Water cooling paranoia? 😅

[Captain Matt]

Just got my first water cooled system up and running, but I check it ALL the time for leaks with a flash light. LOL

 

Anyone else like this?

[Budget DIY]

3 minutes ago, Captain Matt said:

Just got my first water cooled system up and running, but I check it ALL the time for leaks with a flash light. LOL

 

Anyone else like this?

Nope, because I've got a side window, PC on my desk, and internal aRGB. No need to act like an ... and run around with flash lights.

[Captain Matt]

21 minutes ago, Budget DIY said:

Nope, because I've got a side window, PC on my desk, and internal aRGB. No need to act like an ... and run around with flash lights.

lol
Go easy on me it's my first time.
I've got a side window too! And all the aRGB + a white led strip.

 

What about when you FIRST started?

[Budget DIY]

1 minute ago, Captain Matt said:

lol
Go easy on me it's my first time.
I've got a side window too! And all the aRGB + a white led strip.

 

What about when you FIRST started?

My first AiO was an coolermaster 240 ML or something like that. REALLY budget stuffs, and people called "leakmaster" instead of "coolermaster". I didn't spot any leaks while unboxing the thing. And I was VERY careful with all the tubes.

 

The case I used, was a HIGHLY modified one. Motherboard flipped around and such. So my GPU would be above my CPU. So if there would be a leak, it wouldn't fall onto any expensive components. Also, IMO, AIO's (or PC related pumps in general), don't produce THAT high of a pressure, so chances of the hoses being blasted off, were very unlikely.

 

When I first started up my PC, I was more worried about my CPU getting detected and whatnot, vs being worried about a leak.

 

With my current components (same hardware, replaced my 240 AiO for a Deepcool 360 gammax or something), 2 new 8 tb HDD's, new 500 gb m.2 and a bunch of fans, I was mostly worried about the aesthetics and cable management. After that, I was anxious about setting that m.2 as boot drive, while also needing to keep data on my previous OS drive/not messing up anything boot related on the old disk. Can't remember being worried whatsoever about leaks.

[Budget DIY]

Oh, I do remember something else I did after the first AiO install. After I installed my OS and all important-to-me software, I found a bunch of .avi/.mpeg/.mkv files, and converted them into .mp4. This took a few hours, which was my "stress test". Wasn't worried about leaks, but I was worried about cooling performance. Wanted to see the max temps I got, and if it indeed took a few minutes to get to an max. temp. Trying to look for different behavior vs air cooling. And also to make sure my temps were as expected/trying to figure out if I had a decent mount.

[Captain Matt]

2 hours ago, Budget DIY said:

My first AiO was an coolermaster 240 ML or something like that. REALLY budget stuffs, and people called "leakmaster" instead of "coolermaster". I didn't spot any leaks while unboxing the thing. And I was VERY careful with all the tubes.

 

The case I used, was a HIGHLY modified one. Motherboard flipped around and such. So my GPU would be above my CPU. So if there would be a leak, it wouldn't fall onto any expensive components. Also, IMO, AIO's (or PC related pumps in general), don't produce THAT high of a pressure, so chances of the hoses being blasted off, were very unlikely.

 

When I first started up my PC, I was more worried about my CPU getting detected and whatnot, vs being worried about a leak.

 

With my current components (same hardware, replaced my 240 AiO for a Deepcool 360 gammax or something), 2 new 8 tb HDD's, new 500 gb m.2 and a bunch of fans, I was mostly worried about the aesthetics and cable management. After that, I was anxious about setting that m.2 as boot drive, while also needing to keep data on my previous OS drive/not messing up anything boot related on the old disk. Can't remember being worried whatsoever about leaks.

I backed up EVERYTHING important with Resilio sync to my 2nd work/backup computer across the room over my local network before going on water. haha

 

And the backup drives are 2x 3TB WD Red in RAID 1. I'm like, as safe as can be haha

[Captain Matt]

1 hour ago, Budget DIY said:

Oh, I do remember something else I did after the first AiO install. After I installed my OS and all important-to-me software, I found a bunch of .avi/.mpeg/.mkv files, and converted them into .mp4. This took a few hours, which was my "stress test". Wasn't worried about leaks, but I was worried about cooling performance. Wanted to see the max temps I got, and if it indeed took a few minutes to get to an max. temp. Trying to look for different behavior vs air cooling. And also to make sure my temps were as expected/trying to figure out if I had a decent mount.

I did a test with Furmark last night. Not crazy long but I'm not even touching 70C on either CPU or GPU. LOL

Radiator is 360mm HW Labs GTS. 1200W of cooling power. Absurd.

[thrasher_565]

On 5/9/2023 at 11:09 AM, Captain Matt said:

I backed up EVERYTHING important with Resilio sync to my 2nd work/backup computer across the room over my local network before going on water. haha

 

And the backup drives are 2x 3TB WD Red in RAID 1. I'm like, as safe as can be haha

rading hdd is bad... i lost my data doing that... the oc failed and would not let me boot in to windows... just a waring.

