[pakkapon]

Hi all,

Today I finally had a chance to do what I have been wanted for so long, setting up my first watercooling pc. I started the day by picking myself a dremel from wal-mart, just to drill a blow hole. Doing it was a nerve racking experience but the result was not too bad. It was not a full circle, slanted circle but looks fine with fan grill. After mounting a fan, a shroud, and a BIP under a blow hole, I started to put in parts of my computer.

This was all easy until putting in waterblocks for both my cpu and gpu. Putting them on was a breeze because I have been practicing it for weeks. The tubes were already cut to perfect length, or so I thought. When I start pouring water into my reservoir, I start to see water dripping all over the place. Lucky that I have paper towel under and over each component. I didnt know what exactly caused the leak. I had to take the tube on and off, cut new tubes at different length, put on clamp on a different position to see if it prevents leak or not.

The process became very frustrating. I started around midnight and it became leak-free around 6.30am. Leak free, in my definition, is when i tilted slowly ack and forth, there are no leaks. I am afraid to plug in my power cord because mobo and video card were a victim of wetness and I didnt want to risk it. I'll wake up later today and see if there are any leaks. If there aren't, I will plug in my system and hope for the best.

I have few questions for you guys though.
1) I really had hard time here putting it all together, wondering if any of u have experienced this.

2) I wasnt really sure what caused the tube to leak. Could it be that my worm type hose clamp were too tight or maybe too close to the end? It is very frustrating because I dont even know what to fix and how to fix.

3) Any comments and recommendations are welcomed.

P.S. Pics should be coming up soon.

Edited: Add pictures.

[thorilan]

rule number 1

assemble your system outside oyu case and test it first

[pakkapon]

I did test the system first without attaching to mobo, cpu, and video card. And there were no leaks. However, when I use clamps, they start to leak. Unless you mean testing hte system with components, that I didnt do.

[MVC]

The hose clamps could have been too close to the end of the barb or not tight enough. Just make sure the clamp is at least 2-3mm in from the end of the barb and keep tightening until the water stops leaking and it'll be fine.

It is better to leak test the water cooling system outside of the case, but it isn't always possible (or rather, it may be possible but then the components have to disassembled in order to get them into the case, which sort of defeats the purpose). Just make sure that you don't have power going to anything except the water pump when you first test it in the case so if you have a leak it can't really damage anything (this means unplug the motherboard, video card, any PCI cards, optical and floppy drives, hard drives, and anything being powered by the PSU). You an always dry off anything that gets wet before you give it power. Also, I'd let it run a good 24 hours in the case before judging it leak free.

[pakkapon]

ic ic. Thanks MVC. If I found a leak, what is the best choice to fix it? I dont want to re tube everytime I find a leak, though I'm only down to one right now. I will try your clamping method and re check if my clamps are tighten enough.

Thanks man

edited: How can I run a pump if PSU doesnt conntect to mobo??

[ls7corvete]

Wash wet parts with isopropyl alcohol to remove any excess water, then let dry thouroughly before starting the computer.

[pakkapon]

NVM to my own post above, found a way. Problems persist though, it seems to me that the end of the tube and DD metal barb dont fit as well. From my observation, metal barbs are smaller and more slippery compared to plastic barbs which lead to more leak spots. All my leaks are at metal barbs and I changed at least 3 tubing for each spot. Maybe I will get different tube brand. I'm currently using Kleerflex. If anyone have the same problem as me, let me know.

edited: What is the best way to cut your tube?

[Acurax]

Hey, I had an experience like that with metal barbs. I didn't have any leaks for 24-48 hours, and put some of my parts in. While doing this I noticed i had missed tightening a hose clamp on my WW block. I tightened it at a funny angle or something, and a little while later I had my very own Lake Titicaca on my Radeon...

All turned out okay tho, I gave it an isopropyl spongebath on the wet side and didn't have it powered for days later.

Needless to say, I felt like a total noobler.

To answer some questions:

To run your PSU w/o connectiong to mobo, you have to 'jump' the green wire with any of the black ones on the ATX connector.

I don't know the best way to cut tube, I use a huge meat-cutting scissors from my mom's kitchen, its a beast.

[MVC]

I've had problems with Danger Den barbs as well using 1/2" ID, 3/4" OD, Tygon. Just get the clamp behind the "lip" on the barb and keep tightening until the leak stops.

For cutting tubing I've got a pair of upholstery shears I got from my ex father-in-law years ago (I never returned them after my divorce), but any decent pair of scissors shouldn't have a problem getting a clean cut. Just make sure the cut is perpendicular to the tubing so it fits all the way onto the barb.

