Hardline Fittings

[MrWittel]

Hello everyone,

 

I am in the process of building a hardlined water cooled PC. Love the look of the 16mm or 5/8in tubing. Now here is the question. How have people figured out if a fitting company is good or not? Bitspower seems overly expensive, and Olike looks like an Ebay knock-off. There's nothing super special about the compression fittings I buy at Home Depot and they last forever in the wall at 100 PSI. Sound I really be crazy picky?

 

Brands

Olike

PrimoChill
ELKWB
Barrow
XSPC
Bitspower
Monsoon

 

 

[Dissitesuxba11s]

8 hours ago, Fearlessleader said:

How have people figured out if a fitting company is good or not?

My friend gave me some EK fittings and I've stuck with them. Mainly reputation and if someone else has bitten the bullet and tried them out to give an opinion. Also, I really like the fact the EK customer service is very responsive when you contact them.

 

All those brands that you mentioned, minus Olike since I've never heard of them before, are respectable manufacturers of fittings. I would say just pick whichever fittings you like aesthetically or which ones you can get a good deal on.

[MaratM]

They all more or less the same, however bitspower is heavily overpriced, but they got the largest veriety of sizes colours and types. I persanally use barrow and they are more or less the same as bitspower and more than half price compared to bitspower. Some of the brands are using metric and some imperial and they are not compatible. All depends on the budget, but even the simplest loop can cost up to $100 even with cheappest fittings. Most of extention and bends fittings are compatible cause they all use G1/4 thread

[W-L]

6 hours ago, Fearlessleader said:

- SNIP-

A lot of it really is preference, the main thing with Bitspower is their quality control, the tolerances they allow for manufacturing are very tight compared to other fittings I've seen. 

 

Just note that Primochill and Monsoon have varieties of hardline fittings that are imperial exact so it will only work with imperial hardline tubing, where many are metric exact in both fittings and tubing. 

 

Personally I've used both EKWB and Barrow and can say they are both quite good. Main thing with hardline fittings is maintaining the o-rings and seals overtime. 

[B4Quattro]

I used EKWB and Alphacool fittings and had no problems (leaks) so far. Only the threads on the ek fittings are really sharp, i sliced my fingers when i worrked with them.

[MrWittel]

Thanks guys think I will go with Barrow. Found someone selling a pack of 20 for fairly cheap new in bags on eBay.

[MaratM]

21 minutes ago, Fearlessleader said:

Thanks guys think I will go with Barrow. Found someone selling a pack of 20 for fairly cheap new in bags on eBay.

Do not forget to get angle adapters, drain valves, extentions, ect.

[SolarNova]

I'd take a look at Monsoon Ev2 hardline fittings, they are designed so they fit both imperal and metric tubinging and allow for manufactuer varience, and come in 2 sizes, small for one seto f sizes, and large for another set of sizes. they also use a Ferrule to ensure a snug fit.