is corrosion a big problem with w/ced rigs

seems that I see alot of concerns about corosion as it applies to w/cing,since I am about to build my own w/c setup from scratch I would like to know how widespread the problem realy is

not at all, if you use brass and copper only, then you will have no problems, but if you mix brass/copper and aluminum, then you can get that sacraficial anode thing goin on, my setup i use a copper block and a heatercore (brass), so i have no concerns at all, and you can add a splash of antifreeze if your worried.

so my ph level wont change with a brass and copper in the same system but if I add aluminum it will go up???

I have an aluminum heatercore and two copper blocks. With use of waterwetter and distilled water alone I have seen no corrosion and I am now using a mixture of waterwetter, antifreeze and distilled water and can see no corrosion through the top of my Danger Den Z block.

If you have all copper/brass stuff you should have even less of a problem, and I don't really have one

originally in my setup i ran just straight distilled water, and i had no problems, i honestly don't remember why i added antifreeze

not to be a smarty pants,but I have extensive experiance in the automotive field and one of the properties of anti-freeze is its ability to fight high ph levels(copper radiator,cast iron block,mild steel impellers,aluminum cylinder heads all charged with either a negitive or a positive dc influance,then you add an electrolite like coolant and if the ph rises you have troubles,thats why the proper way to check antifreeze it by checking the ph level and its ability to not freeze...seems it would be the same in a w/ced rig

looks like I answered my own question again, been doing that alot lately,just part of gettin old

CrashOveride said:

I have an aluminum heatercore and two copper blocks. With use of waterwetter and distilled water alone I have seen no corrosion and I am now using a mixture of waterwetter, antifreeze and distilled water and can see no corrosion through the top of my Danger Den Z block.

If you have all copper/brass stuff you should have even less of a problem, and I don't really have one

Click to expand...

isn't it the aluminium components that are subject to corrosion? - so your heatercore's internals are what you'd need to see....

Grampa said:

not to be a smarty pants,but I have extensive experiance in the automotive field and one of the properties of anti-freeze is its ability to fight high ph levels(copper radiator,cast iron block,mild steel impellers,aluminum cylinder heads all charged with either a negitive or a positive dc influance,then you add an electrolite like coolant and if the ph rises you have troubles,thats why the proper way to check antifreeze it by checking the ph level and its ability to not freeze...seems it would be the same in a w/ced rig

Click to expand...

cool never knew that, i always knew my aquarium ph testing kit would come in handy some day.. eh.. nah, i'm full of it.
but is this really a big concern in computer watercooling. I could never imagine coolant inside ur system ever going bad (well not within the life of the components) it doesn't go over 32c, its not subject to pressure. If coolant could talk, it would probably think its still in a bottle, on the shelf of a kragen store.
but still cool that u can just check the ph level, might start doing that with my car thx!

pauldenton said:

isn't it the aluminium components that are subject to corrosion? - so your heatercore's internals are what you'd need to see....

Click to expand...

well,all of the heater cores that i installed in the last 26 years(in automobiles and trucks) have been made of copper or brass that have been soldered together in a way that the solder gets spread over a large area,kinda looks like aluminum.anyway,that is why you check the ph level,corrosion is damage(chry/ply/dodge had a problem like this in thier 2.2 2.5 four bangers,alu cyl head...cast-iron block,headgasket in between,alu is most likely to get damaged by corr.with the head gasket in the middle it was damaged by the swelling and corrosive action in one little place by #1 cyl,,that problem was addressed by adding a ground strap ot that corner of the head)...so when you find a high ph level you know it is possible to have corrosion,time to change your anti-freeze completly. hoped this helped someone

When I take my company truck in for service, they check the pH and freezing point to determine if it's time to change the coolant or not. I'd guess most modern garages do nowadays.

There are aluminum heatercores out there, mainly from older imports (from what I've seen). But there's also people using transmission coolers as radiators, ya know, the serpentine tube/fin type. Not to mention the aluminum components that the "artsy" manufacturers dream up to separate you from your dough like that aluminum passive cooling tower thingy.

Aluminum is the metal that rots away durring corrosion in our systems, but there's usually black gooey deposites left on the copper, so you wouldn't necessarily have to look into the aluminum radiator to spot corrosion. The water also gets pretty murky and nasty looking.

Personally, I'd stear away from using any aluminum at all in the waterloop (even with fancy type II anodizing), but if you do, then using a corrosion inhibitor like antifreeze or zerex super protectant is a must.

I run just copper and brass (and plastic and silicone) so I use distilled water alone and can fugetaboutit.

Diggrr said:

There are aluminum heatercores out there, mainly from older imports (from what I've seen). But there's also people using transmission coolers as radiators, ya know, the serpentine tube/fin type. Not to mention the aluminum components that the "artsy" manufacturers dream up to separate you from your dough like that aluminum passive cooling tower thingy.

Aluminum is the metal that rots away durring corrosion in our systems, but there's usually black gooey deposites left on the copper, so you wouldn't necessarily have to look into the aluminum radiator to spot corrosion. The water also gets pretty murky and nasty looking.

Personally, I'd stear away from using any aluminum at all in the waterloop (even with fancy type II anodizing), but if you do, then using a corrosion inhibitor like antifreeze or zerex super protectant is a must.

I run just copper and brass (and plastic and silicone) so I use distilled water alone and can fugetaboutit.

Click to expand...

sadly in europe, aluminium heatercores are the norm (in cars) rather than the exception....its very difficult to find copper/brass ones

heh i have an alum i got it for free brand new HC


i dont want currosion

or you could try a ground loop from chassis to componants(heater core, cpu block,nb block,vc block) to chassis.