[Mick Naughty]

Only for the first few minutes filling. After that I never really worry. Not gonna randomly fail on me. Unless I did a poor job of building it. 

[Captain Matt]

20 hours ago, thrasher_565 said:

rading hdd is bad... i lost my data doing that... the oc failed and would not let me boot in to windows... just a waring.

1. I'm not doing OC

2. The RAID drives are separate from the OS

[fonzz1e]

I have my quadro aquasuite setup, if coolant temp pass 39c all led will turn red & starts flashing

 

I also use air leak tester to check once my loop is setup, so now fear on my end

[Captain Matt]

10 hours ago, fonzz1e said:

I have my quadro aquasuite setup, if coolant temp pass 39c all led will turn red & starts flashing

 

I also use air leak tester to check once my loop is setup, so now fear on my end

Past 39 C???? LOL That's overkill bro

[fonzz1e]

11 minutes ago, Captain Matt said:

Past 39 C???? LOL That's overkill bro

tropical climate yo, average indoor ambient for me is 32c

[AnonymousGuy]

On 5/11/2023 at 9:55 AM, Mick Naughty said:

Only for the first few minutes filling. After that I never really worry. Not gonna randomly fail on me. Unless I did a poor job of building it. 

I've had a share of slow leaks.  It's weird shit though like I was swapping a component and a rotary fitting wasn't rotary-ing properly so it worked itself loose.  Or I had too much pump pressure.   Or the tubing got hot (45C) and shifted on the barb a little bit.  Or a GPU gasket being too crushed to seal properly anymore. 

 

I just monitor the reservoir and if it drops more than 1mm every couple weeks I know I need to go digging.  And these are *slow* leaks where they might not even be visible let alone leave a puddle.  Puddle is like an inch of reservoir drop every couple days.

[Captain Matt]

1 hour ago, AnonymousGuy said:

I've had a share of slow leaks.  It's weird shit though like I was swapping a component and a rotary fitting wasn't rotary-ing properly so it worked itself loose.  Or I had too much pump pressure.   Or the tubing got hot (45C) and shifted on the barb a little bit.  Or a GPU gasket being too crushed to seal properly anymore. 

 

I just monitor the reservoir and if it drops more than 1mm every couple weeks I know I need to go digging.  And these are *slow* leaks where they might not even be visible let alone leave a puddle.  Puddle is like an inch of reservoir drop every couple days.

Great add to this thread.

 

I have a custom 3D printed part at the bottom of my reservoir (full details in my upcoming build log... Whenever I get that done)

And I have like 1 drop fall out of there every two days. Only reason is because the epoxy I finished the part with isn't perfectly flat.

Once I put it out and sand it again, we should be 100% perfect.

Tell me more about 45C and tubing though...

My system idles @ 40C and usually gets to 50-55C while gaming.
Are you using hardline? I think the seal isn't as good on hardline.

I'm using Monsoon free center compression fittings and soft tubing (Primochill). I don't think I could loose one of the tubes if I hung the PC from a rope. These things are SOLID.

[AnonymousGuy]

40 minutes ago, Captain Matt said:

Tell me more about 45C and tubing though...

My system idles @ 40C and usually gets to 50-55C while gaming.
Are you using hardline? I think the seal isn't as good on hardline.

Water temperature, not component temperature.   45C+ is where I've seen weird shit start happening to soft (polyurethane aka LRT aka Ultra Clear) tubing where it'll get cloudy and become so soft that it doesn't grip barbs very well and can allow seepage.

 

45C water temperature is noticeably hot to the touch and for me only happens a) because I've had a boo-boo like fans not running b) I've undersized my radiator because I couldn't fit anything else in the case (240 rad dealing with a 3090).

[Captain Matt]

38 minutes ago, AnonymousGuy said:

Water temperature, not component temperature.   45C+ is where I've seen weird shit start happening to soft (polyurethane aka LRT aka Ultra Clear) tubing where it'll get cloudy and become so soft that it doesn't grip barbs very well and can allow seepage.

 

45C water temperature is noticeably hot to the touch and for me only happens a) because I've had a boo-boo like fans not running b) I've undersized my radiator because I couldn't fit anything else in the case (240 rad dealing with a 3090).

What rad is it exactly?
My HW Labs Nemesis GTS 360mm is rated for 1200W TDP which is RIDICULOUS.
They're wicked efficient.

[AnonymousGuy]

On 5/13/2023 at 7:10 PM, Captain Matt said:

What rad is it exactly?
My HW Labs Nemesis GTS 360mm is rated for 1200W TDP which is RIDICULOUS.
They're wicked efficient.

I think it is HW Labs 50mm thick 240mm rad but I'd have to check.  It was basically the thickest rad that I could fit in the case without hitting the motherboard edge, paired with the best fans on the market Noctua's A12 whatever ones.  Their TDP ratings are based on like 20C air temp and tolerating a 25C temperature delta.

 

This was the only way I could make this much heat load work against a 240mm rad.  Thing is like a furnace when it's loaded down.  I also had to do a reverse flow deal where cool air comes in from the top and out the front...cause the front is the only place this case holds a rad.