Watercooling Difficulties Rust/Oxidization

[sazyario]

Hello All,

My first loop I ended up destroying my nickle blocks as I put a silver kill coil in the loop.
I replaced the blocks and fittings, but kept the rads.

Now I'm on my 2nd loop and I'm tearing it apart for a dead mobo. Everything is stained blue. I believe that means my copper rads have oxidized now too.
I have alphacool rads. A 420mm UT60 and a 240mm ST30. I need advise...

Do I replace all of my equipment and start with all brand new?

I don't want to open my Titan X water block as it'll void the warranty. However while the nickle looks fine inside of the CPU block, there is what looks like rust. Also, since I use EK White acetal I can see things are stained blue. I have not yet opened the pump up as I have more to disassemble at this point.

I need help figuring out how much my 2nd ruined loop is going to cost to fix....

Thanks.

[Belgarathian]

The best option is to replace all loop components... As for trying to fix it... Throw out the tubing, and replace what you can. You'll need to acid wash the rads, cpu, and gpu blocks. 

 

For future reference, try to keep your loops with similar materials and avoid mixing brands. 

[sazyario]

The best option is to replace all loop components... As for trying to fix it... Throw out the tubing, and replace what you can. You'll need to acid wash the rads, cpu, and gpu blocks. 

 

For future reference, try to keep your loops with similar materials and avoid mixing brands. 

 

Well, this is where I fall into the trap of following YouTubers like Jay. "Kill Coil + Distilled Water" is what he says, but never mentions not to use Nickle plated blocks...

Thats going to be super expensive...

What kind of acid to try and wash? (Type & Percentage?) Will it harm the nickle plating in the blocks?

[W-L]

Well, this is where I fall into the trap of following YouTubers like Jay. "Kill Coil + Distilled Water" is what he says, but never mentions not to use Nickle plated blocks...

Thats going to be super expensive...

What kind of acid to try and wash? (Type & Percentage?) Will it harm the nickle plating in the blocks?

 

Don't use nickel and silver coils they are borderline dis-similar metals and can corrode away or flake off the nickel plating, as suggest using non abrasive metal polish to clean out the blocks if your best bet, do not use acid washes on it as suggest by EK.

 

In terms of copper oxidation as long as you don't have green copper oxide in the rads your not going to have a problem.

[sazyario]

Don't use nickel and silver coils they are borderline dis-similar metals and can corrode away or flake off the nickel plating, as suggest using non abrasive metal polish to clean out the blocks if your best bet, do not use acid washes on it as suggest by EK.

 

In terms of copper oxidation as long as you don't have green copper oxide in the rads your not going to have a problem.

 

So brasso and a soft tooth brush to clean the CPU & gpu blocks?

The insides of my white tubes and white acetal blocks is for sure blue. So... just rinse out the rads?

I also found orange tarnish on the steel/metal interior of my D5, do I toss that or try brasso on it like the blocks?

[W-L]

So brasso and a soft tooth brush to clean the gpu blocks?

The insides of my white tubes and white acetal blocks is for sure blue. So... just rinse out the rads?

I also found orange tarnish on the steel/metal interior of my D5, do I toss that or try brasso on it like the blocks?

 

As long as there is not abrasive in it then it will work, as for the blue that would be copper sulfate which is similar to what PT basically is, if your going for colored fluids or clear it may stain into those fluids so you will need to vigorously clean everything out and get new tubes. Rinsing the rads with a vingear and water solution is a good idea. As for the D5 they use stainless so just wiping or giving it a light polish would hurt it, just note to clean it very well afterwards and to not damage that ceramic bearing. 

[sazyario]

As long as there is not abrasive in it then it will work, as for the blue that would be copper sulfate which is similar to what PT basically is, if your going for colored fluids or clear it may stain into those fluids so you will need to vigorously clean everything out and get new tubes. Rinsing the rads with a vingear and water solution is a good idea. As for the D5 they use stainless so just wiping or giving it a light polish would hurt it, just note to clean it very well afterwards and to not damage that ceramic bearing. 

If the rust on the blocks ate through the nickle into the copper does that warrant tossing away?

Or as long as I clean it as well as I can will the exposed copper be fine?

I tossed the silver kill coil away after the V1 loop incident. So my rads & pump did have exposure to the silver. Does that change anything?

[Belgarathian]

Don't use nickel and silver coils they are borderline dis-similar metals and can corrode away or flake off the nickel plating, as suggest using non abrasive metal polish to clean out the blocks if your best bet, do not use acid washes on it as suggest by EK.

 

In terms of copper oxidation as long as you don't have green copper oxide in the rads your not going to have a problem.

 

 

As long as there is not abrasive in it then it will work, as for the blue that would be copper sulfate which is similar to what PT basically is, if your going for colored fluids or clear it may stain into those fluids so you will need to vigorously clean everything out and get new tubes. Rinsing the rads with a vingear and water solution is a good idea. As for the D5 they use stainless so just wiping or giving it a light polish would hurt it, just note to clean it very well afterwards and to not damage that ceramic bearing. 

 

What this guy has said. 

[Belgarathian]

If the rust on the blocks ate through the nickle into the copper does that warrant tossing away?

Or as long as I clean it as well as I can will the exposed copper be fine?

I tossed the silver kill coil away after the V1 loop incident. So my rads & pump did have exposure to the silver. Does that change anything?

 

The rads are likely brass or copper. When you wash them, does anything come out? If not then you're likely to be okay. As mentioned above, a vinegar wash would help. You'll want to flush everything out extremely well. 

 

As for rust eating your block... IMO that would warrant tossing, but it's up to you. 

[W-L]

If the rust on the blocks ate through the nickle into the copper does that warrant tossing away?

Or as long as I clean it as well as I can will the exposed copper be fine?

I tossed the silver kill coil away after the V1 loop incident. So my rads & pump did have exposure to the silver. Does that change anything?

 

If the nickel plating has flaked off or has been eaten through it will still work as a block for cooling but aesthetically it will not look good, and have the possibly that some of that nickel flake off later on so checking to make sure it flake or come off easily is a good idea. If there is very serve pitting and flaking however it might be a good idea to look into replacing it.

[Benji_w]

The best option is to replace all loop components... As for trying to fix it... Throw out the tubing, and replace what you can. You'll need to acid wash the rads, cpu, and gpu blocks. 

 

For future reference, try to keep your loops with similar materials and avoid mixing brands. 

 

You can mix brands and matericals perfectly fine, I have copper and nickel plated copper in my loop with acrylic tops on some of them too... Also do not use Silver or Acid on nickel plated copper blocks, it will destroy them.

 

If the nickel plating has flaked off or has been eaten through it will still work as a block for cooling but aesthetically it will not look good, and have the possibly that some of that nickel flake off later on so checking to make sure it flake or come off easily is a good idea. If there is very serve pitting and flaking however it might be a good idea to look into replacing it.

 

See if EKWB or anyone can take your blocks and re-dip them to replace the nickel, worth a shot.

 

The rads are likely brass or copper. When you wash them, does anything come out? If not then you're likely to be okay. As mentioned above, a vinegar wash would help. You'll want to flush everything out extremely well. 

 

As for rust eating your block... IMO that would warrant tossing, but it's up to you. 

 

Contact EK before throwing out the parts, they might be able to either advise you on getting the blocks stripped or salvaged. EK customer service is quite good so giving them an email would be beneficial in the long run and might save you money.