Rust on rad fins?

[Dopa]

Hey guys. So my order from PFPCs just arrived and I opened up everything to take a look. So here's what I came up with. My two rads ( Alphacool NexXxos X-flow ST30 120.2 and 140.1) seem to have rust on the fins!?! I just did two runs of flushing as well and there were green pieces of copper. I don't think the guys over at PFPCs did anything wrong, but what's going on??

 

[ssjwizard]

To me it looks like they only use a very shallow spray on the paint. What you think is rust looks like copper to me. This probably actually improves cooling performance. As for a bit of gunk in the lines thats typical of most radiators.

 

[Dopa]

To me it looks like they only use a very shallow spray on the paint. What you think is rust looks like copper to me. This probably actually improves cooling performance. As for a bit of gunk in the lines thats typical of most radiators.

Thanks for the response. That's good, I got afraid for a moment that something was going wrong with my rads. As far as the gunk is concerned, I was doing the "rad dance" for about an hour and a half and I reached a point where I thought I was done with the first rad of mine but as it turned out, I wasn't :/ I use deionized water and I boil it the use it for the rad dance, is that ok? How much time should it need to be fully clean?

 

[GTXJackBauer]

How do all sides look? A few pics of those can determine if it was used or not and the screw wholes. I would make sure that is wasn't previously used as I' was sent a used product before. I think it's ridiculous on their part if this is the case again. The rad should come in pristine shape as most do unless this one caught the bottom end of the QC stick.

As for the rad dances, I did about 10-15 fill, dance and shakes per 320mm and 480mm rad till there was no sign of debris.

 

[Dopa]

How do all sides look? A few pics of those can determine if it was used or not and the screw wholes. I would make sure that is wasn't previously used as I' was sent a used product before. I think it's ridiculous on their part if this is the case again. The rad should come in pristine shape as most do unless this one caught the bottom end of the QC stick.

As for the rad dances, I did about 10-15 fill, dance and shakes per 320mm and 480mm rad till there was no sign of debris.

The holes look new.. No sign of previously installed screws or anything.. Even though there are 3-4 fins that seem hit but I thought that it might have happened in the factory during production. I've done about 10 fills so far, I'm currently ready to do more. Deionized water is ok with it right? Btw, after I flush the rad, is it ok to leave it for like, 5-10 days in their box?Because I have some other stuff to do and I can't build the loop tight away.

EDIT: Here are the pics of the all the sides of the rad + the water that came out from the rad after 3 hours of flushing.

 

[S_I_N]

looks like new to me. Alphacool even says on their site that they intentionally spray lightly on the fins to help with cooling.

I use Alphacool rads religiously in all my builds so I bought a small submersible pond pump to use to flush my rads out I normally start with tap water boiled and flush each way about 30-60 mins with a cheese cloth type material on the outlet to catch debris about 3-4 times or until I see no more debris. This is after 2-3 rad dance shakes. Then 30-60 mins with clean distilled water each way twice to remove all tap water. Then I allow them to air dry for a day or two before reboxing.

 

[Dopa]

looks like new to me. Alphacool even says on their site that they intentionally spray lightly on the fins to help with cooling.

I use Alphacool rads religiously in all my builds so I bought a small submersible pond pump to use to flush my rads out I normally start with tap water boiled and flush each way about 30-60 mins with a cheese cloth type material on the outlet to catch debris about 3-4 times or until I see no more debris. This is after 2-3 rad dance shakes. Then 30-60 mins with clean distilled water each way twice to remove all tap water. Then I allow them to air dry for a day or two before reboxing.

I'm gonna let them air dry as well. What do u think about the second picture with the water above? Should I do some more filling or is it ok? I mean, I believe that I will never stop getting small particles out of the rad and it drives me crazy!

 

[S_I_N]

thats why I started using the small pond pump to help force it out. They will stop at some point.

 

[Dopa]

thats why I started using the small pond pump to help force it out. They will stop at some point.

Ohw well.. I'm gonna buy about 8 liters of Dionized water and just keep on doing the rad dance i guess.. Since I don't have a small pond pump, which would be the next faster and reliable way to remove all the debris from the rads?

 

[S_I_N]

use distilled water its alot cheaper. like less than a buck a gallon. You have the two best options imho lol so keep rad dancing.

 

[Dopa]

use distilled water its alot cheaper. like less than a buck a gallon. You have the two best options imho lol so keep rad dancing.

Not where I live lol I get a gallon of Deionized for 1€ while Distilled goes something like 1.50-1.60€ . Alright then, I will keep doing the rad dance.. I currently have the rads in their box. Will they be ok with some water in them, for about 2 weeks? Coz I won't be at home for that period.

 

[S_I_N]

Take them out of the box and set them up ports down to drain. That long a period of time might get some mildew growing

 

[Dopa]

Take them out of the box and set them up ports down to drain. That long a period of time might get some mildew growing

If I flush it with dionized, will I remove any kind of growth?

 

[S_I_N]

Once wrapped up and boxed you kinda negate the purities specially if left open to the air. At least if you cap the ports properly it may stave off growth. But I wouldn't risk it. You can if ya want but reflush once ur ready

 

[Dopa]

Once wrapped up and boxed you kinda negate the purities specially if left open to the air. At least if you cap the ports properly it may stave off growth. But I wouldn't risk it. You can if ya want but reflush once ur ready

Ok so I hooked it up on the hose I got at my yard, let the water run for about 10 minutes and then flushed about 10 times with boiled and cold dionized water. The particles that were coming out were significantly less. But it still has some gunk. I will be away from home home for about 2 weeks so I will finish both rads by the time I'm back. I expected the whole procedure to be way faster tbh Does it usually demand so much time? Or is it my situation that needs so much time?

 

[S_I_N]

Yours seems to have more than I have ever experienced

 

[GTXJackBauer]

My big rads only took 10-15 flushes total, each. Your's seems a lot longer. Look at the particles and make sure it looks like manufacturing process debris.

 

[Dopa]

Thanks for the input guys. What I get are black pieces and occasionally green pieces of copper... I don't know how or why copper chloride formed into a new, unused rad. Anyway, I'm currently away from home, I will hook both rads on the hose by the time I'm home. Is there any possibility, that the rad is damaged or anything and it keeps "spitting" debris?

 

[maxfly]

if you have an air compressor try blowing them out when you finish your next to last flush. you may just have a gob of something in there that cant quite make it out.

 

[Dopa]

if you have an air compressor try blowing them out when you finish your next to last flush. you may just have a gob of something in there that cant quite make it out.

So I'm back in town.. Yea I got an air compressor so I will try that out tomorrow. Thanks!