Water block corrosion

[Brombal]

Hello, I took apart my pc for shipping recently and noticed some gray patch on my copper plate. My pc has been liquid cooled for two months and using distilled water as my coolant. All my parts are copper or copper compatible so not sure what cause this, unless the distilled water was falsely adverted. 

 

Would it be okay to empty the loop and add new water in, or once the corrosion begins is there no stopping it? Also is there something I can do to treat my water block and remove the corrosion?

 

I have images attached below of the block and the corrosion, the corroded area seems to be the dark grey patch in the center and a little light grey around that area.

[Applefreak]

I'd open it up first and check what it is. Doesn't look like corrosion to me. Looks like oily residue from manufacturing. Did you clean the loop before assembling it in the first place?

Also mix some biozide into the distilled water when you refill it, could be algae that is growing. You can clean it with a tooth brush and some whitening paste. If you can get your hands on it a metal polish like Autosol works even better.

[Brombal]

Thank you very much for your reply applefreak, I did a basic rinse of the parts in distilled water, but not such a cleaning that would remove oil. I will remove and clean them as soon as my new coolant arrives. Also would it be safe to run my loop with a about 5% food grade citric acid for a hour to try and clean out the inside of the radiator? 

 

I'll try and get my hands on some metal polish today.

 

Thanks again

[Applefreak]

You can flush the radiator with distilled water and nothing added to it. However I prefer a very thin mix of distilled water with some G12+ Antifreeze (1:10). Then refill with some distilled water and let it cycle a until the antifreeze is out of the loop. I have no experience with citric acid but I'd be careful because it does react with the copper.

[RollinLower]

1 hour ago, Brombal said:

Thank you very much for your reply applefreak, I did a basic rinse of the parts in distilled water, but not such a cleaning that would remove oil. I will remove and clean them as soon as my new coolant arrives. Also would it be safe to run my loop with a about 5% food grade citric acid for a hour to try and clean out the inside of the radiator? 

 

I'll try and get my hands on some metal polish today.

 

Thanks again

i would stay away from acid, tough i've cleaned out waterblocks with vinegar before. works wonders on corrosion!

[SolarNova]

Thats not corrosion.

 

Copper tarnishes first (gets dull and darker), then can eventual go blue/green.

 

Thats likely residue from manufacturing, likely form the radiators.

 

Just take apart the block give it a quick clean then put the loop back together, do the same for ur CPU block as that likely has some buildup as well.

 

Once done and the loop is back together make sure u also add a biocide and corrosion inhibitor to the distilled water. Distilled on its own will work but u will eventually get corrosion, i know i ran a loop for 4 years with just distilled and my blocks corroded (not a problem as they were Opaque blocks). If the loop is in direct daylight it can also start to grow algae if u dont have a biocide in it.

 

White vinegar is the usual method of cleaning out rads, brown also works its just not as easy to tell how much crap u've got out the rad. Fill it, leave it for 30min - 1hour , then flush and rinse thoroughly.

[Brombal]

13 hours ago, Applefreak said:

I'd open it up first and check what it is. Doesn't look like corrosion to me. Looks like oily residue from manufacturing. Did you clean the loop before assembling it in the first place?

Also mix some biozide into the distilled water when you refill it, could be algae that is growing. You can clean it with a tooth brush and some whitening paste. If you can get your hands on it a metal polish like Autosol works even better.

Thanks for your advice, you were right, it was just gunk. I was very worried at first. Just spent all my money moving house and starting a degree, didn't have money to buy a new loop.

 

It's all cleaned up now.

[Lipe123]

You keep mentioning distilled water, did you add anything to prevent algae growth?

 

If you run ONLY water with nothing else you will get algae over time from contamination etc.

[W-L]

On 9/18/2020 at 8:42 PM, Brombal said:

Thanks for your advice, you were right, it was just gunk. I was very worried at first. Just spent all my money moving house and starting a degree, didn't have money to buy a new loop.

 

It's all cleaned up now.

Even with corrosion there isn't too much to worry about as long as the sealing surfaces are intact, being a pure copper base there is less likely hood of that occurring given the proper additives.

 

I've got some now 6 year old blocks that are plated with heavy nickel corrosion due to age and just wear from waterflow from running a lot of pastel fluid over the years and while they aren't as nice looking they perform exactly the same as when they were brand new. 

[Maticks]

with mixed metals you want to add in something to it, if you want a clear fluid Mayhems XT1 is good protects you from corrosion and bio but stands by a 5 year system flush.

So if you want to set and forget for long term this will look like water but you don't have to keep changing it.

 

https://liquidgaming.co.uk/shop/uk/mayhems-xt-1-nuke-v2-clear-concentrate-watercooling-fluid-250ml.html