Radiator Sprung A Leak (Full Room Loop)

[ninbura]

Brief history  - about 5 months ago I decided to replicate Linus's whole room watercooling experiment while trying to avoid the issues he ran into (corrosion, using copper in target room, correct head pressure). The Idea always fascinated me for multiple reasons, it gets unreasonably hot in my room / I do a lot of audio recording so by removing radiators and thus fans I thought I could get things a lot quieter. It has largely been successful, not nearly as hot in my room and close to dead silent after eliminating a few other noise sources. It isn't all rainbows though, I learned a lot while putting everything together, and could have done several things better. Really I only needed 2 radiators and 2 pumps, but at the time I went with 4 radiators and 3 pumps, there is some sag in my tubing, and a few other "mistakes". But at the end of the day flow rate is great, system temps are great, everything more or less went according to plan. The reason I say all of this is you may be inclined to point out "problems" you have with the system, but guys everything has been working almost flawlessly, so forgive me if I dismiss certain allegations as I have already received many that I know at this point to be untrue. That being said, spitball all you want, criticism I haven't heard yet helps me improve the system and myself. Now that you are more or less filled in on the situation leading up to this point lets get to the issue.

The PSU went out on my secondary PC last week so I shut everything down, turned off the loop, removed the system from the loop using the quick disconnect fittings, hooked only my main PC back up to the loop, and then turned the loop and my main PC back on again. I decided before I start replacing the old PSU I'd run to the grocery store to grab a few things real quick, but when I returned I head very loud water noises coming from my main computer. I quickly noticed that the reservoir in that system (which I use to bleed that loop when disconnected from the main loop) was almost empty and my water blocks where littered with air bubbles. I shut the PC down as quickly as possible and started searching for any leaks - nothing leaking in the computer, no connections in my room outside of the PC leaking, run downstairs, no connections leaking in the closet I run some tubing / piping through. Finally I get to the room where my pumps and radiators are and I shut down the system. As I start to examine things I notice water dripping from the second radiator in, I start searching for any connections and tubing above the radiator to see if I can spot something leaking, nothing. I check every connection and all the tubing in the room, nothing. Turns out it was just straight up the radiator leaking which seems pretty abnormal to me.

There is clearly a reason this would occur after removing one of my systems from the loop, without the water running through the additional blocks and right angle fittings there should be more pressure on the components still in the loop (I think?). But correct me if I'm wrong, wouldn't the soft tubing before the radiator give or break before the copper tubing in the radiator? Surely it is rated for a higher PSI than the soft tubing... And just to mention real quick, I ran the loop for days without any systems hooked up to it back when I was setting this up. And this was with the pumps at full power, later down the line I eventually got some speed controllers because the flow rate was unreal. So really my best guess is that I just have a defective radiator and need to get it replaced, but could I be missing something?

 

Anyways I was just hoping someone could confirm or deny my assumptions. Funny enough, I've been needing to clean the loop anyways, it's been months and I have some pipe sealant / calk trapped in some of my water blocks (maybe there was some in the radiator and that somehow caused this?). Plus I shouldn't see any degradation in performance bypassing one of the radiators, and I can remove one of the pumps from the loop while I'm at it.  Although I wish my reason for maintenance wasn't a leak.

Some photos of the loop when running to give you an idea:

Leak:

[Domifi]

From what you are saying I have to agree: this seems to be just a faulty radiator, nothing else.

Btw, your setup is really awesome. I love how unreasonably overpowered, but well executed it is. I like it.

[ninbura]

2 hours ago, Domifi said:

From what you are saying I have to agree: this seems to be just a faulty radiator, nothing else.

Btw, your setup is really awesome. I love how unreasonably overpowered, but well executed it is. I like it.

Thanks!

Hoping that is the case, one thing I learned while building it was that I didn't really understand anything about watercooling before then. That's why I thought I'd ask, might be overlooking something.

[Mavflight09]

20 hours ago, TheAgnda said:

Thanks!

Hoping that is the case, one thing I learned while building it was that I didn't really understand anything about watercooling before then. That's why I thought I'd ask, might be overlooking something.

Any reason you didn't use a car radiator?

