Storing a water cooled pc

[chrisnathan]

I'm a out of state college student so I have to store my stuff at storage facility so I'm not sure what to do to keep everything intact. I'm assuming that the storage guys might bang it around a bit so I thinking of draining the loop and removing the video card. Should that be enough?

[prolemur]

Why can't you bring your computer to college?

[extremescouter]

I'm pretty sure he's talking about not being able to get his computer back home from college. How did you get it there in the first place? In general, this is a good guide to follow: 

 

[Ghost]

I would drain the loop because you will want to change the fluid when you come back anyways.

 

Beside's that nothing should go wrong. If its for more than a few years you should change the tubing because the tubing might harden.

 

EDIT: Are you putting this in a storage facility or shipping this? I assumed you were storing it.

[911^NEmeSis]

Yeah the only fears I thing people have mainly are the graphics cards maybe snapping out. A watercooled PC is also pretty heavy. I would pack it all nicely, maybe foam inside and just make sure anything lose and heavy is taken off.

[prolemur]

Yea you don't want your pcie connector on your graphics card to break off.

[airdeano]

make sure a biocide is included to prevent algae growth in a high dose. circulate for complete

distribution, drain loop, remove GPU(s) (if h2o-cooled, use a bypass tube to complete loop)

and store separately because the GPU blocks are heavy, plasti-wrap case completely to seal

out dust and partially insulate temperatures.

 

the main issue for prolong storage is the left-over coolant in system can spawn growth internally

and grow some evil monsters, that might not leave without force.

 

airdeano

[Ghost]

the main issue for prolong storage is the left-over coolant in system can spawn growth internally

and grow some evil monsters, that might not leave without force.

You could fill the loop with helium. As a concept that might work.

 

Make the reservoir the lowest point in the loop and push helium in. It should displace the air inside and of course with the air most of the oxygen would go out so no aerobic organisms. If you put in a couple of packets of silica gel in the reservoir it would get rid of any excess moisture too.

[chrisnathan]

I built it in college and when I go home over the summer I won't be able to keep it in my dorm room or take it with me. So I'll be storing it at a storage facility. It'll probably be for around 3 months. 

[Ghost]

I built it in college and when I go home over the summer I won't be able to keep it in my dorm room or take it with me. So I'll be storing it at a storage facility. It'll probably be for around 3 months. 

Just make sure you have biocide in the loop while it is in storage. Then when you get back change the coolant and tubing.

 

Or you could empty it and chuck some silica gel into the reservoir to absorb any excess moisture so nothing can grow in there, although that would involve buying silica gel so the first option is easier

[chrisnathan]

Just make sure you have biocide in the loop while it is in storage. Then when you get back change the coolant and tubing.

 

Or you could empty it and chuck some silica gel into the reservoir to absorb any excess moisture so nothing can grow in there, although that would involve buying silica gel so the first option is easier

 

Is changing the tubing and coolant really necessary? I mean if I stick a few kill coils in the reservoir and have quick disconnects for the graphics card it should be fine right? I would be changing the coolant 2-3 times a year

[Ghost]

Is changing the tubing and coolant really necessary? I mean if I stick a few kill coils in the reservoir and have quick disconnects for the graphics card it should be fine right? I would be changing the coolant 2-3 times a year

Not necessary, more of a precaution.

 

When you get back make sure all of the fittings are fine, just tug on the tubing to make sure its in securely, and then run your pump for an hour to check there are no issues. These are all precautions, most likely it will be fine.

[FluffyNuggets]

I would just drain the loop and pull the cards out to be safe. Either that or drain the loop and fill the inside of the case with foam so nothing gets shifted around when being moved, especially the cards. 

[AussieEx]

most of this convo appears to be geared at open loop system if I'm using closed loop system eg a closed loop CPU cooler is there anything special i need/should do before putting my rig into long term storage? context am in process of ordering new rig intend to put current one into storage to be used as back/spare or for load to guests.

[Fluxmaven]

On 11/9/2023 at 6:42 AM, AussieEx said:

most of this convo appears to be geared at open loop system if I'm using closed loop system eg a closed loop CPU cooler is there anything special i need/should do before putting my rig into long term storage? context am in process of ordering new rig intend to put current one into storage to be used as back/spare or for load to guests.

Doubt you'll get any replies from the original posters in this thread seeing as how it's from a decade ago...

 

To answer your question though, no you don't need to do anything to prep a closed loop CPU cooler. 

 

Actually to expand on the original discussion, OP really wouldn't have needed to bother doing anything to store the rig for the summer. Draining loops and pulling GPUs is really only needed if you're shipping the rig where it will absolutely get tossed around by the shipping company. The coolant would have likely been totally fine after only 3 months of storage in presumably a cool dark place. If it did need it, they could have flushed and put new coolant in when they got back.