How often to change liquid/tubing

[PhantomXman]

I usually have been doing once a year but i know this is a heated debate with being saying once a month, every 3 months, 6 months and so on. But I want an honest opinion of how often i should clean my loop. Which just means completely cleaning and flushing everything then replacing liquid and tubing if necessary. I am water cooling an i7 4770k at 4.4 ghz 1.221 volts with idle temps about high 30's 37-38c also with a 1080ti sitting around same temp. I am not sure exactly all the info needed to know how often it should be done so let me know what i forgot because I know I did. I just want to know if i can do about once a year or go beyond that. since everyone i ask has widely different answers. 

[Bananasplit_00]

imma replace my fluid whenever i see something going bad, like thermals or whatever, or the tubeing looks worn or something or there is buildup in the blocks or something. i personally have no idea so im just going off what i feel shoud be ok

[PhantomXman]

10 minutes ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

imma replace my fluid whenever i see something going bad, like thermals or whatever, or the tubeing looks worn or something or there is buildup in the blocks or something. i personally have no idea so im just going off what i feel shoud be ok

i feel the same way mostly but i am curious how people tell if they got gunk buildup somewhere. i have had same rad, fittings, cpu block, reservoir, and pump since late 2014. gpu block just recently got like 2 months ago. but nothing has showed up yet at least not that i am aware of

[For Science!]

Depends largely on your coolant and tubing. But with modern coolants with correct formulations, the fluid should remain active for at least a year. Tubing depends largely on the material so hard to say (and its mostly a question of looks in the case of tubing).

[PhantomXman]

the tubing looks fine to me i use mayhems red pastel coolant which is a newer version that has a lot less issues. and the tubbing is primoflex advanced lrt tubing clear. it will have been a year since i did a complete flush and new liquid and tubing in march. but as you said it is so hard to tell. I am no ocd like alot of people i want to have to drain it as little as i have to you know.

5 minutes ago, For Science! said:

Depends largely on your coolant and tubing. But with modern coolants with correct formulations, the fluid should remain active for at least a year. Tubing depends largely on the material so hard to say (and its mostly a question of looks in the case of tubing).

 

[tarfeef101]

Basically all hard tubing can be there for years and have no issues.

soft tubing maybe every year or so to prevent too much plasticizer from leeching.

Coolants:
no personal experience with the pre-mixed stuff like pastel, vue, etc, but probably every 6 months? 
for distilled water, as long as you have a corrosion/algae inhibitor, over a year even is fine. seen ppl go over 2 with no issues. so if you want to tinker, top up, or notice buildup, clean it then, otherwise just let it run

[PhantomXman]

4 minutes ago, tarfeef101 said:

Basically all hard tubing can be there for years and have no issues.

soft tubing maybe every year or so to prevent too much plasticizer from leeching.

Coolants:
no personal experience with the pre-mixed stuff like pastel, vue, etc, but probably every 6 months? 
for distilled water, as long as you have a corrosion/algae inhibitor, over a year even is fine. seen ppl go over 2 with no issues. so if you want to tinker, top up, or notice buildup, clean it then, otherwise just let it run

I have soft tubing. I have noticed no buildup or gunk at all. I don't replace liquid every 6 months I usually just wait a year. my first time every i waited 2 with no issues it just took a bit longer to clean. so hopefully i will be good with sticking to waiting about a year maybe alittle longer than a year and be fine. mayhems new coolant has been said to really be better about not breaking down as much or as quickly especially red specifically and also no more discoloration.