Guys I need some serious help......

[CrysisLegend]

This is the current state of my PC...apparently so much gunk has accumulated on the sides of the tubes when I twisted them and turn them a bit when moving things around it all came loose...it's also been 3 years since I changed the liquid...

 

With all this new gunk that came loose I'm not even sure I should turn the PC on. What can I do to fix this? I'm obviously going to have to take it apart and empty it out. I've heard you can use distilled water as the liquid in your system? I had some Koolance in there before/currently. So does distilled water work? I don't want to have to wait to receive something in the mail. I'm planning on fixing this tomorrow. Can I use the existing tubing or should I replace it? & how should I got about cleaning the gunk built around it? Any info or a resource that can help me would really be great. Might just go get a stock CPU fan tomorrow at the store until this is fixed...

[dizmo]

I thought regularly changing the fluid was part of water loop maintenance?

[Tea1337]

You should never wait that long to change the liquid. Yes distilled water works perfect, but now you need to remove all the blocks and clean them out to ensure they aren't filled with gunk.

[CrysisLegend]

I thought regularly changing the fluid was part of water loop maintenance?

I bought this PC in 3+ years ago. It was prebuild on a custom site for me. I will be building my own PC soon now that I have learned how to within the paste 6 months or so. Before recently I was pretty novice and didn't do any maintenance as I didn't know how to or that I needed to.

Been doing some research tonight but any help would help... <3

You should never wait that long to change the liquid. Yes distilled water works perfect, but now you need to remove all the blocks and clean them out to ensure they aren't filled with gunk.

Yeah I'm sure they are...so I will empty out the system tonight/tomorrow morning. Also as I explained to the poster above I bought this PC & did not build it. I have only gained knowledge of PC building & how to do this stuff recently. This is why I'm doing the maintenance.

Thanks for your advice on distilled water now I know it works & readily available. Should I replace this tubing? It's caked with stuff. Or can I flush the system out with something that will clean it? Thanks for any more input.

[KingDaddyDaniel]

Just cycle distilled water through it for an hour or two

[SImoHayha]

You should clean your entire PC out from dust.  You can use distilled water for water cooling since it's cheap and it works easily. You should just replace the tubing it looks like it's too gunky also if you want color for your tubing just add food dye to the distilled water and get clear tubing Purchase some at any hardware shop. Also don't forget a silver coil or some anti-allege thing to prevent it from growing. 

[Enderman]

Depending on the condition or corrosion on the waterblocks you might have to replace everything in the entire loop. I highly doubt rinsing everything with distilled water will be enough to dissolve solid residue from 3 years.
If you dont clean it properly there may be stuff left in it that could build up again.

[airdeano]

from the condition of the tubing, that really needs to be replaced. doubtful you'll

find an appropriate replacement tomorrow unless you have a PC specialty shop

local.

 

distilled water is the best quick solution. unknown material of the radiator

(copper/aluminum), biocide for algae control.

 

disassembly is required for prolonged lack of maintenance, so for the CPU block

a distilled vinegar after the disassembly.

[CrysisLegend]

You should clean your entire PC out from dust.  You can use distilled water for water cooling since it's cheap and it works easily. You should just replace the tubing it looks like it's too gunky also if you want color for your tubing just add food dye to the distilled water and get clear tubing. Also don't forget a silver coil or some anti-allege thing to prevent it from growing. 

 

Yes the reason this even happened (obviously it was bad to not have changed water) but the reason it got so much worse was because I was inside my PC cleaning dust. I noticed lots of dust collected on the radiator so I removed the fans and cleaned it. Upon doing this the tubing was moved a lot and the gunk got knocked loose =/ Thanks for the advice on the coloring, although I think after replacing this tubing I will be using just distilled water so that I can see more easily next time if it needs to be replaced. Part of the reason I was unaware is the I have BOTH blue cooling liquid and blue piping...=/ & thanks for the info on the silver coil. I seen a lot of videos and had no clue why they have that coil in there....thanks a lot. I'm not even sure if mine has one I'll have to check.