[pakkapon]

MVC, Do u still find leak if you move around? Currently my system is leak free, but I'm afraid if I move my computer, it could start leaking again even though the clamps are tighten.

[jcw122]

yeah an obvious good idea, is to get liquid in there (even if its a mix of different things plus water) that is realatively non-conductive, u'll be thankful lol.

[Fighter2a]

I have a DD TDX block and it started leaking so I just tightened the clamp the whole way. When I saw the leak I looked at the clamp and noticed it was looser then all the other clips. I was like wtf how did I miss that? Luckly I'm using MCT-40 so my video card is still alive.

[pakkapon]

Yeah, I have the same block. What ID size is your? and do you have any particular problems with metal barbs..?

[nstabl]

ok, ok.. let me get in on this one...
let me say, one burned out new asus board later, ive learned much and experimented a lot with tubing and clamps ....

cutting down to the chase, i use zip-ties now with 'The Gun', a super duper cool zip tie tightener here is a jacked link because im too lazy to post it on my own server [just dont visit it too much ]-oh btw, this isn't the exact model i have, it just looks something like this...http://www.9thtee.com/images/ziptie_tool.jpg
..purchased both zips and the gun from home de`pott and i use 2 ties per barb, this not only looks clean as HELL as the gun auto cuts the excess line of the ziptie but holds veerry tite and more importantly VERY EVENLY! i wish i was home, i would show you pics... those metal clams are made for bigger and sturdier tubing, not for small tubing that we use, they dont even sit in a circle when tightened down to our needs! just my 2 1/2 cents

let me know what you do!!

[LabRat23]

I have had the same problem with metal worm gear hose clamps. It happened on my last home made waterblock which doesn't have excelent barbs to begin with. No matter how hard I tightened the clamps it still leaked. I used a socket driver instead of a screwdriver so I could apply maximum torque without worrying about slipping and running my other hand through with the end of the screwdriver. I tightened those clamps as hard as I was physically capable of and all three still leaked. I took those clamps off and found that the worm gear assembly did not match the curvature of the hose. Therefore, no matter how tight you make it, there will always be two parts that do put full pressure on the hose. Cheap junk, they had 5/8 written on them but they would better match a 3/4 hose.

My solution is simple tie wire used for rebar. I made a few loops around the barb and twisted them on tight with a pair of pliers. Havent had any leaks with that.



Edit: Now that I think about it, those hoses didn't leak before I put the clamps on. (I leak tested my waterblock in the garrage with an air compressor). I would bet that the clamps actually caused the leak.

[pakkapon]

Labrat: I'm not quite sure what u are talking about. My english is not so good.

nstabl: How easy is it to take off zip tie? With this worm type clamp, it is very easy and convenient to redo the tube if the problem persists, plus I travel around a lot.

[outhouse]

with the problems your having i would not use the clamps your using, it sounds like your asking for a problem to happen you dont want that. fixing a leak and maybe fixing [temp] leak are 2 many problems waiting to happen.

if it means let the tubing dry and use silicone then clamps so be it, but use different clamps, figure out why you dont have a seal and fix it.

as far as a zip tie tool, its easy to remove small plastic ties even if you move the pc allot

if you need help my wife is peruvian and she can tell you perfecto

[nstabl]

Originally Posted by outhouse

if you need help my wife is peruvian and she can tell you perfecto

first off i gotta say, you gotta admire the love at our forums!! w0000tt!!! i love it.. ok, moving on

the ties are very easy to remove, but why remove them? unless you are doing modding of some type or moving stuff around in your case there is no need to 'reseat' the tubing often
as far as moving your computer often, as i said, the ties are very tight!! you can drop you computer and the tube will break before the ties!

where are you from, are there home depot's around there?
do you have access to zip ties and 'the gun'?

[pakkapon]

Thanks for replying guys. First off, haha I dont get what outhouse says about his wife. Let me know what you mean.

nstabl, I originally come from Thailand but I'm graduating and moving back there within 2 weeks. I have access to home depot, in fact, I just went there yesterday to pick up worm type hose clamp, which turned out to be a bad investment. I have one question about the gun thing, could it be used in the case? It is very crowded case and I have to ues a penny to tighten the clamps currently. Zip tie alone would be easy to tighten inside the case I'm sure. Would it be tight enough to seal it without using gun though? Oh and do you have any pictures? I might just go there tomorrow to pick myself up one of those bad boys.

edited: Now it is leak free, well not really, it doesnt leak when I dont move it. but when I tilt it, it starts leaking and just wondering if that is normal? Or it shouldnt leak no matter what I do.

edited: What is silicone, what does it do, and where can I get those?

[Daddyjaxx]

It shouldn't leak at all, no matter if you turn it upside down if it is a closed system.