- Joined
- Feb 25, 2015
- Thread Starter
- #21
Ooh, i thought that you are from Slovenia...
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It is normal that the extender can be unscrewed. This way, if you need to remove the shroud around the radiator core, you can do it by unscrewing the 2 extenders and the small screws on both ends of the radiator.
You can simply screw the extender back in place.
As for the paint, this happen with almost every radiators brands. Even if i was really careful when installing my radiators in the past, I sometime had a few scratches on my rads too
I'm really sorry that you're angry at us and hope I can help you from within my power.
I dont see the huge issue? Paint the rad yourself. ANY rad you buy will lose the paint if you keep taking it apart. Honestly, i think your going overboard, way overboard.
Hello,
my name is Ivan and I am the colleague of perestrojka from our croatian PCe community. We do not know each other personally, as far as I know.
The last three photos from his first post are my photos, taken directly from my thread/skydrive folder.
First, let me be direct to those who are trying to defend the company which product quality significantly dropped over last few years.
Sorry, this is not the extender. It is the inlet reducer to 3/8". The product does not have that mentioned whatsoever in the specification. Therefore, the existence of this part should not be notable. Even more, in telephone correspondence with EK I was told that should NOT have happened.
The inlet reducer is obviously mounted before the radiator had been painted: you can see the paint chipping off around the reducer as it was unscrewed. The O-ring (it actually looks like half the O-ring) is both structurally and visually damaged. I do not want to put the reducer back with even 1% higher chance of leak.
N.B.: my inlet reducer did not POP out, but it screwed out with ease by twisting the tubing CCW while held by compression fitting. No excessive force was used on both mounting compression fitting or twisting the tubing.
I would also like to mention that the 180 WE radiator has completely different "black" colour, especially when comparing it to PE 240: 180 WE is brownish in colour.
Oh, yes, another point: the inlet port of the 180 WE radiator is angled a few degrees, not noticable until I mounted the fitting. It is not a functional error, but it is an aesthetic one. According to EK, this is OK and happens because of the soldering process. I do not even think about explaining why this is wrong.
I believe I bought the black radiator without the paint, therefore, the radiator is painted and its paint and paint finish should be satisfying. Since satisfaction is a relative term, I would satisfy with the paint not being prone to chipping under fingernails.
White Bitfenix Phenom has lousy paint quality, but this is even worse.
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My original problem was with EK Pastel coolant, red turned purple/dark red. When I noticed, I contacted EK. Correspondence with EK started on Feb 17th and is still going on. I am keeping my temper. For now.
It is a dubious circumstance where Mayhems pastel colour, which EK sells under its own rebrand, changes colour under certain circumstances.
Since my case was one of the two recently, they have contacted Mayhems directly. To keep it short, Mayhem referenced that the user (me) is to blame as I did not flush my radiator prior using it and that they recommend I should use Mayhems in-house special formula cleaning product so this does not occur. (similar to this story)
This colour change happened inside 3 week time, from first use until I noticed it. The biggest problem is: this colour-shifted coolant left a layer of something on my waterblocks. I only wonder what has happened inside radiators. All that in 20 days. What if I kept it longer?
The micro channels inside the CPU/MBO block also have a fault. Report from EK says that is the tolerable error of the laser cutting. Wait, what? A CNC laser cutting machine which costs probably like a kidney or two makes such errors?
See for yourselves: http://1drv.ms/1B8NtOu
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I am able to agree on my error and I have learned from it: I did not flush the 240mm radiator prior using the Mayhems pastel coolant. It only remains the question why is the coolant made in such a way it changes colour? I bet there are hundreds non-toxic chemicals/pigments which could provide the same visual effect. I suppose problem is they cost more and the company revenue would be lower.
I am also sure that everyone with a little salt in his head can agree with me that such things should be noted, not only on the coolant colour bottle, but also on the radiator. Simple "flush water components thoroughly before use" sticker would be enough.
In the end, I am more mad at not being treated as a customer. Instead getting back to me regulary, even with no news, they are keeping they mouth shut until I initiate the (forced) update.
After waiting until yesterday for 18 days (eighteen, 14 working days) I sent another e-mail. Not surprisingly, I received a response today morning with an apology for the delay and info that EK employee I contacted is on vacation right now and to write him yet another email next week when he should probably be back. It is not a personal e-mail, nor I received an email from a machine or automatic "out-of-office" reply.
I do think everybody has right to have a vacation, but open "tickets" should be then treated further, not be left to rot as the Mayhem coolant did in my system.
