye started breaking down, one of them was hitting 52.

Would have been a very successful tear down if the UV tubing would have went on and not caused me so much pain (literally.)

cozumel · Aug 21, 2015

GTXJackBauer said:
Just purchase some colored tubing from PrimoChill.

Just wondering (as a wc noob), why then do people use dyes when you can get colored tubing and reservoir? Any specific reason? Or is it just random, one of those things lol?

GTXJackBauer · Aug 21, 2015

cozumel said:
Just wondering (as a wc noob), why then do people use dyes when you can get colored tubing and reservoir? Any specific reason? Or is it just random, one of those things lol?

All for show. Dyes/Pastes are awesome looking on show rigs at shows. Great eye candy, etc. Makes the loop look alive. On a everyday desktop PC user though, that's a huge no-no unless they want to do complete tear downs before things get nasty in the loop every 2-3 months if not even sooner. Take to consideration that radiators are going to be the toughest part to clean since you just can't go "opening" it like the rest of the H20 hardware.

Conumdrum · Aug 21, 2015

Yea, when a pro gets 90% of the parts free, free travel, appearance money, competitions etc, it's awesome. No so much for a normal guy. Not everyone can afford the maintenance on a Maserati, Bugatti, Ferrari etc. Hehe, $3-5k just for tires, $30k brake jobs...........

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