noob water cooling question - mix and match parts?

[Kalm_Traveler]

I think the answer to this is already obvious but wanted to check with you guys who know about it since I have never done a custom open loop before...

 

I want to use Bitspower's acrylic block for the Titan V because it seems more robust than the EK block, but for ease of putting a kit together wanted to get everything else from EK.

 

Since the block is acrylic I don't need to worry about any issues mixing parts like this right? IE that would only be a problem if mixing metals like copper parts + aluminum parts?

 

Thanks and I apologize for such a noob question but better safe than sorry.

[AngryBeaver]

Make sure not to use a coolant with Ethylene Glycol as it will make the acrylic crack and leak after time.

[W-L]

22 minutes ago, Kalm_Traveler1 said:

I think the answer to this is already obvious but wanted to check with you guys who know about it since I have never done a custom open loop before...

 

I want to use Bitspower's acrylic block for the Titan V because it seems more robust than the EK block, but for ease of putting a kit together wanted to get everything else from EK.

 

Since the block is acrylic I don't need to worry about any issues mixing parts like this right? IE that would only be a problem if mixing metals like copper parts + aluminum parts?

 

Thanks and I apologize for such a noob question but better safe than sorry.

 

16 minutes ago, AngryBeaver said:

Make sure not to use a coolant with Ethylene Glycol as it will make the acrylic crack and leak after time.

Ethylene glycol and acrylic aren’t an issue together it’s PETG that doesn’t play well with ethylene glycol. 

[AngryBeaver]

9 minutes ago, W-L said:

 

Ethylene glycol and acrylic aren’t an issue together it’s PETG that doesn’t play well with ethylene glycol. 

Acrylic will stiffen and crack from exposure to alcohol. Ethylene glycol has alcohol in it. Acrylic and PETG both react badly to it and so do some types of tubing.

 

I mention this because some people use regular car coolant and some of the other pc water cooling products add these to them to lower the freeze point.

 

Alcohol damages the polymer chains that both of these solutions are made of.

 

"If a solvent causes an amorphous polymer to craze, this is because it diffuses into its surface without instantly dissolving it. The surface tries to swell, but can only do so perpendicular to the surface, as the polymer chains are still stuck in the glassy network of the substrate.

 

The polymer chains end up oriented towards the surface, thereby weakening the structure. When the solvent dries off again, the chains adhere to each other again, but cannot reentangle in time. The surface has become thicker now, but as it is still the same amount of polymer, the additional volume is made up by the cracks and crazes appearing in it."

[W-L]

2 minutes ago, AngryBeaver said:

Acrylic will stiffen and crack from exposure to alcohol. Ethylene glycol has alcohol in it. Acrylic and PETG both react badly to it and so do some types of tubing.

 

I mention this because some people use regular car coolant and some of the other pc water cooling products add these to them to lower the freeze point.

A good majority of watercooling coolants are still ethylene or propylene glycol based such as Mayhems XT-1 Nuke, and it depends on the alcohol. Isopropyl has pretty immediate negative effects but even just aging will cause plastics such as acrylic to stiffen overtime 

[AngryBeaver]

5 minutes ago, W-L said:

A good majority of watercooling coolants are still ethylene or propylene glycol based such as Mayhems XT-1 Nuke, and it depends on the alcohol. Isopropyl has pretty immediate negative effects but even just aging will cause plastics such as acrylic to stiffen overtime 

For the record I mentioned this because I had an older machine that ran Swiftech Hydrx... It ran for maybe 18 months without issues , but when I went to do my yearly loop drain and maintenance I noticed my Acrylic Res was cracked to hell and on the point of leaking at any moment.

 

I immediately did some research to find the cause and came to the conclusion it was the Hydrx and the glycol in it.