Cleaning waterloop

[Davros1987]

Hit me with your knowledge Overlock3rs!

If your temps are holding steady and everything appears to be running in their nominal ranges, is there still need to clean your watercooling loop?

Granted this might go against popular convention but is it going to cause any real issues that you wouldn't pick up on with your temperature readings etc.

I don't use dye in my loop & all visible components seem to be clean as a whistle.

Just putting it out there.

 

[MadShadow]

Yeah, flush the loop every 6 months AT LEAST. You don t want anything gunking up in the blocks, rads or anywhere really.

 

[Davros1987]

should i be replacing the tubes every time i do that, or can i leave everything assembled?

 

[Bartacus]

I think you can go a year without flushing, but it really depends on how you do it in the beginning. Assuming you give your rads a thorough flush before you start, and assuming you use a decent biocide / corrosion inhibitor coolant, you should be good for a year. However, it never hurts to drain your loop after running for a few weeks, just to see if any extra crap comes out of your rads in those first few weeks.

 

[Bartacus]

should i be replacing the tubes every time i do that, or can i leave everything assembled?

Depends on your tube. If you're running good tubing and don't have plasticizer or staining issues, there's no reason to change the tube. It's never a bad idea to pop a piece off and check it closely. What tube are you using?

 

[Davros1987]

Guess its time to clean the loop then.

Brand of tubing is Tygon.

 

[| raVen |]

I clean the whole loop every 6/8 months, and yes when you clean the loop you should always change your tubing,anyway they most likely fogging up since its tygon. You should also take a part your cpu block, and other block's to give them good clean.

 

[Bartacus]

Yeah I'd be changing that tube. I went with Primochill LRT, which is very good stuff but can be a bit difficult to work with due to the stiffness of it. But I'll probably still change it soon just because it's relatively cheap. New tube never hurts as long as you get the good stuff.

 

[| raVen |]

I use primochill LRT myself, now only at the back of my build since I went with acrylic tubing at the front. If you having trouble to connect the tube to the fitting cuz its hard, just get yourself small cup of hot water and put the end of the tube into it for 20/30 seconds before installing, it will make the tube softer and easy to work with. Hope that will help you.

 

[SuB]

This totally depends on the state of your loop, what's in it, how contaminated it got when you filled it, what additives you have, and what tubing you used.

I've had a loop not be touched for upwards of 3 years and when I took it apart the fluid and fittings were as good as new, and the tubing only had some staining.

If you have not added any additives, or haven't used a Glycol based premix, then you'll just have to use your own judgement on when to empty, clean and flush it out. Again, most loops now are just for visual aesthetics, so if your tube looks like shit, it's time to clean it out. If it still looks fine, there's no point wasting the time to replace it.

It's very much a case of learning as you go, if you have your tubing near sunlight, or have UV lamps/cathodes or whatever in your case, consider changing the tubing more often as it will perish.

Personally I've never had to re-do and flush a single loop when using premix with Tygon tubing, it's rated for the food industry and only loses a little colour with glycol products after years of use.

If your loop looks fine, no cloudiness, no sludge, no discolouration.. then there's honestly no point.