EKWB EK-Quantum Velocity CPU Water Block, Intel CPU, Copper/Acetal

[tomdean]

I have a EKWB EK-Quantum Velocity CPU Water Block, Intel CPU, Copper/Acetal. EKWB seems to recommend to NOT use pure distilled water.
The manual says:
The use of corrosion inhibiting coolants is always recommended
for liquid cooling systems, and mandatory for nickel plated
water blocks!
Do not use pure distilled water! For best results EK recommends
the use of EK-CryoFuel coolant.

I plan to use pure distilled water. Change it every couple months. Should I take EKWB's statement to apply only to nickel plated water blocks, and NOT mine?

 

[Woomack]

I'm not really sure why they say that. I had no problem with distilled water and their blocks in the past. However, I had problems with their coolants and dyes. In the last loop based on EK components, I had EK dyed coolant, and every 3 months I had to clean it. Even though the coolant was blue then there were brownish stains in the reservoir.

Maybe someone else has a different experience and will share.

 

[BugFreak]

This came along after they had issues with their nickel plating flaking off. They blamed the use of distilled water and silver coils as the result and claimed it voided the warranty so it wasn't their fault. Total bs because no other companies seemed to have that problem at the same time, just an easy way out of warranty claims. The problem is the quality issues with Cryofuel makes it risky to use imo. Googling problems with Cryofuel you will find many threads all over about it breaking down while in use and even having particles in it straight out of the retail bottle. I personally stay as far from ek products as possible.

If you use just distilled water you are asking for growth problems so I wouldn't do that. You need some antibacterial/corrosion inhibitors in there, just not ek stuff imo. I've used Mayhems premix in my past two builds with good results. Each one ran for almost two years with no growth or clogging problems. The company was bought out not too long ago and I haven't used anything made since so I can't speak to their quality. Haven't seen too much bad news other than stocking issue being a problem though. I'm currently using modmymods "mod water" clear premix in my current build and so far so good. It's only a few months old at this point though so long term quality remains to be seen.

 

[Woomack]

If the distilled water is clean and the loop is clean then there is no problem. I had only distilled water in some loops working 24/7 for a year+ and there was barely anything to clean after that. However, I also had loops that had to be cleaned after 3-4 months. For the last build, I used Raijintek coolant because it was included in the DIY kit that I received for tests. If I'm right there is only a mix of water+glycol, maybe something more. We will see in some months how it will look
The best is to get non-transparent tubes so you can't see what is inside. Can't see so there is no problem ... as long as the CPU/GPU is not overheating

 

[tomdean]

I plan to use a silver coil in the reservoir. To keep it out of the pump, I will wrap the coil around the return tube inside the reservoir.
Maybe this will help some with uglies.