Strange residue

[airborne spoon]

I noticed my gpu block was getting pretty funked up and decided to pull it apart and clean it. Once I had the plastic off the thing I saw the top of the thing and there was a large black spot on there at the inlet side. It looked like electronic burn and wasn't slimy or anything like you'd expect from gunk. Some of it wipped out (where you see the shiny smudge in the pic) but I had to get out the toothpaste and a qtip to get most of it clean and back to how it should looks and even with the rest of the thing.

 

Any idea WTF caused this?

 

[andysucs]

I believe that is just from corrosion, but I don't have any experience with water cooling so I may be wrong.

[SlashedM]

That looks like Erosion, and not corrosion.

[airborne spoon]

49 minutes ago, SlashedM said:

That looks like Erosion, and not corrosion.

 

It buffed out moderately easily. And if it was erosion it wouldn't be silky smooth it would be rough.

There was no leaks or anything and the GPU is fine but I still say it looks like electrical burns kinda smokey smoldering type. But why/how?

[SlashedM]

1 minute ago, airborne spoon said:

 

It buffed out moderately easily. And if it was erosion it wouldn't be silky smooth it would be rough.

There was no leaks or anything and the GPU is fine but I still say it looks like electrical burns kinda smokey smoldering type. But why/how?

I didn't read main post tbh, neither erosion or corrosion is smooth so. Since it wasn't slimy or but gunky, I honestly don't know what that would be, maybe paint or something, but I doubt that.

[W-L]

9 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

I noticed my gpu block was getting pretty funked up and decided to pull it apart and clean it. Once I had the plastic off the thing I saw the top of the thing and there was a large black spot on there at the inlet side. It looked like electronic burn and wasn't slimy or anything like you'd expect from gunk. Some of it wipped out (where you see the shiny smudge in the pic) but I had to get out the toothpaste and a qtip to get most of it clean and back to how it should looks and even with the rest of the thing.

 

Any idea WTF caused this?

What fluid are you running? That looks like copper oxidize wither from the rads or other components depositing it onto the nickel /fin area or if your are running colored fluid it could be plasticizer or gunk just building up. 

[airborne spoon]

2 hours ago, W-L said:

What fluid are you running? That looks like copper oxidize wither from the rads or other components depositing it onto the nickel /fin area or if your are running colored fluid it could be plasticizer or gunk just building up. 

I got EK UV blue in there with distilled water at the proper ratio it said on the bottle. I have 2x EK rads everything else is nickel plated. But the inlet on the GPU in question is the first stop after the pumps which are also nickel plated and they don't have any weird stuff on them nor does my CPU block.

And the gunk on the fins is just some plastic from the initial assembly and somehow dog hair, this build has only been running for about 3 months that doesn't seem like nearly enough time for galvanic corrosion to have much of an effect.

I'm going to shoot an email to alphacool and see what they think since it is their block.

[W-L]

3 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

I got EK UV blue in there with distilled water at the proper ratio it said on the bottle. I have 2x EK rads everything else is nickel plated. But the inlet on the GPU in question is the first stop after the pumps which are also nickel plated and they don't have any weird stuff on them nor does my CPU block.

And the gunk on the fins is just some plastic from the initial assembly and somehow dog hair, this build has only been running for about 3 months that doesn't seem like nearly enough time for galvanic corrosion to have much of an effect.

I'm going to shoot an email to alphacool and see what they think since it is their block.

Might just be some contaminates from loop assembly and manufacturing that made it out of places like the radiator or leeched in overtime epically if you have soft tubing. Usually you see a little build up like that using soft tubing after a while. 

 

If it's UV blue fluid then most likely it's not corrosion but just general gunk that absorbed that blue coloring. the nickel on there still looks nice and clean so I doubt it's any corrosion epically if it comes off with a little soap and water.  

[airborne spoon]

34 minutes ago, W-L said:

Might just be some contaminates from loop assembly and manufacturing that made it out of places like the radiator or leeched in overtime epically if you have soft tubing. Usually you see a little build up like that using soft tubing after a while. 

 

If it's UV blue fluid then most likely it's not corrosion but just general gunk that absorbed that blue coloring. the nickel on there still looks nice and clean so I doubt it's any corrosion epically if it comes off with a little soap and water.  

So my rads are both about 4+ years old vs everything else in the loop being 3 months old. I only use hard tubing, and soap didn't take it off I had to use toothpaste and really buff it out with a qtip to clean the black shit out of there.

[airborne spoon]

I got a reply from alphacool and this is what he said:

"it seems like that the water block got to hot, since the fins are clogged and maybe the heat wasn't transferred correctly. We also recommend always clear liquids to prevent clogging, so that the heat can be transferred correctly."

 

I'm not too sure if i believe that due to in the past my old waterblock was more clogged than this one was and there were no issues, also if it was overheating the GPU didnt get effected because my performance never throttled. and the spot where it turned black has nothing beneath it and the mem chips are to the right and other ones are below and to the left so that spot has nothing but bare PCB under it.

[W-L]

26 minutes ago, airborne spoon said:

I got a reply from alphacool and this is what he said:

"it seems like that the water block got to hot, since the fins are clogged and maybe the heat wasn't transferred correctly. We also recommend always clear liquids to prevent clogging, so that the heat can be transferred correctly."

 

I'm not too sure if i believe that due to in the past my old waterblock was more clogged than this one was and there were no issues, also if it was overheating the GPU didnt get effected because my performance never throttled. and the spot where it turned black has nothing beneath it and the mem chips are to the right and other ones are below and to the left so that spot has nothing but bare PCB under it.

