Primochill Vue reacted badly and built up

[Voxels-Box]

Hi all,

I added the Primochill Vue in Sterling Silver to my new build, and it seems that the fluid changed from the silver in the bottle to a much more blue tone. The parts have never had dyed fluids, and were all flushed outside the case during the build process. The original fluid I used was Primochill's Clear fluid after using SysPrep. There is no aluminum in the loop. The PC has been leak testing for about 2 days, and the color has not returned to its original color.  For comparison, Ive been using these baby blue shop towels for drip protection, and you can see that the color of the vue is much closer to that color than the silver its supposed to be.

 

Has anyone had this experience with their Vue? If so, did it return to the original color with time?

Spoiler

Secondary question, is that texture normal on the nickel in the second image? It appeared after I added the fluid. (The block had never been used before this)

 

[OddsCrazyStuff]

Are you sure you flushed out all the SysPrep and Clear fluid?

Mixing fluids can make it change color.

[Voxels-Box]

6 minutes ago, OddsCrazyStuff said:

Are you sure you flushed out all the SysPrep and Clear fluid?

Mixing fluids can make it change color.

Im as sure as I can be, since they are all clear fluids, so theres no color to really know when its flushed.

[OddsCrazyStuff]

10 minutes ago, Voxels-Box said:

Im as sure as I can be, since they are all clear fluids, so theres no color to really know when its flushed.

Can you take an image of the fluid next to the bottle of new fluid, so we can see how much it has changed?

[Voxels-Box]

10 minutes ago, OddsCrazyStuff said:

Can you take an image of the fluid next to the bottle of new fluid, so we can see how much it has changed?

This is the only image I have of the bottle, as Im at work now. The lighting is different, but the change should still be clear.

Spoiler

 

[TacticlTwinkie]

Did the color change immediately? Or over the course of a few hours/days?

[Himommies]

It naturally becomes darker after a few days.this is pretty normall

[Voxels-Box]

8 minutes ago, TacticlTwinkie said:

Did the color change immediately? Or over the course of a few hours/days?

Yes, the color had changed by the time I started cycling the pump.

Just now, Himommies said:

It naturally becomes darker after a few days.this is pretty normall

This didnt just get darker, it also became very blue. Are you saying it should revert in a few days?

[3 Lions]

I wouldn't worry about this just yet, if Jay (JayzTwoCents) picks up the same issue with his Vue fluids then that's when I'd start to worry.

[Himommies]

2 minutes ago, Voxels-Box said:

This didnt just get darker, it also became very blue. Are you saying it should revert in a few days?

from your pictures it just looks like a darker silver with a tiny amount of blue

from primochills website

Please be advised that the color and texture of Vue may change slightly compared to the fluid in the bottle over time once you put it in your loop. 

 

[TacticlTwinkie]

40 minutes ago, Voxels-Box said:

This is the only image I have of the bottle, as Im at work now. The lighting is different, but the change should still be clear.

  Hide contents

 

I would pour a bit of your left over fluid into a glass and hold it up to the reservoir in the case and see if the color is the same. Your fluid looks a little blue in this picture to me. But that could very well just be the plastic wrap mixed with the lighting.

[Voxels-Box]

Just now, TacticlTwinkie said:

I would pour a bit of your left over fluid into a glass and hold it up to the reservoir in the case and see if the color is the same. Your fluid looks a little blue in this picture to me. But that could very well just be the plastic wrap mixed with the lighting.

I will update with a side by side picture tonight, in approx 6 hours

[Voxels-Box]

3 hours ago, Voxels-Box said:

I would pour a bit of your left over fluid into a glass and hold it up to the reservoir in the case and see if the color is the same.

[OddsCrazyStuff]

Might just being the camera, but those looks about identical to me.

The reservoir looks a bit darker (might be the darker background), but not more blue.

[Voxels-Box]

8 hours ago, OddsCrazyStuff said:

Might just being the camera, but those looks about identical to me.

The reservoir looks a bit darker (might be the darker background), but not more blue.

It may be similar in the photo, albiet darker, but its quite blue in person. However, I finally booted the PC for the first time, and its much less noticeable with all the RGB lights. 

[W-L]

7 hours ago, Voxels-Box said:

It may be similar in the photo, albiet darker, but its quite blue in person. However, I finally booted the PC for the first time, and its much less noticeable with all the RGB lights. 

How long has this been only two days? I would do a PH test to see if something in the loop caused a serve reaction but only time I've really seen fluid turn bluish is if it's gone acidic over a few months not that short of a period of time. 

