Leak occurred in loop

[smg4life01]

Hey there guys I've just added and changed all the tubing in my loop doing my 6 months maintenance what occurred is a leak was one of the fittings is leaking and think i forgot to put like 1 or 2 screws in the waterblock as i put the 980 ti backplate on it and didn't realise that it needed at the time until now, will be ordered some more fittings over the next few days a long with some coolant as i ran out of the EK Green Coolant which is what i am using, one of the compression ends got damaged during the cleaning process which i'm not sure if that was the cause of the leak as i not using that compression end.

 

If anyone can help me with any ways to troubleshoot this please let me know will be well appreciated.

[W-L]

Hey there guys I've just added and changed all the tubing in my loop doing my 6 months maintenance what occurred is a leak was one of the fittings is leaking and think i forgot to put like 1 or 2 screws in the waterblock as i put the 980 ti backplate on it and didn't realise that it needed at the time until now, will be ordered some more fittings over the next few days a long with some coolant as i ran out of the EK Green Coolant which is what i am using, one of the compression ends got damaged during the cleaning process which i'm not sure if that was the cause of the leak as i not using that compression end.

 

If anyone can help me with any ways to troubleshoot this please let me know will be well appreciated.

 

Do you happen to have a photo, it sounds like you have some bad o-rings that needs replacing if it's the contact between the block and the fitting.

[smg4life01]

Do you happen to have a photo, it sounds like you have some bad o-rings that needs replacing if it's the contact between the block and the fitting.

 

don't know if you can see the gpu block but i think that is because i did not screw in one or two screws in on the gpu but with the fitting i'm not sure theres a pic of the leak but if you cannot see let me know i'll take another.

[W-L]

don't know if you can see the gpu block but i think that is because i did not screw in one or two screws in on the gpu but with the fitting i'm not sure theres a pic of the leak but if you cannot see let me know i'll take another.

 

If you missed a screw when installing the block it wouldn't cause it it leak but cause bad contact to the GPU die or VRM since they come pre-seal and ready to go but I can't really tell where it's leaking. If it's just leaking between the fitting and the reservoir a replacement o-ring for the G1/4 fitting is all that should be needed.

[smg4life01]

If you missed a screw when installing the block it wouldn't cause it it leak but cause bad contact to the GPU die or VRM since they come pre-seal and ready to go but I can't really tell where it's leaking. If it's just leaking between the fitting and the reservoir a replacement o-ring for the G1/4 fitting is all that should be needed.

well for the GPU if you look closely you see that little green bit under the copper part of the block that is where the water is, so i'm not sure if it is cause the screw is missing or something else, but with the reservoir i think the fitting is gone i'm going to try a different fitting with it to see what is going on. also would you know if i can just run distilled water through my loop just to check if it is not leaking or do i need to also use a kill coil

[W-L]

well for the GPU if you look closely you see that little green bit under the copper part of the block that is where the water is, so i'm not sure if it is cause the screw is missing or something else, but with the reservoir i think the fitting is gone i'm going to try a different fitting with it to see what is going on. also would you know if i can just run distilled water through my loop just to check if it is not leaking or do i need to also use a kill coil

 

You can run distilled for a short period of time like a month without silver or kill coils or biocides but not long or you'll start having growth. I'd double check the tightness on the screws that hold on the acetal plate if they are all tight and everything is fine I'd bring it up with EKWB to see if they can give you a replacement.

[Ellis_D]

It's pretty easy to cause a leak if you accidentally jostle a tube too hard (I literally suffered a leak last week while installing new PSU cables).  If the tube becomes unseated from the fitting, even slightly, water can make it's way into the gap and once that happens, fluid dynamics take over and the leak will get progressively worse the longer it goes on.

 

Other than that, it could possibly be leaking between the cooling plate and the acetal top of the waterblock.  This shouldn't be an issue because the screws attaching these two parts are separate from the screws used for attaching the unit to your video card as well as the backplate.  If this is where it's leaking from, either you disassembled the waterblock at some point and put it back together improperly or EKWB is at fault for shipping a faulty unit.If you don't already know where it's leaking from, the only real way to know for sure is to drain and disassemble the entire loop and check every fitting as well as the o-rings on your waterblocks.  It's tedious work but it's necessary to keep your system from leaking.

[smg4life01]

You can run distilled for a short period of time like a month without silver or kill coils or biocides but not long or you'll start having growth. I'd double check the tightness on the screws that hold on the acetal plate if they are all tight and everything is fine I'd bring it up with EKWB to see if they can give you a replacement.

