Water Coolant Color

[dmoney1942]

I have an interesting situation and wanted to know if this was normal. I completed my first loop about 3 months ago with all ek items with clear EK tubing and filled it with CLEAR EK coolant. I just happened to look at the reservoir today and it has a turquoise color to it. I have another bottle of EK coolant concentrate if I need to refill the loop. However I do want to figure out why it changed color in the first place. Hopefully It just a reaction to some solder or chemical used in the rads but I want to ask you all if any of you all experience this before. 

[stealth80]

Did you flush the rads before building the loops? What material are the rads and blocks?

[dmoney1942]

14 minutes ago, stealth80 said:

Did you flush the rads before building the loops? What material are the rads and blocks?

Did not flush them out before building the loops. 

 

Rad material:
- Copper fins
- 90% copper tubing (H90)
- Brass chambers
- Aluminum housing

 

CPU Block:

EK-Supremacy EVO with Copper Base

 

GPU Block:

NICKEL-PLATED BASE

At the heart of the SEA HAWK EK is a nickel-plated copper base.

[pagani123]

The Radiators needed to be flushed, that is what's causing the color change. When I flushed my rads for the first time it came out as that color. My best suggestion would be to drain the loop and flush the rads with a hot water and vinegar mixture. 90% water 10% vinegar 

[W-L]

5 minutes ago, dmoney1942 said:

-SNIP-

Are you using a radiator from a H90, those are all aluminum not copper, which I would recommend to avoid since it would make it a mixed metal loop. 

 

As for why the color changes it sounds like your fluid is slightly acidic, if you have any bare copper it will turn the fluid a bluish green, copper sulfate color. I would check using a PH test strips to see if that is the case. 

[dmoney1942]

1 minute ago, Maybach123 said:

The Radiators needed to be flushed, that is what's causing the color change. When I flushed my rads for the first time it came out as that color. My best suggestion would be to drain the loop and flush the rads with a hot water and vinegar mixture. 90% water 10% vinegar 

No problem with draining and flushing my system. I don't have a T fitting installed so that going to be fun but that is a different story all together. You mentioned vinegar, I am assuming white vinegar.

[dmoney1942]

4 minutes ago, W-L said:

Are you using a radiator from a H90, those are all aluminum not copper, which I would recommend to avoid since it would make it a mixed metal loop. 

 

As for why the color changes it sounds like your fluid is slightly acidic, if you have any bare copper it will turn the fluid a bluish green, copper sulfate color. I would check using a PH test strips to see if that is the case. 

ohhhh nooo. It not a rad from the cosair H90. They are EK PE 360 rads. As for the PH test strips, I afraid I do not have access to those.

 

I thinking not flushing the rads when they was installed may have mixed some manufacture chemicals into my block. 

[W-L]

1 minute ago, dmoney1942 said:

ohhhh nooo. It not a rad from the cosair H90. They are EK PE 360 rads. As for the PH test strips, I afraid I do not have access to those.

Ok you should be fine then, try flushing the rads with a diluted vingear solution to clear out the rads and clean out the blocks if they are dirty. You can get PH strips from any pet store or that sell aquatic supplies, another is on Amazon. 

[dmoney1942]

8 minutes ago, W-L said:

Ok you should be fine then, try flushing the rads with a diluted vingear solution to clear out the rads and clean out the blocks if they are dirty. You can get PH strips from any pet store or that sell aquatic supplies, another is on Amazon. 

Thanks for that, I should have flushed them out before installing them. Since they are already installed, can I drain the loop and fill it with an 80/20 mix and let it run overnight. Or is overnight overkill.

 

I am assuming white vinegar from the grocery store and distilled water. 

[W-L]

5 minutes ago, dmoney1942 said:

Thanks for that, I should have flushed them out before installing them. Since they are already installed, can I drain the loop and fill it with an 80/20 mix and let it run overnight.

 

I am assuming white vinegar from the grocery store and distilled water. 

Ideally you don't want to run the nickel block with vinegar EKWB doesn't suggest anything acidic with their nickel plated fittings or blocks. 

[dmoney1942]

1 minute ago, W-L said:

Ideally you don't want to run the nickel block with vinegar EKWB doesn't suggest anything acidic with their nickel plated fittings or blocks. 

Then do I just flush with distilled water. 

[W-L]

3 minutes ago, dmoney1942 said:

Then do I just flush with distilled water. 

It should help remove the worst of it, give it at least a few flushes with distilled, but if it still changes color rapidly with the new fluid it might require a more vigorous cleaning. 

[dmoney1942]

1 minute ago, W-L said:

It should help remove the worst of it, give it at least a few flushes with distilled, but if it still changes color rapidly with the new fluid it might require a more vigorous cleaning. 

Okay thats my plan because it took 3 months for the coolant to change to this blueish color. I will flush the loop with distilled water because i do not want to damage the other parts of the loop with the vinegar. My question is how long to run the pump for each flush. 

 

 

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, dmoney1942 said:

Okay thats my plan because it took 3 months for the coolant to change to this blueish color. I will flush the loop with distilled water because i do not want to damage the other parts of the loop with the vinegar. My question is how long to run the pump for each flush. 

Give it at least a good 10-15 mins to circulate everything around, that should clear out any of the previous fluid after a few rinses. 

[dmoney1942]

2 minutes ago, W-L said:

Give it at least a good 10-15 mins to circulate everything around, that should clear out any of the previous fluid after a few rinses. 

Sounds good, on the way to the store now to get the supplies. Hopefully the couple of flushes will work before I fill it with more coolant because that my last bottle of coolant concentrate. If worst comes to worst, do a more vigorous cleaning mean me taking the rads off and soaking it in a water vinegar mixture or running them on a separate loop thru my pump with the 80/20 mixture. I hope i dont have to do the latter because those rads was a pain in the ass to put in lol. 

[dmoney1942]

4 minutes ago, dmoney1942 said:

Sounds good, on the way to the store now to get the supplies. Hopefully the couple of flushes will work before I fill it with more coolant because that my last bottle of coolant concentrate. If worst comes to worst, do a more vigorous cleaning mean me taking the rads off and soaking it in a water vinegar mixture or running them on a separate loop thru my pump with the 80/20 mixture. I hope i dont have to do the latter because those rads was a pain in the ass to put in lol. 

One last question. In order to drain my loop sans T connector, I need to detach the out of the pump and run the pump until it is almost empty. 

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, dmoney1942 said:

One last question. In order to drain my loop sans T connector, I need to detach the out of the pump and run the pump until it is almost empty. 

As long as the pump still gets fluid you will be ok, you might need to go a flush and fill at the same time where you crack the drain valve open slightly and slowly add more fluid to the res as it empties to displace the old fluid. 

[dmoney1942]

5 minutes ago, W-L said:

As long as the pump still gets fluid you will be ok, you might need to go a flush and fill at the same time where you crack the drain valve open slightly and slowly add more fluid to the res as it empties to displace the old fluid. 

Thats going to be harder for me because I dont have a drain valve, however I understand the method and will try my best with what I got. 

[W-L]

1 minute ago, dmoney1942 said:

Thats going to be harder for me because I dont have a drain valve, however I understand the method and will try my best with what I got. 

Ok it may be a little easier then to manually flush and drain as much as you can, just take your time doing it. 

[dmoney1942]

2 minutes ago, W-L said:

Ok it may be a little easier then to manually flush and drain as much as you can, just take your time doing it. 

Its Saturday and I dont have much to do so I all in. I will have to drain, fill, run, drain, fill, run and repeat. Thanks for the help.