Flush radiator

[SmilesRising]

im preparing my first watercooling loop and i heard that you should flush your radiator before putting it in your loop, how do i do that? do i just put tap water in the rad and shake it around a few times and then im done or what should i do? 

[knightslugger]

6 minutes ago, smiles rising said:

im preparing my first watercooling loop and i heard that you should flush your radiator before putting it in your loop, how do i do that? do i just put tap water in the rad and shake it around a few times and then im done or what should i do? 

NO TAP WATER! do not shake!

 

Use distilled water and let gravity flow through your rad.

 

Flushing a rad is to remove any fine particulates that may have been introduced during manufacturing, assembly, and/or shipping.

[SmilesRising]

2 minutes ago, knightslugger said:

NO TAP WATER! do not shake!

 

Use distilled water and let gravity flow through your rad.

 

Flushing a rad is to remove any fine particulates that may have been introduced during manufacturing, assembly, and/or shipping.

okay, so distilled water and no shake shake.. so i just pour it into it and just leave it there for a while?

[knightslugger]

12 minutes ago, smiles rising said:

okay, so distilled water and no shake shake.. so i just pour it into it and just leave it there for a while?

pour it in, let it FLOW. it would be better if you could put some power behind it.

[AnonymousGuy]

 

Then do a final rinse with distilled water.  Squeaky clean internals, only requirement of a small submersible fountain pump sold at any hardware store.

[SmilesRising]

1 hour ago, AnonymousGuy said:

 

Then do a final rinse with distilled water.  Squeaky clean internals, only requirement of a small submersible fountain pump sold at any hardware store.

i might have an old aquarium pump laying around i could maybe use that.. but is it a must to flush the rad?

[AnonymousGuy]

19 minutes ago, smiles rising said:

i might have an old aquarium pump laying around i could maybe use that.. but is it a must to flush the rad?

Yes.  Even higher quality rads that are "preflushed" at the factory usually will still kick out gunk from the manufacturing process that clogs blocks and screws up the fluid chemistry.  You  can leave a pump running hot water through the rad for 30 minutes, then flowing the other direction, and it'll completely clean the rad out.  Couple distilled water flushes and it's right as rain.

[W-L]

4 hours ago, smiles rising said:

okay, so distilled water and no shake shake.. so i just pour it into it and just leave it there for a while?

It's not a problem to use tap water just be sure to do a few final rinses with distilled to remove any minerals or contaminates from the tap water at the end. Personally I just hook my rads up to low pressure mains tap water and flush it out in both directions to ensure nothing is left inside. It's not a bad idea to flush and clean it vigorously. 

[SmilesRising]

okay, ill flush it the first thing tommorow morning

[SmilesRising]

18 hours ago, W-L said:

It's not a problem to use tap water just be sure to do a few final rinses with distilled to remove any minerals or contaminates from the tap water at the end. Personally I just hook my rads up to low pressure mains tap water and flush it out in both directions to ensure nothing is left inside. It's not a bad idea to flush and clean it vigorously. 

so i put tap water in it and shake it around a few times, pour the water out and repeat this a few times then maybe do this 2-3 times with distilled and i should be alright?

[JDMFTW]

I purchased EK stuff they say you dont even have to flush the rads as they already do that for inspection anyway. I have yet to see any issues 5 months later. And ive had the system apart for upgrades a few times now.

distilled water is cheap get a gallon run alittle bit through it call it done.

[W-L]

1 hour ago, smiles rising said:

so i put tap water in it and shake it around a few times, pour the water out and repeat this a few times then maybe do this 2-3 times with distilled and i should be alright?

Yes that's good I would do it half a dozen times at least and give it another few good rinses with distilled to ensure nothing is left. 

[SmilesRising]

57 minutes ago, JDMFTW said:

I purchased EK stuff they say you dont even have to flush the rads as they already do that for inspection anyway. I have yet to see any issues 5 months later. And ive had the system apart for upgrades a few times now.

distilled water is cheap get a gallon run alittle bit through it call it done.

i have 1L of distilled water at home. and im going to flush it even if EK say i dont need to. better safe than sorry