Draining and flushing my water cooling loop

[peterb]

Carbon dioxide in the air will (and does ) dissolve in water to form carbonic acid. This in turn reacts with copper to form copper carbonate, which is green. It is depletinmg the copper in the block, although not by much, so you don't need to worry about it. Ideally the loop ph needs to be slightly alkaline which will tend to neutralise the carbonic acid (and once the loop is closed, no more can form)

The algae may be more of a problem as they can build up and in extreme cases could clog up the pump, or the radiator. Copper itself is a biocide, but you can use silver coils - or a chemical biocide. If you use silver coils, make sure they are not touching anything else metallic in the loop to avoid the risk of electrolytic corrosion.

[dangel]

Great! A mild bleach/water mix would probably help - let it run for a few minutes then flush, flush again?

[peterb]

Bleach wouldn't remove the copper carbonate, but would get rid of algae. but it would need to be very mild or it could attack the plastic. One of the anti-fungal; solutions used for washing walls prior to decorating might be better.

According to this

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...tercooling-FAQ

distilled water with a little glycerine and a corrosion inhibitor is supposed to work well.

1 drop of Spectrus (biocide) + 1 drop of Continuum (corrosion inhibitor) + 1.5oz glycerine (raises water's thermal conductivity co-efficient) to a litre of distilled water according to Hound53. If you can't get that, then Zerex at 5%.

[dangel]

Bleach wouldn't remove the copper carbonate, but would get rid of algae. but it would need to be very mild or it could attack the plastic. One of the anti-fungal; solutions used for washing walls prior to decorating might be better.

Was assuming it wasn't oxidation but i've used bleach on loops before with no worries - very mild solutions and proper flushing are are quick and dirty way of getting the loop cleaner. A proper cleaning agent (see earlier) is better of course. I've not had copper discolour in any loop myself (over many years) so i'm intrigued as to the cause. Algae for me (in my first system a decade back) was white in colour and I simply hadn't considered something living in the loop!

[j.o.s.h.1408]

So a little bleach should do the trick then? Bleach mixed with distilled water? Or bleach with tap water? What's the safest way to flush the GPU block with it attacked to my gpu as it is a pain to install.

Cheers I'm going to flush and clean them tonight. Do I need to flush the rad umm pump and research? Or just the blocks?


Is algea and carbon issue same colour? How do i distinguish between the two?

[peterb]

Algae tends to be slimy! Copper carbonate is green and fairly hard!

[j.o.s.h.1408]

its algea then!

[ehhhhhhh]

it's worth to put a silvercoil in the loop as well. never had algea.

[j.o.s.h.1408]

now ia m thinking it maybe copper cuz i only get that green stain on my blocks and some of the tubing, my res and pump is fine?

anyways im soaking my gpu block with white vinegar!

[GoNz0]

easy fix, bleach it for a few days at 5%, replace the tubing and buy a coloured coolant, try green

[j.o.s.h.1408]

I did the vinegar trick and it worked fine got rid of most of the junk. ran out of distilled water. any places in central london that may sell it?

[kalniel]

I did the vinegar trick and it worked fine got rid of most of the junk. ran out of distilled water. any places in central london that may sell it?

Any petrol station.

[dangel]

easy fix, bleach it for a few days at 5%, replace the tubing and buy a coloured coolant, try green

lol

Chemists stock the water too - you can buy special ultra pure water but it's not worth the money (he says despite having some..)

[j.o.s.h.1408]

Tried boots this morning, none there and its quite a large one. may just pop down the local petrol station after work and see.

wanna get some tonight so i can refill this bad boy as all my blocks are clean now.

Vinegar did the trick

[dangel]

Tried supermarkets/in store chemists?

[Macadee]

I had to order distilled through my local Boots, you will find de-ionised more readily at most supermarkets petrol stations, etc. usually labelled as 'battery top-up' or 'steam-iron' water.