Possible to remove corrosion

[shoogie107]

I built my first watercooled system back in December and it has been together since then. From the videos I watched, I thought all I needed for coolant was distilled water and a biocide. I had to do some maintenance and noticed that the end plugs on my EK 780 classified waterblock had some discoloring. After discovering this, I decided to open up the waterblock to further investigate this discoloring.

 

This is what I found:

 

 

 

I have only opened up the GPU waterblock. I don't know if there is any corrosion in the CPU waterblock or my radiators.

 

Is there anyway to remove the corrosion or am I SOL.

[gollum99]

I dont know how to keep it away in the future but something like WD-40 should do the trick (with rubbin that stuff off using a paper towel)

[Guest]

but it might be to rough and make it even worse.

[C0LL0SS0S]

Would contact EKWB directly, or try those sprays you use to clean your bath

[airdeano]

I built my first watercooled system back in December and it has been together since then. From the videos I watched, I thought all I needed for coolant was distilled water and a biocide. I had to do some maintenance and noticed that the end plugs on my EK 780 classified waterblock had some discoloring. After discovering this, I decided to open up the waterblock to further investigate this discoloring.

 

our onsite rep @EK Luc might be able to help.

[EK Luc]

What kind of additive did you add to your distilled water?

[shoogie107]

What kind of additive did you add to your distilled water?

I added a few drops of this:http://www.frozencpu.com/products/11744/ex-liq-154/IandH_Dead-Water_Copper_Sulfate_Biocidal_PC_Coolant_Additive_-_15_mL.html?tl=g30c103s186

Also, I did some further investigating and found corrosion in my EK cpu waterblock, but it was no where near as bad as my GPU waterblock.

[EK Luc]

It's wierd...

 

You put 1 or 2 drops of copper sulfate in 1 liter of distilled water right?

[shoogie107]

You put 1 or 2 drops of copper sulfate in 1 liter of distilled water right?

I did not measure out the distilled water. I just filled my loop and added 2 drops of the copper sulfate. Could too much copper sulfate be the reason for the corrosion?

[EK Luc]

I did not measure out the distilled water. I just filled my loop and added 2 drops of the copper sulfate. Could too much copper sulfate be the reason for the corrosion?

 

Maybe. This additive is very powerful.

 

Can you describe your loop? Like the number of components, radiators thickness reservoir capacity, etc..

[shoogie107]

Can you describe your loop? Like the number of components, radiators thickness, reservoir capacity, etc..

My build is in the NZXT H440. I have a 360(30mm) and a 240(30mm). I have my cpu and a single gpu in the loop.

I'm not sure about reservoir capacity, but this is the one I bought: http://www.performance-pcs.com/ek-xres-100-ddc-3-2-pwm-incl-pump.html

[Maxwit44]

Sorry to jump in here. But Copper sulfate and Nickel, just don't mix well. What your seeing is copper deposits replacing the nickel, or depositing on the nickel plating.

 

If your to test the coolant in your system, you will probably find nickel sulfate in it at a high ppm count.

 

Don't think there is much you can do. You could try some scotchbrite to clean in up and then run something like this, which will have a much lower sulfate count.

 

It doesn't take much to get a reaction. It will more than likely clean off with the scotch brite ( look in the kitchen section at you local grocery store for a maroon or dark green scrubbing pads).

[EK Luc]

My build is in the NZXT H440. I have a 360(30mm) and a 240(30mm). I have my cpu and a single gpu in the loop.

I'm not sure about reservoir capacity, but this is the one I bought: http://www.performance-pcs.com/ek-xres-100-ddc-3-2-pwm-incl-pump.html

 

It's a rather small loop that must have around 550ml~600ml of water in it so it might have been too much Copper Sulfate.  And like Maxwitt44 said, initially Copper Sulfate and Nickel doesn't go well together although i've seen loop with it that were fine after more than a year.

[shoogie107]

Don't think there is much you can do. You could try some scotchbrite to clean in up and then run something like this, which will have a much lower sulfate count.

 

It doesn't take much to get a reaction. It will more than likely clean off with the scotch brite ( look in the kitchen section at you local grocery store for a maroon or dark green scrubbing pad).

 

I had a scotch brite on hand and was unable to remove the copper deposits. Looks like I have to buy a replacement water block  .

 

Along with the water block I plan to buy new fluid to prevent issues in the future.

 

Two more questions.

 

1. Would the copper sulfate affect other metals besides nickel(copper, brass, etc.)? I'm asking this because I have two full copper alphacool radiators and you can't exactly just open up radiators to inspect them. I opened up my copper cpu water block and all I saw was a bit of black tarnishing. From what I saw in the cpu waterblock, I'm assuming the radiators would look the same so I do not have to replace them.

 

2. Would the copper sulfate affect other components(tubing)? Would I be able to just replace the gpu waterblock and reuse everything else? I would assume so. Just do a really good job of cleaning everything to remove all traces of copper sulfate.