Leaving watercooled computer "unattended" safe/not safe?

Just wondering...what'd happen if there was some kind of a leak and water got on my hardware or even into my power supply. Possible fire hazard?

All depends on your setup and where it lands. My guess of a worse case is it blows a fuse and destroys your power strip. Take your time and leak test it for several days to make sure nothing is leaking. Clamp all tube ends and avoid pressure on the joints.

What would most likely happen is the parts it lands on would short and stop working. You would have the possibilty of saving it by giving an alcohol bath and trying it again.

If you do the tubing right you shouldnt have to worry about a leak let on what would happen if it did leak.

JT

for just a little rise on loaded temps... you can try this www.fluidxp.com theres a little vid on there about it.
i bought some a few weeks back.. my loaded was about 3c higher with same ambient room temp. it non conductive so your cards and mb should be safe.. but i wouldnt get it in ya power supply thoe. meant to be non toxic. but tastes disgusting! if it does what they say... hey its worth the price £23.00 in the uk for litre and a slight temp rise

I use to have a really crappy looking water cooling system setup. It was all enclosed in the case so I could move it, well to make sure it wouldn't leak, it was a close looped system (it had to be filled when turned on since the very small res was attached to the pump), room tempature I filled it up, took it out and put it in my car for a few hours, drove around on some pretty bumpy roads. Came back and fired it up and looked for leaks

Truely it depends on how its built, how long you let glue set if you used any or you made sure the clamps are nice and tight, and no kinks in the tubing.

That was my ultimate leak test guarrenty For the months that I did have it in my system it didn't leak for moving it 120miles every other week, not bad. With that I'd leave it unattended if I was at work or over the weekend if I needed it on at my apartment. If the pump failed I had tempature systems implace to shutdown the system if it got to hot.

I'd say it can be very safe as long as you are careful, take your time during assembly, and for leaks regularly. With my 600 GPH, 10.2 foot head, Eheim 1260 I checked for leaks actively for about 2 hours then daily for a week or so, bumping to weekly, then monthly to whenever I get bored or suspect a problem now. With my metal barbs and steel belt clamps I'm almost completely certain a tube can't blow off and I've got the tubing routed with large "U"'s ensuring that any fluid from a slow leak will be directed away from my motherboard and graphics card.

Has it leaked? Yes twice, once after a couple hours and once after a month.

The first time I was using a plastic resovior. I didn't have a clamp on the pump's output barb thinking the tubings elasticity would hold it on. Yeah, lol I was wrong. I was leaning back in my chair when the pipe let loose and the pump blew the lid off the res. It scared me so bad I fell back in my chair and took my head off a book self. I saw stars. Dove under the desk and yanked the cord out of the wall instinctively and was stunned for a couple seconds when the fountain and computer continued to run. Forgot about the UPS.
Anyways the the computer was fine as the res it outside of the computer case and the carpet was green when it was bought to it turned out fine. Fixed that problem so it'll never happen again.

The second time was only a seep. The tubing directed it safely to the floor away from the electronics and was found probably with in a day or so. Probably only lost a cup or so and thats just a dent in the 2 gallon res.

Nothing damaged and it's been running for about 8 months+ now 24/7 with no worries.

Higher quality water and antifreeze will reduce the chance of shorting somehthing out in event of a leak, but if there is dust in the box for it to mix with this safeguard is circumvented. Either way you'll still want good water to keep corrosion and organisms down in your system. I've heard good things and bad things about fluidXP and never tried it.

Bottem line, if you want to watercool check and recheck. A little planning can help out in the long run. Low pressure and low quantity setups will probably end up being the safest but anything can be worked to run for long term safely.

One thing to consider is a good surge protector. They work both ways and are definetly a good safety measure against fire hazards. If you have the pc hooked up to a line with a high amp breaker then it could become an issue.

After running it for a week I stopped worrying about it, I leave my system running and believe it's safe.

If you use quality parts(made by reputable company), and secured it properly, you could leave it unattended for months. Ambients permitting.

Safe is a relative term... However, design a good system with proper leaktesting, tube clamps, and no fancy junk(things that do nothing but serve as a place to leak) Then i'd trust it with top of the line hardware running unattended for weeks at a time.

Yeah I stopped checking my loop every 3 minutes after about a week or so... its now been a year and 3 setups later and no leaks yet - just watch me here in a few days make a new thread about my burnt components due to a leak... nice going on the jinx huh?

deathman20 said:

Truely it depends on how its built, how long you let glue set if you used any

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Just wondering, where would you use glue?

ctrl_alt_del_ said:

Just wondering, where would you use glue?

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My res is caked

ctrl_alt_del_ said:

Just wondering, where would you use glue?

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I used a combo of PVC/Tubing and glued the Tubing into t he PVC and also the PVC togeather. Only thing I had clamps on was 2 on the water block and 2 on the radiator. Nice heavy appoxy worked wonders, and it was the 10min quick dry stuff