Corsair H100i using only distilled water

[OrosMannetjie69]

Good day

I bought an old PC from a friend with an I7 4790k and the Corsair H100i AIO was not performing well at all and the CPU temps were running 80 degrees Celsius upwards when idling (it is about 7 years old) and thus I decided to drain it. Even my old stock Intel cooler runs the CPU at 30 degrees at idle and about 80 when playing CS:GO. My question now is can I use only distilled water with NO ADDITIVES OF ANY SORT as a replacement for the coolant? I can't really afford coolant as it is extremely expensive in South Africa and any biocides are basically non existent here.

Any help would be appreciated thank you.

[lieder1987]

Those devices are never meant to be emptied and refilled. I would be very wary about doing so because there is a good chance for system damage.

The 4790K is hot so I doubt the stock cooler would perform that good on it.

[NorKris]

38 minutes ago, OrosMannetjie69 said:

can I use only distilled water with NO ADDITIVES OF ANY SORT as a replacement for the coolant? I can't really afford coolant as it is extremely

no, and mixed metals is the reason. might work for 1-3 years tho

 

but if ur desperate, i would go for it.

[Levent]

Even tap water can work if all you need the device to work for a year. I believe some common household materials can be used as biocide BUT I too just filled my PF120 with straight tap water and it worked fine before I decided to fuck with it further.

[NorKris]

5 minutes ago, Levent said:

Even tap water can work if all you need the device to work for a year.

there is alot of "sh1t" in tap water.. depending on where on the spinning ball u are ofc 

[Levent]

Just now, NorKris said:

there is alot of "sh1t" in tap water.. depending on where on the spinning ball u are ofc 

True, if I cared I could have distilled it or bought a liter of distilled water.

[LIGISTX]

49 minutes ago, OrosMannetjie69 said:

Good day

I bought an old PC from a friend with an I7 4790k and the Corsair H100i AIO was not performing well at all and the CPU temps were running 80 degrees Celsius upwards when idling (it is about 7 years old) and thus I decided to drain it. Even my old stock Intel cooler runs the CPU at 30 degrees at idle and about 80 when playing CS:GO. My question now is can I use only distilled water with NO ADDITIVES OF ANY SORT as a replacement for the coolant? I can't really afford coolant as it is extremely expensive in South Africa and any biocides are basically non existent here.

Any help would be appreciated thank you.

If it used a copper cold plate and aluminum radiator, your in for a really bad time. 
 

Coolent was almost certainly not the issue, that high of an idle temp would indicate a bad mount or lacking thermal paste. 
 

You can use antifreeze, it usually has additives to reduce mixed metal corrosion. 

[NorKris]

8 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

 

Coolent was almost certainly not the issue, that high of an idle temp would indicate a bad mount or lacking thermal paste. 

how can you conclude this?

[LIGISTX]

6 minutes ago, NorKris said:

how can you conclude this?

Because 80c at idle isn’t possible with a correct mount. Even if the fluid is low, assuming the air isn’t in the block and is in the rad (which is why the radiator should always at least partially be at a higher elevation then the block) the pump will still be pumping fluid.

 

80c at idle indicates a bad mount or no thermal paste. The nest question that is worth asking would be how long does it take to get to 80c at idle. If it is instantly 80c when you turn it on, it’s 100% a bad mount of bad TIM, if it takes many minutes and slowly climbed to 80, it could be a clogged pump, but those Asatek AIO’s don’t typically get clogged… nothing is going to grow in that fluid. 

[NorKris]

2 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

If it is instantly 80c when you turn it on, it’s 100% a bad mount of bad TIM, if it takes many minutes and slowly climbed to 80, 

truue

 

3 minutes ago, LIGISTX said:

Because 80c at idle isn’t possible with a correct mount. 

False. i have seen AIO¨s so empty that temps go to 100 idle. and this is a 10year old cooler, lack of fluid is suspect nr 1    or blocked  or both 

[GuiltySpark_]

So anyway... 

 

If this is an old H100i, the pump is probably just dead. 

[OrosMannetjie69]

3 hours ago, NorKris said:

no, and mixed metals is the reason. might work for 1-3 years tho

 

but if ur desperate, i would go for it.

I am not entirely desperate for the cooler to go on this particular CPU as I do have an extra air cooler but I just don't want the cooler to go to waste. I got it for dirt cheap so if it does break in a year or 2 it would have served it's purpose.

 

Thanks for the reply and advice I appreciate it very much

[OrosMannetjie69]

4 hours ago, lieder1987 said:

Those devices are never meant to be emptied and refilled. I would be very wary about doing so because there is a good chance for system damage.

The 4790K is hot so I doubt the stock cooler would perform that good on it.

Although I know they weren't designed to be able to change the coolant I've seen a few videos where people do it successfully on this particular cooler due to the fact that it forms like bacteria and stuff over the years.

Thanks for the reply though I will take into consideration that the 4790k does run hot and Chuck an old corsair air cooler on there

[OrosMannetjie69]

3 hours ago, LIGISTX said:

Because 80c at idle isn’t possible with a correct mount. Even if the fluid is low, assuming the air isn’t in the block and is in the rad (which is why the radiator should always at least partially be at a higher elevation then the block) the pump will still be pumping fluid.

 

80c at idle indicates a bad mount or no thermal paste. The nest question that is worth asking would be how long does it take to get to 80c at idle. If it is instantly 80c when you turn it on, it’s 100% a bad mount of bad TIM, if it takes many minutes and slowly climbed to 80, it could be a clogged pump, but those Asatek AIO’s don’t typically get clogged… nothing is going to grow in that fluid. 

It doesn't instantly jump to 80 it usually takes around 10 minutes so I do think it is the cooler that is somehow the problem whether it be the coolant or the pump.

 

I also remounted it quite a few times and had a decent amount of thermal paste so I also don't believe it's the mounting that was the problem.

[OrosMannetjie69]

3 hours ago, GuiltySpark_ said:

So anyway... 

 

If this is an old H100i, the pump is probably just dead. 

Is there any way to know the pump is dead for sure without trying to feel vibrations? Cause the BIOS still reports an RPM of about 2500 for the cpu cooler which according to a few people on the interwebs means the pump is in fact functioning

[LIGISTX]

42 minutes ago, OrosMannetjie69 said:

Is there any way to know the pump is dead for sure without trying to feel vibrations? Cause the BIOS still reports an RPM of about 2500 for the cpu cooler which according to a few people on the interwebs means the pump is in fact functioning

If its reporting an RPM, it should be working.

 

Did you take apart the cold plate and clean it? Its possible the fins are gunked up which would stop the flow.

[OrosMannetjie69]

20 hours ago, LIGISTX said:

If its reporting an RPM, it should be working.

 

Did you take apart the cold plate and clean it? Its possible the fins are gunked up which would stop the flow.

I did indeed and am currently cleaning it out. Unfortunately some of the coolant then came out which is when I decided to just entirely flush it. I have now acquired Distilled water and am going to try to refill the cooler this weekend when I have better resources.

 

I will report my results.