 

I i'm only going to use distilled water to clear through my loop before adding new coolant to it. i will have a check for the screws of the gpu 2moro after i clean out the loop and i'll check it out .

[smg4life01]

It's pretty easy to cause a leak if you accidentally jostle a tube too hard (I literally suffered a leak last week while installing new PSU cables).  If the tube becomes unseated from the fitting, even slightly, water can make it's way into the gap and once that happens, fluid dynamics take over and the leak will get progressively worse the longer it goes on.

 

Other than that, it could possibly be leaking between the cooling plate and the acetal top of the waterblock.  This shouldn't be an issue because the screws attaching these two parts are separate from the screws used for attaching the unit to your video card as well as the backplate.  If this is where it's leaking from, either you disassembled the waterblock at some point and put it back together improperly or EKWB is at fault for shipping a faulty unit.If you don't already know where it's leaking from, the only real way to know for sure is to drain and disassemble the entire loop and check every fitting as well as the o-rings on your waterblocks.  It's tedious work but it's necessary to keep your system from leaking.

 

the gpu leak isn't really a leak but i can see green coolant at that point i pointed out in my other post above and it is only around that spot so i'm not sure if its just the screws that i didn't put in or something else.

[Ellis_D]

the gpu leak isn't really a leak but i can see green coolant at that point i pointed out in my other post above and it is only around that spot so i'm not sure if its just the screws that i didn't put in or something else.

 

Well where did you find the leaked coolant?  You should be able to determine roughly where it's coming from based on where it's puddling.

[smg4life01]

Well where did you find the leaked coolant?  You should be able to determine roughly where it's coming from based on where it's puddling.

 

if your talking about the gpu i can see green coolant where the copper black and the front of the gpu block is it is now leaking but i can see it, for the leak that's coming from a fitting it coming from reservoir in port which comes from the gpu and its dripping so i think it could a an oring fail, tomorrow i'm going to check with another fitting to see if it does the same thing is so means something probably wrong with the res if it doesnt means that oring fail and it should be fine to run for the moment. 

[Ellis_D]

Is there any chance that the fitting leak could have leaked onto the GPU to cause the coolant that's there?

[smg4life01]

Is there any chance that the fitting leak could have leaked onto the GPU to cause the coolant that's there?

well i did drop quite a bit of coolant but most was at the front of the gpu, i'm only seeing the coolant in that part of the gpu no where else 

[Ellis_D]

It could possibly seep into the smaller cracks and crevices from the fitting leak.  I'd still check the o-rings and seal just to be on the safe side regardless.

[smg4life01]

It could possibly seep into the smaller cracks and crevices from the fitting leak.  I'd still check the o-rings and seal just to be on the safe side regardless.

the orings on what? if the gpu then i'm confused haha 

[Ellis_D]

The o-ring used for sealing the waterblock's heat plate and acetal top.  That's the only possible place for a leak to occur apart from the fittings.

[smg4life01]

The o-ring used for sealing the waterblock's heat plate and acetal top.  That's the only possible place for a leak to occur apart from the fittings.

oh ok 

[smg4life01]

The o-ring used for sealing the waterblock's heat plate and acetal top.  That's the only possible place for a leak to occur apart from the fittings.

would you know if i can reuse the coolant that is in my loop already, or do i need a whole new batch i'm almost out of the green coolant and haven't got enough to refill it so was thinking to just put the coolant that is currently in my system back into the bottle.

[smg4life01]

so i took the backplate of my 980 ti turns out there was some coolant under backplate by the screw by the io plate not too sure how it got there but i clean it off with iysopropal alcohol and re attached and screwed down them screw that i missed and refilled now doing some more test to see if anything leaks i change out the fitting from the gpu to res 

[Ellis_D]

So long as the coolant is contaminated with dust, hair, and other junk, you can reuse it.

[smg4life01]

lol the coolant was put right back into the coolant bottle, i manage to sort the issue out, one of the compression fittings i had got damaged when i was cleaning out my loop and i think that is the one i put on and it was creating the leak due to bad o'ring or it failing, with the gpu took the backplate off turns out some of the coolant was on the actual board of the gpu so cleaned. that with alcohol and seems to be working just fine, one thing i'm left with now is one kinked piece of tubing from the gpu to res which i'm probably going to change soon will use the angle fitting on the res instead of the gpu

So long as the coolant is contaminated with dust, hair, and other junk, you can reuse it.