Handling of loop components

[Dinko]

New or otherwise, intuitively I assume it'd make sense to somehow sterilize your loop components before final handling and assembly, like skintight throwaway vinyl gloves etc), ultrasonic sterilizer, germicidal detergent and/or just general flux/oils/gunk resolver.

See so many people handling their fittings, pumps and reservoirs with bare hands before and during assembly and can't help but think that such handling isn't helping to keep the loops as clean as they could be to maximize time between loop service/maintenance.

Anyone got any pro tips?

 

[Tolemac]

Tbh you never really handle the inside of the loop where the coolant flows matey I do a 6 month change of Tubing and coolant as my maintenance

 

[JR23]

You seen the inside of a radiator? Overkill me thinks, plus realistically who is blowing insane money on watercooling and not getting an itch to switch something out within a year.

Gloves sound like a sensible precaution if you have new EK rads otherwise they are getting scratched.

JR

 

[Davva2004]

Only really an issue if you touch the insides of your loop components, which is quite hard to do unless you have fingers like pipe cleaners, and use distilled water as a coolant without any biocide or a kill coil.

Most people tend to use premixed coolants which have biocide mixed in.

Personally I wear nitrile gloves when building a rig as I hate leaving fingerprints on anything.

 

[Mysterae]

I usually clean the inside of the water blocks with some isopropanol alcohol before installing them and blast clean dry air from my compressor through the radiator, at a third the pressure though!

For coolant I just use a 20/80 mix of car coolant and distilled water, nothing else.

 

[Asperatis]

That's a bit overkill there OP

I used heated tap water to flush out the rads (like 7 times or so, damn 480 rads.. :lol and then repeated the same process 3 more times with distilled. Used tap water for the tubes too followed by distilled to get all of the dust out from cutting the acrylic. The res just got flushed a couple times with distilled.

In my loop I'm running plain distilled with a few drops of PtNuke and a kill coil.

 

[Dinko]

... blast clean dry air from my compressor through the radiator, at a third the pressure though!

I assume that you are using a small hobby level compressor without any particular air filtration. That will suck tons of airborne bacteria and mold spores/fungi into your system not to mention that it's usually contaminated with oil vapor, condensate, rust and micro scale debris detaching from compressor tubing unless you use staged filtering with pre- and coalescing filters to remove it!

That is of course dependent on the state of the compressor unit. Since you keep doing it, I assume you either have a high frequency maintenance schedule for your loop so that any possible side effects from using the compressor won't be seen or that you are very fortunate to have a device and an environment that promotes success in using it.

 

[JR23]

Your level of giving a poopy exceeds any other active forum member.

I suggest that you just talk to yourself and read some medical papers or something. Everyone is just going to tell you that it doesn't matter that much. I know of people who have been running the same Mayhems Aurora in a loop for over 3 years, with no maintenance whatsoever. Definitely no gloves, probably some greasy pizza fingers and acrylic dust in all of the components. No doubt the rigs run a bit hotter now, but they still run day in, day out for 24hrs.

JR

 

[Dinko]

Well, hint taken.

However, if my typing annoys you to such a degree that you feel that you have to be snarky and abrasive in a context that apparently doesn't interest you that much, may I suggest another direction for you on the forums than this particular thread?

 

[Tolemac]

Tbh JR has a point a pc loop does NOT need to be sterile its not like its going to catch the flu is it? I run Mayhems X1 in my loop and still after 6 months my cpu is at 28C idle and thats with a 1.1ghz overclock.
may I suggest to you that you have a look at the rig gallery 1st and see that the people giving you Pro Tips are actually very experienced in that field mate

 

[Kushiro]

Bottom line is each to their own. If you feel that being as sterile as possible suits you and you have the means of doing so, then by all means. However whether or not the benefits mean anything is up to the individual.

 

[Davva2004]

I assume that you are using a small hobby level compressor without any particular air filtration. That will suck tons of airborne bacteria and mold spores/fungi into your system not to mention that it's usually contaminated with oil vapor, condensate, rust and micro scale debris detaching from compressor tubing unless you use staged filtering with pre- and coalescing filters to remove it!

That is of course dependent on the state of the compressor unit. Since you keep doing it, I assume you either have a high frequency maintenance schedule for your loop so that any possible side effects from using the compressor won't be seen or that you are very fortunate to have a device and an environment that promotes success in using it.

Mate, I know this is OC3D but you're taking this WAY too far.

1) Doesn't matter what flora or fauna gets into your loop, the biocide in premixed coolant will kill it and so will a drop or two of biocide in distilled water, or using a silver kill coil.

2) Oil vapour, condensate, rust, micro wossnames - none of that matters either. None of them will be big enough to block off even the smallest of channels inside a CPU or GPU cold plate, and will eventually settle into the lowest part of your loop, causing no problems at all. Believe me, compared to the crap you find inside a radiator when you first flush it, there is nothing of concern flying out the end of a compressor nozzle. And even then all you have to do with a radiator is flush it out with running water to shift the big chunks of loose crap.

You do not need to maintain a sterile environment inside your PC, It's not an operating theatre. Coolant has biocide, so it kills off any gribblies inside the loop. So you can stop boiling yourself overnight in Dettol before you hit the power switch

 

[Tolemac]

So you can stop boiling yourself overnight in Dettol before you hit the power switch

This did make me chuckle

 

[Mysterae]

I assume that you are using a small hobby level compressor without any particular air filtration. That will suck tons of airborne bacteria and mold spores/fungi into your system not to mention that it's usually contaminated with oil vapor, condensate, rust and micro scale debris detaching from compressor tubing unless you use staged filtering with pre- and coalescing filters to remove it!

That is of course dependent on the state of the compressor unit. Since you keep doing it, I assume you either have a high frequency maintenance schedule for your loop so that any possible side effects from using the compressor won't be seen or that you are very fortunate to have a device and an environment that promotes success in using it.

Your assumption is wrong. I work on my classic car over the summer months so have a modest 50L 2.5HP compressor in my garage, not as large as I'd like it but I don't have the space or a 3 phase supply in my garage . The airline is split in two; one airline is raw dirty air straight from the compressor and the other goes to a filter regulator to catch the oil, moisture and other detritus so it doesn't harm or corrode my air tools. The quality of the air might not meet the standards you mention above but it serves me well.

As for a high frequency maintenance schedule for my loop - that really depends on how often I change a water cooling component - which isn't very frequent. My last maintenance was only just recently for my project build and that coolant had been in there for about a year I reckon.

Now this is really going to make your teeth itch and your skin crawl - my reservoir is attached to my external radiator, which sits on my window sill, directly where the sun can beat down on it from mid morning to sunset. Apparently the ideal conditions for crap to prosper. I have some "stuff" at the bottom of my reservoir after a year, not sure what it is, but it's not alive; they'll be more life in the Chernobyl NPP than in my reservoir! I suspect the stuff in the reservoir is leechings from the flexible tubing which are the umbilical cords between the radiator and the pc. No amount of cleanliness would have prevented that.

I appreciate that your doing your research, asking questions and wanting to do the job right, but you have to set some limits. Those can be budget available, time spent, perceived benefits, possible savings, worthiness, and personal expectations. Is the juice worth the squeeze .