Changing my loop maintenance schedule

[AngryBeaver]

Well today was the day I decided to clean the loops on two or my systems. The results shocked me and thinking back I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

 

Loop 1 has been running 24/7 for about 16-18 months. It was using clear utopia mix.

 

Loop 2 was running for probably close to 3 years and has probably been powered on for 90% of that time. It was using a red coolant concentration from xspc (I think).

 

The results were the loops were flawless. The red loop didn't even see any real discoloring to the tubing other than it just clouding overtime...

 

I pulled the gpu and cpu blocks out of both. Nothing stuck in the micro channels. They were pretty much still shiney. I might have cleaned a tiny bit of discoloration off the copper blocks, but the nickel stuff was flawless.

 

I gave the radiators a hot water and degreaser rad dance, but the water was pretty clean... the discoloration of it could have been more due to the degreaser.

 

In the end I felt like it was a massive waste of time. I think going forward I am not going to clean a loop unless one of three conditions is met.

 

A. I am upgrading a component in the loop like a gpu.

 

B. I noticed visual something is amiss.

 

C. Loop temperatures are much higher than they should be.

 

 

Now the whole point of this post is the following question.

 

How long have you gone between loop cleaning and what were the results? I think I have only had the misfortune of one loop getting nasty and it wasn't even my own machine.

[W-L]

3 hours ago, AngryBeaver said:

-SNIP-

With clear fluids I find you can really push the limit, I've had a clear loop just run over a year currently with no signs of issues and PH is still consistent from when it was first put in. This is from switching over from running pastel fluids exclusively for the past 3-5 years and finding that it tends to change color or essentially oxidize and darken at around the 8-12 month mark.

 

I personally base the loop health on two main factors the PH and the quality of the fluid if I see changes such as build up or color variation I will plan a fluids change as soon as possible. I did run a pastel loop for around 18 months once as a test and did find a fair amount of settling of larger particles and corrosion occurring on nickel due to the fluid aging and losing it's effectiveness which is usually what most have to worry about. Additives in the fluid don't last forever and will degrade with time which is why it's commonly recommended to change it within 12 months to guarantee no potential issues.

[AngryBeaver]

10 hours ago, W-L said:

With clear fluids I find you can really push the limit, I've had a clear loop just run over a year currently with no signs of issues and PH is still consistent from when it was first put in. This is from switching over from running pastel fluids exclusively for the past 3-5 years and finding that it tends to change color or essentially oxidize and darken at around the 8-12 month mark.

 

I personally base the loop health on two main factors the PH and the quality of the fluid if I see changes such as build up or color variation I will plan a fluids change as soon as possible. I did run a pastel loop for around 18 months once as a test and did find a fair amount of settling of larger particles and corrosion occurring on nickel due to the fluid aging and losing it's effectiveness which is usually what most have to worry about. Additives in the fluid don't last forever and will degrade with time which is why it's commonly recommended to change it within 12 months to guarantee no potential issues.

I have yet to measure ph levels and I didn't even see any real sign of evaporation in my loops. I mean if there was some it wasn't enough to be noticeable In the reservoir.

 

I mean it could just be i had good luck, but like I said i have done plenty of maintenance over the years and have yet to have a loop of mine show any issues. Maybe, like you said, it is because I use clear liquids and not the nano particle ones.

[Mick Naughty]

Went back to distilled water and an additive for my loops. Tired of the leaching hoses and buildup. I take my stuff apart too much to not put fresh fluid in when I do so. Or else I’d keep them untouched for quite awhile.