The Rad Dance and you

First of all a great thanks to Conumdrum,hokiealumnus and mor7if3r for the continued use of the phrases "read the stickies" "if you would have read the stickies" and "re-read the stickies" You guys make me laugh.

I did a small bit of measuring of disolved solids because i was curious on the impact of the rad-dance.


My tap- full cold/ 203ppm
full hot/ 280ppm

It seems my hot water heater might be full of sediment

The above measurments may be higher than most because I use well water. For the sake of testing the next results were tested using cold tap water.

Brita Pitcher filtered/ 130ppm
Zero Water filtered/ 0ppm
Distilled water/ 0ppm


I started with a new rad fresh out of the box. Swiftech MCR320.A nice middle of the road rad and a good buy to boot. Thanks to Skinnee

I started with solid 10 minute shakes and Zero water, measured both before and after the Rad-dance. I used a . HMD ZT-2 TDS tester

1st- 16ppm
2nd- 7ppm
3rd- 4ppm
4th- 0ppm

Last of all a nice final rinse with distilled water. -0/ppm

I know it's not a professional as I have seen on this site but thought you might enjoy some info on a subject i've seen mentioned but not measured.

Peeebo

LOL Peeebo, it's in the sticky, chapter 37, subheading 1a2.

I like your way of thinking. I did some tests on water like you did, it's in a post somewhere.

In the 'old Wild West' days of watercooling some rad manufacturers used a lot of flux. So it was a wise idea to dance the night away. Your info on a modern rad using probably better soldering methods leaves much less stuff. Much less.

Thanks for the info, I'll still shake and rise into a bowl once to be sure, never know when a mouse has crawled into your shiny new rad. New folks won't have to do it 15 times now.

Good stuff, thanks!

lol NP. I had been reading the forums for a while and I would always see one question or the other and think...Ok where;s the reply that says "read the damn stickies....and if you have and asked that then read them again"

Always makes me laugh...and you have noticed I havn't asked anything...yet. In the middle of my first Wc build for the sheer quietness. Just wish that they wouldn't have taken my money and told me it was backordered on a card not being made any more.

I have to tell you tho...I'm staring at a rig with no water and no vid card and it makes me sad every time I pass by the damn thing.

I'll be around...might even post some pics when it's done too. Thanks again for all the info and guidance you guys throw up on these forums. Oh yea and the laughs!

Peeebo

That's good info, thanks for sharing.

I'm not familiar with the testing device you used. Does it detect dissolved ions as well or just dissolved solids? I'm wondering if the device could be used to detect silver ions in an active loop so we could see quantitatively how long it takes for a killcoil or similar device to release its lovely bacteria killing silver ions into solution, and exactly how long it takes those ions to reach a toxic concentration.

Doing my own searching: http://www.tdsmeter.com/what-is it appears that your device could do it. It's more a curiosity data point than anything, but it'd be interesting to know.

Good job for going out of your way to test this as im sure lots of people are interested.

On a side note...
http://martinsliquidlab.org/2011/02/26/flushing-your-block-rads-clean/

Nuff Said/

Huh, I've done the same as Martin for the last 10 years, even with my heatercores back in the day.
I used to have a portable dishwasher, and the kitchen faucet fitting is just under 5/8" ID so my tubing fits snugly into it-yet can't build enough pressure to damage it.

As long as you have the outlet port on your rad open, i doubt any faucet would cause damage due to pressure.

Dougshell said:

As long as you have the outlet port on your rad open, i doubt any faucet would cause damage due to pressure.

Click to expand...

In some areas, the faucet water pressure can be quite high. Most places it probably isn't a concern, but it's something to be aware of.

Jeremy

Yep, a buddy of mine used to live downhill from the city's water tower, and his pressure was 72 psi.
I helped him install low flow shower heads so they could stand to use them without getting water-jetted.
Mine's only ~40 psi, and I drill through shower heads to make them work right...stoopid Californians.

Pardon my ignorance, but is there another safer way to flush than with the link Dougshell posted? I know about the rad dance for the radiators, but what about the water blocks? I'm not sure if new blocks warrant a complete disassembly and cleaning but I'd like to make sure there's no little bits stuck inside.

skorpien said:

Pardon my ignorance, but is there another safer way to flush than with the link Dougshell posted? I know about the rad dance for the radiators, but what about the water blocks? I'm not sure if new blocks warrant a complete disassembly and cleaning but I'd like to make sure there's no little bits stuck inside.

Click to expand...

I disassemble, it's not covered under warranty, so if you FUBAR the O-ring or something, they're not liable, but if you take it apart and put it back together without breaking anything and don't try to RMA it for something you did in that process, you're fine in terms of warranty.

For a block, do as Martin did and set it in the sink with the water stream blasting into one fitting. Reverse after a few minutes and blast through the other.
You can't possibly get too much pressure the way that link shows a block flush. You can even do the same with a Rad is so inclined.

Thanks guys. I'll disassemble for my annual tear down but I think I'll just flush at first. This will be my first WC system so I don't want to fudge it up before I even start.

I like to use my submersible pump in a container with a mild vinegar / distilled mix circulated for about 15 mins to clean copper parts. I know that I cant see the inside of my rad but I like to know that It was shiny for atleast a few hours before I start beating on it.

the only way pressure would be an issue is if you forgot to take of the of the stops out of the radiator...

So,,,Dont do that