 

I know most car radiators are aluminum, but you could just use an aluminum block to match.

 

I was thinking about doing something like this because of my recent issues with my aio.

[ninbura]

So I got everything working again by simply bypassing the radiator with the leak. Seeing as I was already doing maintenance I took the liberty to clean out my water blocks /reservoirs, remove one pump from the system, and dust off the radiators. 

My temps are actually better, but you'd expect this after cleaning everything, especially since there was thread sealant gumming up the blocks. This confirms I have no need for 4x560mm radiators (no duh), and I was right about only needing 1-2 PMP-500 pumps.

Hopefully the leak was a one time thing and these rads don't just suck.

[ninbura]

On 7/21/2018 at 11:33 AM, Mavflight09 said:

Any reason you didn't use a car radiator?

 

I know most car radiators are aluminum, but you could just use an aluminum block to match.

 

I was thinking about doing something like this because of my recent issues with my aio.

I've always thought that using some sort of industrial pump, radiator, and a box fan would have been much more effective (not to mention cheaper) up to this point.

But after this whole ordeal I realize the convenience of having such a modular system. With 2 pumps in the system if one goes out everything should keep running, and since I have another one on hand I can very easily replace it in that scenario. And as I just experienced, if a radiator springs a leak I can simply bypass it with no degradation to performance.

 

Doesn't get much more convenient than that, I may have accidentally built a full proof system with minimal down time. That being said if I could go back I would go with 3 rads, not four. Still overkill but that way I would never see a performance dip even if one goes out and if I decide to add another system or two. 

[AnonymousGuy]

Probably a defective radiator.  I would suggest adding leak sensors in strategic locations.  Maybe a pressure gauge too since that can also warn you if you have blocks clogging (pressure goes up) or completely failure (pressure goes to zero).

 

Quote

I've always thought that using some sort of industrial pump, radiator, and a box fan would have been much more effective (not to mention cheaper) up to this point.
 

Yes.  I'm probably going to take out my 3x3x140mm radiator from the loop and let the 20"x20" be the sole radiator just to remove restriction from the line, regain some floor space, and probably save a bit on electricity costs (running 9 fans ain't cheap).

 

I think I mentioned in an earlier thread of yours....use heat exchangers.  Computers on one side, the whole-room loop on the other side.  You can take the whole room loop offline and the heatexchanger will offer enough thermal mass to prevent computer overheating for a while, because the desktop loop is still live.  You'll have much lower pressures on both sides too, limited chance for loop contamination, etc.  Linus' whole-room debacle wouldn't have been an issue if he used heat exchangers (for sure he wouldn't have ruined those watercooling components with corrosion and algae).

[ninbura]

1 hour ago, AnonymousGuy said:

Probably a defective radiator.  I would suggest adding leak sensors in strategic locations.  Maybe a pressure gauge too since that can also warn you if you have blocks clogging (pressure goes up) or completely failure (pressure goes to zero).

 

Yes.  I'm probably going to take out my 3x3x140mm radiator from the loop and let the 20"x20" be the sole radiator just to remove restriction from the line, regain some floor space, and probably save a bit on electricity costs (running 9 fans ain't cheap).

 

I think I mentioned in an earlier thread of yours....use heat exchangers.  Computers on one side, the whole-room loop on the other side.  You can take the whole room loop offline and the heatexchanger will offer enough thermal mass to prevent computer overheating for a while, because the desktop loop is still live.  You'll have much lower pressures on both sides too, limited chance for loop contamination, etc.  Linus' whole-room debacle wouldn't have been an issue if he used heat exchangers (for sure he wouldn't have ruined those watercooling components with corrosion and algae).

I don't think I will experience too much corrosion with the metals I'm using so long as I service the loop regularly. I thought about using a heat exchanger back when I wanted the radiators outside with a different liquid but now that I have everything fine tuned I don't think it would make much of a difference, especially since there is a delta between liquids. I will say they interest me though, maybe I'll use them in some application later. But I really should add a flow meter and pressure gauge to the loop.

The radiator blew up by the soldering that joins the copper piping and brass chamber together, I'm inclined to believe it is a one time thing.

I appreciate the advice.