I have some doubts about that especially fi you didn't get noticeably higher GPU temps. I've had block much much worst than that to where all the surfaces have a thin film or pastel particles clinging to the surfaces with no effect on temps. 

 

Because you mentioned they are older rads my guess might be that there was some remaining residue or materials that were not 100% cleaned out from previously that made it's way out and started to clog the fine fin array of the GPU block. I'd refill and keep a close eye on it if you notice clogging again like this it may be best during the next big maintenance to try and get something like Mayhems blitz to clean the rads and loop before refilling. 

[AnonymousGuy]

Looks like the trash that comes out of rads that aren't cleaned.  They throw off chunks like this and will also fog the entire loop (that grayish film left of the jet plate)

[airborne spoon]

1 hour ago, AnonymousGuy said:

Looks like the trash that comes out of rads that aren't cleaned.  They throw off chunks like this and will also fog the entire loop (that grayish film left of the jet plate)

 

the jet plate was clean, only the blue crap on there that was mostly pieces of PETG from the build. the grey of the plate is the color it's supposed to be and short of polishing it with my buffing wheel it is good to go. And the loop was still clear (blue clear) it was only 3 months too.

Since the rads came off my old build, when i had them out i hit them with full force hot tap water. I keep my water heater set at 160f (71c) and i flushed it out several times after cleaning it with PBW. I rinsed them several times after the cleaning solution that was shaken around in there so there is no way there was anything left inside the rads.

[W-L]

16 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

 

the jet plate was clean, only the blue crap on there that was mostly pieces of PETG from the build. the grey of the plate is the color it's supposed to be and short of polishing it with my buffing wheel it is good to go. And the loop was still clear (blue clear) it was only 3 months too.

Since the rads came off my old build, when i had them out i hit them with full force hot tap water. I keep my water heater set at 160f (71c) and i flushed it out several times after cleaning it with PBW. I rinsed them several times after the cleaning solution that was shaken around in there so there is no way there was anything left inside the rads.

You'd be surprised with used rads I ran pastel back in the day and thought I cleaned them super well. I did a vingear solution and then a baking soaking wash/rinse then set them up to the tap and run water through them for about 15 mins in each direction including a few distilled water flushes at the end

 

About a month in the loop was clouding in the new clear fluid due to a few missed particles here and there making it's way into the fluid. Only real way I've found that really scrubs the rads clean is to use something like the blitz kit which is essentially a phosphoric acid wash that really etches the surfaces and removes oxidization and any build up. 

 

Since this is minor I wouldn't worry much. 

[airborne spoon]

2 hours ago, W-L said:

You'd be surprised with used rads I ran pastel back in the day and thought I cleaned them super well. I did a vingear solution and then a baking soaking wash/rinse then set them up to the tap and run water through them for about 15 mins in each direction including a few distilled water flushes at the end

 

About a month in the loop was clouding in the new clear fluid due to a few missed particles here and there making it's way into the fluid. Only real way I've found that really scrubs the rads clean is to use something like the blitz kit which is essentially a phosphoric acid wash that really etches the surfaces and removes oxidization and any build up. 

 

Since this is minor I wouldn't worry much. 

I don't know about cleaning with vinegar and baking soda or blitz kit, but i used PBW and that stuff is intense it's what i use to clean out my brew kettle and all homebrewing stuff it is crazy strong and not friendly on the hands either..

But if it was some sort of oxidation then why are my pumps and CPU all still clean and shiny like new? they are all nickel plated like the GPU block and the pumps are alphacool like the GPU block the CPU is bitspower but its all nickel plating so if it was some sort of corrosion wouldn't it appear throughout the entire loop and after only 3 months is odd.

[W-L]

1 hour ago, airborne spoon said:

I don't know about cleaning with vinegar and baking soda or blitz kit, but i used PBW and that stuff is intense it's what i use to clean out my brew kettle and all homebrewing stuff it is crazy strong and not friendly on the hands either..

But if it was some sort of oxidation then why are my pumps and CPU all still clean and shiny like new? they are all nickel plated like the GPU block and the pumps are alphacool like the GPU block the CPU is bitspower but its all nickel plating so if it was some sort of corrosion wouldn't it appear throughout the entire loop and after only 3 months is odd.

In your case I don't believe it's oxidization but probably some build up of some sort in the rads that was remaining or dust particles from the newer components and made it's way out and got caught in the fins of the block. 

[airborne spoon]

3 hours ago, W-L said:

In your case I don't believe it's oxidization but probably some build up of some sort in the rads that was remaining or dust particles from the newer components and made it's way out and got caught in the fins of the block. 

Ok i think we're talking about 2 different things the crap in the fins is mostly particles of plastic from my tube and when i cut them. i'm talking about the black soot looking crap at the top of the block that has a finger smudge through it. Before i ran my finger over it it was dark black and looked like a lighter had been held under it to get that soot look to it.

[W-L]

15 hours ago, airborne spoon said:

Ok i think we're talking about 2 different things the crap in the fins is mostly particles of plastic from my tube and when i cut them. i'm talking about the black soot looking crap at the top of the block that has a finger smudge through it. Before i ran my finger over it it was dark black and looked like a lighter had been held under it to get that soot look to it.

Ah ok, I completely missed that!

 

That looks to be just discoloration of the nickel plating, I've had some occurrence similar to that which is relatively normal, similar with a yellowing of the nickel. In both instances the surfaces were not damaged and were scrubbed clean quite easily. It could also be debris in the loop from manufacturing that has settled out since that area would have fairly turbulent flow. 

 

It is possible though if you have a lot of copper content in your loop, that the copper ions will slowly migrate and deposit themselves onto the surface of the nickel plating. I have an old block that exhibited that issue when I was running pastel fluid way past it's prime just as a test.