Questions regarding upgrading and changing my custom liquid loop

[Wazuki]

I bought this system second hand as my first PC in June. It's got custom liquid cooling on the CPU and the dude i bought it from said that i need to change the coolant every 6 months to a year, he suggested me to change it around christmas. I'm completely new to liquid cooling stuff. Well, christmas was a month ago and i still haven't changed the coolant, the reason being I'm simply quite scared of doing so and have no idea how to do it. I have a whole 1l bottle of EK Blood Red coolant that he gave me along with about 50cm of extra tubing, so i won't be needing to get new coolant at least. I'm looking for instructions on how to change the coolant, basically. Do i need to clean the loop also, and what does that require?

 

My other question is about the components in my loop. I'm probably upgrading to pascal quite soon, and then later to Kaby Lake/Ryzen. The Motherboard/CPU upgrade probably won't be until summer, and I'm thinking I might do a new loop as well. I'm primarly thinking about changing the tubing. Should i also get new fittings, radiator, etc. while i'm at it? All the parts in my current loop were bought summer 2015 so they're a little old. 

 

My third question is about a tube in my loop that has been that way ever since i bought this PC. I've included pics as an attatchment. The tubing, as you can see is kind of flat at the curve. Is it something urgent that needs to be changed? It looks kind of wrong

[W-L]

For fluid you will need to drain the loop and check to see if there is gunking or clogging usually higher than orginal temps are a good indication. To clean them it will require the loop to be complete torn down tubing that has degraded to be replaced and blocks disassembled and cleaned. 

 

For the componets you shouldn't need to change them rads and such as long as they are still functional and not damaged or leaking will be good. 

 

As for that kink kink you will want to address that, as it will restrict flow, the radius is too small for the tubing so you make need to cube it out to compensate. Also one thing I noticed is those look to be very generic no name brand fittings which I couldn't say if they are good or bad but may be something to look into replacing. 

[Wazuki]

2 minutes ago, W-L said:

For fluid you will need to drain the loop and check to see if there is gunking or clogging usually higher than orginal temps are a good indication. To clean them it will require the loop to be complete torn down tubing that has degraded to be replaced and blocks disassembled and cleaned. 

 

For the componets you shouldn't need to change them rads and such as long as they are still functional and not damaged or leaking will be good. 

 

As for that kink kink you will want to address that, as it will restrict flow, the radius is too small for the tubing so you make need to cube it out to compensate. Also one thing I noticed is those look to be very generic no name brand fittings which I couldn't say if they are good or bad but may be something to look into replacing. 

Fittings are from Phobya, is that a good brand?

[W-L]

11 hours ago, Wazuki said:

Fittings are from Phobya, is that a good brand?

Passable I would say, they aren't bad that's for sure just the lowest end ones. Just remember to also keep an eye on o rings during maintenance to ensure none are cracked or hard from age or the will need replacing. 

Edited January 22, 2017 by W-L

[Wazuki]

5 minutes ago, W-L said:

Passable I would say, they aren't bad that's for sure just the lowest end ones. Just remember to also keep an eye on prints during maintenance to ensure none are cracked or hard from age or the will need replacing. 

Thanks, good to know. What are some good fittings? I guess i could change those if i upgrade the tubing anyway

[W-L]

10 hours ago, Wazuki said:

Thanks, good to know. What are some good fittings? I guess i could change those if i upgrade the tubing anyway

Some of the best ones would be Bitspowers, some others that are fairly good also are EKWB, Primochill, Monsoon to name a couple.