 

Depending on the condition or corrosion on the waterblocks you might have to replace everything in the entire loop. I highly doubt rinsing everything with distilled water will be enough to dissolve solid residue from 3 years.

If you dont clean it properly there may be stuff left in it that could build up again.

Does that mean I should be replacing the pump and the block to my CPU?

 

from the condition of the tubing, that really needs to be replaced. doubtful you'll

find an appropriate replacement tomorrow unless you have a PC specialty shop

local.

 

distilled water is the best quick solution. unknown material of the radiator

(copper/aluminum), biocide for algae control.

 

disassembly is required for prolonged lack of maintenance, so for the CPU block

a distilled vinegar after the disassembly.

Well I don't have any fancy connectors for the tubing to my block or reservoir. The tubing just connects to them and it kept snug by one of those plastic things that you pull tight and cut off the end (sorry I forgot the term for what they are called) So I think as long as I go to home depot or something I should be able to find the exact mm or size or tubing and replace it?

 

I will def be using distilled water, thanks. 

 

Do I need to take the CPU block off? Or can I empty out the water, replace the tubing, and then run water through the system until all the gunk stops coming out? I also don't know what to do for this biocide your talking about.

[Enderman]

Does that mean I should be replacing the pump and the block to my CPU?

Look inside. If after a few hours of cycling distilled water through it it still does not look clean then replace it.

[CrysisLegend]

Look inside. If after a few hours of cycling distilled water through it it still does not look clean then replace it.

Alright, thanks. Luckily I have distilled water in my home tonight so I'm going to get started. I've heard of some people completely removing the cooling system from the computer and somehow connecting it to power outside of the PC to run maintenance. Is this necessary? Or can I just change the fluids with the CPU block still in place and start running the distilled water through it? I don't have any thermal paste with me so I can't remove it tonight. 

[Enderman]

Alright, thanks. Luckily I have distilled water in my home tonight so I'm going to get started. I've heard of some people completely removing the cooling system from the computer and somehow connecting it to power outside of the PC to run maintenance. Is this necessary? Or can I just change the fluids with the CPU block still in place and start running the distilled water through it? I don't have any thermal paste with me so I can't remove it tonight. 

I would not recommend cleaning the loop while having it installed in the PC.

Remove all the components including the pump, then hotwire the PSU to run the pump outside the PC.

[airdeano]

Do I need to take the CPU block off? Or can I empty out the water, replace the tubing, and then run water through the system until all the gunk stops coming out? I also don't know what to do for this biocide your talking about.

 

see the problem is the stuff you don't see (internally inside the CPU block). the

crud buildup on the tubing all passes through the pump, reservoir and CPU block.

that crud is prolly etched into the copper micro fins within the CPU block.

flushing really washes the big stuff, but the tiny problematic area will be neglected.

 

when you heat/cool water in a closed environment, algae over time will accumulate.

the biocide or kill coil prevents this build up of algae. there may be a coil in the

reservoir or in the tubing.

 

 

[CrysisLegend]

see the problem is the stuff you don't see (internally inside the CPU block). the

crud buildup on the tubing all passes through the pump, reservoir and CPU block.

that crud is prolly etched into the copper micro fins within the CPU block.

flushing really washes the big stuff, but the tiny problematic area will be neglected.

 

when you heat/cool water in a closed environment, algae over time will accumulate.

the biocide or kill coil prevents this build up of algae. there may be a coil in the

reservoir or in the tubing.

 

 

Hmm so I can put biocide OR a coil? don't need both? & the biocide is just a liquid I would add to my distilled water? The coil sounds much easier. & I'm going to try flushing this out but I might just buy a whole new cooling system...Maybe one of those AIOs from Corsair. I wonder if they had those back in 2011 when I had this build, because I don't see a reason to have a reservoir unless your cooling CPU + another component. & the AIOs are maintenance free correct?