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For me a big disappointment. After I met Edvard personally some years ago, I was convinced he is going to make it big because he had product quality out of this world. Hope it is not too late to look back to that time. For me EK was synonim for utmost quality. Unfortunately, not anymore.
I do not care if it really is an extender, there is no extender specified for this radiator. I have compared to the real black extender, this one is completely brass painted with lousy quality black colour. The O-ring is cut in half and it barely (if any) protrudes out of the recess which serves as a "housing" for an O-ring.
The difference in the materials /radiator is made of/ does not give the right that WE has dark brown colour instead of black. Why is not invested more to have the same colour over all EK range? This discrepancy shows somebody has been saving money on "premium" products: they market it as state of the art, yet the paint is easily chipped off, extenders have to be used, which, I repeat, are meant not to unscrew or pop out of radiator, as is said to me over the phone directly from EK employee.
Regarding colour and every other product on the global market, including literally everything:
IF:
- the problem/defect of the product is known to the manufacturer
- manufacturer does not accept it as a fault
- Manufacturer simultaneously provides every end user with the same problem the same refusal/rejection
- Addresses the user with "his fault" without any intention of help
- In parallel tries to sell the end user another product, even through retailer (if I can call EK a retailer)
- the manufacturer does not even try to diminish problems by developing a new coolant-formula
...what does that say about the manufacturer?
Retailer, in this case EK, should run away from anyone's shady business.
You also forgot to give an explanation why is my G1/4 inlet on WE 180 angled. I am sure everything has a logical explanation why it happened. That does not give the right any company sells products with shortcomings.
If anyone cannot agree with my constatations he/she should ask yourself: if I bought a car, and its colour started falling off under normal usage conditions, should I keep my mouth shut and try to invent every possible logical explanation why that happened, comforting myself that way?
No, sir/madam, no.
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Oh, one thing more: I have just checked the EK shop site, HAH, nowadays it literally says it uses extenders!
For reference: http://web.archive.org/web/20140620.../coolstream-pe/ek-coolstream-pe-240-dual.html
The same is with she Slovenian version of the page: link
In slovenian it only mentions "čep" which equals to "plug", three pieces. It also explicitly states:
"Radiator ima integrirane G1/4 navoje in omogoča priklop praktično vseh priključkov." -> "The radiator has INTEGRATED G1/4 threads and enables the use of almost every fitting."
And why does my product have different extenders? Why did I not receive the tool for screwing it back in place if it was intended for it to unscrew? Why do I have only half of the O-ring?
For every other component which required tools I received one, so now I have 10 3mm hex keys.
I have had both the separate extender together with the one from the radiator, those are two separate world considering finish quality. I see I will regret returning the black extender I did not need, just for comparison purposes.
Holy complain alot batman. Welcome to an enthusiast DIY hobby. Even the most basic research on what you were buying would have revealed that the EK PE rads use extender fittings, and yes any fitting will unscrew if you over tighten the fitting attached to it and then go twisting the hose around. I have honestly never encountered anyone who thinks a fitting that unscrews is a fault, or even remotely worth complaining about.
Sure if you bought a car and there were problems you would be right to be frustrated. That isn't the right analogy here though. The car here was built and painted by yourself without doing the research first to do it right.
There are boutique builders who could do all this for you, and then you could blame everyone else to your hearts content.
If instead you want to be part of an enthusiast DIY community, then do your research and know what you are buying and how to use it.
Holy complain alot batman. Welcome to an enthusiast DIY hobby. Even the most basic research on what you were buying would have revealed that the EK PE rads use extender fittings, and yes any fitting will unscrew if you over tighten the fitting attached to it and then go twisting the hose around. I have honestly never encountered anyone who thinks a fitting that unscrews is a fault, or even remotely worth complaining about.
Sure if you bought a car and there were problems you would be right to be frustrated. That isn't the right analogy here though. The car here was built and painted by yourself without doing the research first to do it right.......
Anyone with a tad of reason could agree on my points.
First, let me be direct to those who are trying to defend the company which product quality significantly dropped over last few years.
For me EK was synonim for utmost quality. Unfortunately, not anymore.
I think it's reasonable to believe that one product that one person (two-ish) has an issue with isn't cause for lambasting the company.
Let's be clear, you're implicating the company as a whole in these statements, not directing it specifically to the product in question.
That being said, where we may be able to see your reason, your comments suggest anything but.
I see the point, but you make it sound like the world is collapsing around EK because of a bad part or two and a delayed response. Come on... NOBODY is perfect!