[OddsCrazyStuff]

On 12/1/2017 at 4:05 AM, W-L said:

How long has this been only two days? I would do a PH test to see if something in the loop caused a serve reaction but only time I've really seen fluid turn bluish is if it's gone acidic over a few months not that short of a period of time. 

You are forgetting that OP used a SysPrep, which is most likely acidic.

If there where some left in the loop and as you say, liquid turns blue from it, then we have an answer.

[TacticlTwinkie]

7 minutes ago, OddsCrazyStuff said:

You are forgetting that OP used a SysPrep, which is most likely acidic.

If there where some left in the loop and as you say, liquid turns blue from it, then we have an answer.

That is likely the culprit. The loop/parts may not have been flushed well enough.

[Voxels-Box]

17 hours ago, TacticlTwinkie said:

That is likely the culprit. The loop/parts may not have been flushed well enough.

I may not have been specific enough on when I did things. I used sysPrep back in July, then flushed with distilled, the added the clear fluid. Then during the build last week, I ran distilled water through each part individually. After the build, I added the Vue. I would be very surprised is any SysPrep was still in the system. 

 

In any case, now that the pc is running, with lights and glass, it doesn’t seem to be an issue. 

[Voxels-Box]

So it’s been a little over 2 months since I added the Vue and noted the above issues. A new issue, potentially related, has appeared. It seems as if the fluid is leeching between the acrylic and nickel surfaces in the blocks. I’ve noticed the patterb for a while, but it seems to have gotten worse in the last week. Does anyone have any suggestions? Or thoughts?

[For Science!]

Primochill Vue does not like air generally. Leeching between the block is a fairly common occurance in EK GPU blocks so thats a seperate issue altogether.

The Vue is likely having a bad reaction with pockets of air in the CPU block too.

 

As an additional point, Primochill has also made the point that after sysprepping, the system needs to be completely dry before adding the Vue, if you didnt do that, I suspect that is the original reason why the color changed.

[Voxels-Box]

1 hour ago, For Science! said:

Snip

I see, so air between the surfaces is common with EK? Would that be a manufacturing defect, or one of those “acceptable variances” that companies sometimes describe defects as?

 

Yes, I now believe that the parts probably weren’t dry, since when I ordered Vue in the first wave, they didn’t have that warning on their website. 

 

Do you mean air bubbles after the loop was filled? Or pockets between the materials? I was able to bleed the blocks pretty well in the beginning after filling, but there could have been air in the rads. 

[AMDNeko]

29 minutes ago, Voxels-Box said:

I see, so air between the surfaces is common with EK? Would that be a manufacturing defect, or one of those “acceptable variances” that companies sometimes describe defects as?

 

Yes, I now believe that the parts probably weren’t dry, since when I ordered Vue in the first wave, they didn’t have that warning on their website. 

 

Do you mean air bubbles after the loop was filled? Or pockets between the materials? I was able to bleed the blocks pretty well in the beginning after filling, but there could have been air in the rads. 

 

  Since there is no internal o-ring enough pressure from the pump can cause that but it is not an issue unless you see your exterior o-rings starting to fail its just ugly. Whats important is the channels look clean. As for the warning yeah... they knew about slight discoloration on some colors like red most importantly but not to the degree it occurred and the first few months of any new product especially coolant is beta testing as not everything can be caught by one person.

 

I also showed your pics to primochill guys and your coolant is A-OK for 2 months~

[For Science!]

3 hours ago, Voxels-Box said:

-

It's so common that it's in their promotional material. Basically this is not a manufacturing defect, more of an expected feature. Normally you just get a thin film of coolant in this region; its just the Vue doesn't like it, so its more the Vues problem. 

 

WRT to the air bubbles, I'm referring to the region just above the jet plate of the CPU monoblock. This region is always the hardest to completely get the bubbles out (you have to shake it REALLY hard). From your pictures it would seem to be there are still air pockets there and the vue has precipitated out onto the plastic on top of the jet plate.

[Voxels-Box]

Thank you to @PPCs-Kat and @For Science! for your input.

 

Ive been in contact with Primochill and EK's support teams for the last couple days. What you've said was confirmed by them.  EK has said they'll ship me new O-rings for the blocks, and Primochill recommends that I do a distilled water flush asap to see if that helps clear the buildup. The results of which will determine if I need to disassemble the entire loop, (and whether i try Vue again or switch back to clear)

 

As I was preparing for the worst, I also decided to do some internal upgrades. Ill be adding an Aquaero 6XT, doing some acrylic work, and finishing up the sleeving around back.  Ill likely start a build log for the rebuild.