Questions about coolant choice

Scoob

New member
Hey all,

After an interesting conversation with a mate about his loop, I though I'd post here and get some opinions.

His Solution: Halfords pre-mixed Anti-freeze - he swears by it. Yet...

We pulled his loop apart last year, replacing his GTX 480's (x2) with GTX 680's (x3) while draining I noticed a crap load of gunk in the loop, either floating around in chunks or clogging up his blocks. Loop had been up for no more than a year at this point. Needed a lot of cleaning to sort out. He bought a couple of filters to place at certain points to catch any future crap, as well as a flow meter so he could tell if there are any restrictions. He finally filled the loop with fresh Halfords pre-mix anti-freeze.

Fast forward to today and, after a minor leak, he decided to check out the loop. Both filters were badly clogged up, one worse than the other, but the main loop seemed clear thankfully, though blocks were not individually checked this time. He does not test Ph.

He's very happy with the filters and plans to use Halfords pre-mixed anti-freeze again. I think this is a bit daft! My concern is that the restricted flow where the filters were clogged led to very high pressures post-pump causing, or at least contributing to, the leak.

My Solution: EK's own clear pre-mix.

I pulled my loop apart last year, replacing my GTX 570's (x2) with GTX 680's (x2) while draining I noticed nothing but perfectly clear and Ph neutral (tested) coolant. Dismantling and inspecting the blocks saw them all perfectly clean. This loop had been up for about 9 months at this time. After re-assembling, I filled the loop with the same coolant I'd drained, as it'd tested fine as Ph neutral.

Fast forward to today, I visually inspected my loop - no obvious crud in the pipes, flow rates still seem great - indeed I actually popped my pump down from 5 to 3 a little while ago and temps remained unchanged. Sure, I've not pulled it apart, but the coolant still seems to be working well. I did a Ph check and it tests just fine.

So, my friend seems to think I'm wasting my time using "posh" EZ pre-mix coolant and his solution is best. Can't see it personally.

I feel that, if we use the right stuff, our loops should be largely maintenance free & organic growth in the loop shouldn't be an issue. Mine has proven great so far and inspection in the past has shown it to be both clean, and retaining a healthy neutral Ph value.

PC does get used a lot if that has any affect, so the coolant is warmed and pumped around several times a week for a few hours.

So, what experiences, good and bad, have you had with your loops and coolant choices?

Cheers,

Scoob.
 
Anti-freeze? I wouldn't have that in my house - pretty dangerous stuff if it was accidentally ingested (by a little one or pet from a spillage). Other than that I have no other information :p
 
Anti-freeze? I wouldn't have that in my house - pretty dangerous stuff if it was accidentally ingested (by a little one or pet from a spillage). Other than that I have no other information :p

Thankfully no danger of ingestion, unless it's discovered it has a higher alcohol content than my mates favourite Gin, as it's far cheaper per litre :)

Scoob.
 
So are you saying your friend is pretty thick? Why does he think it's superior, I mean even if it is a bit cheaper to buy it undeniably performs worse over time and then he has to buy filters and flow meters that offset the cost of just buying good coolant.

I've been running EK blood red premix for 3 months now, it doesn't look quite as vibrant as when I put it in and i'm a little disappointed with how it looks in the plexi blocks. There seems to be a little clouding and what looks like a very fine deposit between the plexi and the nickel. As it's the first lot of coolant i've ever run in the loop I can't really blame it, it may well be dirt out of the parts. At some point I will drop the coolant, clean all of the blocks and re-fill it with fresh EK coolant but as it's running fine I will probably wait until next summer to do that. I haven't noted any variation in temperature and the fins of the blocks look clean and certainly free of any serious blockages.

I will definitely use clear EK coolant for Chocolate Box.

JR
 
He's being stubborn for sure. The proof is right in from of him. If he won't accept that then he's being an idiot, no way around it lol.

Anti-freeze isn't made to flow through blocks with tiny channels in them, it's made to flow through an engine and a radiator that has next to no restrictions compared to a loop in a PC.
 
Far from it JR23, I think he's just had REALLY bad experiences with other pre-mixes in the past. The Anti-freeze seemed to work really well initially, then we took the loop apart of course. Chemically, I'd have expected the anti-freeze to be fairly effective at suppressing organic growth in the loop - it is a pretty toxic substance after all. So, logically it wasn't a terrible call to try it. However, experience shows me that it's simply not up to the task.

He does seem somewhat resistant to accept that my choice of coolant has been a success though - we're actually chatting about that right now. I might have persuaded him to pick up a couple of litres...will ensure he does a full de-ionised flush first though and I'll offer to pull his blocks apart and inspect them as I did before.

I looked into coloured coolants originally when I was thinking of doing a more "showy" build for fun. Back then though (over three years ago) there were downsides that were too down for me. I.e. the colour particulates clogging things over time, colour/vibrancy loss over time linked to that, and it was said that you need to change the coolant every three months ideally. Just a personal choice. So, I went 100% clear pre-mix and haven't looked back really.

My aim was to build a largely maintenance-free loop, so I could just use the PC rather than be pulling it apart regularly. The loop has proven just that, and only a badly machined compression fitting has caused me issues.

@hmmblah: Yeah, he is, though I've been equally stubborn myself at times, so can't really talk lol. I would expect the anti-freeze to be pumped around ok, while it is designed for a cars coolant system of course, it's still liquid and doesn't to the casual eye seem any thicker than water. Don't know, you might be right. Equally of course it's designed to resist freezing - most unlikely in a PC, I keep mine inside after all lol - it's also designed to resist MUCH higher temperatures, so could it possibly be less effective at the relatively low temps it's asked to handle in a PC? Equally, per your point, maybe it needs to be hotter to flow well & PC heat just isn't enough. Dunno. Regardless, my take is that it's NOT the right stuff for the job - proper pre-mix all the way for me.

Scoob.
 
I really dont understand using Antifreeze?

Why not just pure distilled water and a kill coil. Its just as cheap and probably more litres for the same price point.

And anyone who does watercooling should accept that every 3-6months you will need to replace the coolant. Or if you are like me and take pride in your setup, then you would also clean the blocks thoroughly.

10 years ago when I made my first loop using the Asetek watercooling kit and a gpu waterblock from Innovatek (it was the sex back then!)

nv403.jpg


I used Tap water with typical pond anti algae fluid which was conveniently bright blue. Lasted me six months with no issues or residue before my pump exploded and spat all over my pc shorting it out :( there was only tube staining but zero gunk or buildup in the blocks.
 
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If there wasn't the choice available I'd have likely looked at de-ionised water + and anti-fungal agent most likely, not anti-freeze. Still, we're lucky that we have such choice today - though of course that can lead to confusion and getting inferior products.

Personally, I don't think a loop should need to be drained very often if all is well. I mean, mine has been assembled since I got my 680's over a year ago - I got them a couple of months before the 780's were announced, whenever that was - I check my coolant both visually and for Ph levels every few months, I'm aware what the typical delta temps are for GPU's and CPU in both typical gaming and benchmarks. The rig being so very very quiet means I'd hear the pump if it started straining etc. So, I'm good with my coolant being "old" as it's still good.

Not saying it's a bad thing to pull apart and check a loop frequently. I have done that in the past, but each time all was well so I feel confident it'll continue to be fine - baring any warning signs of course.

I guess what I'm saying is that, after the initial build, a good water-cooled system need not be a high maintenance system. I will say though that after I do anything - so my recent SSD upgrade (not in sig yet) for example - I will diligently check ALL compression fittings, blocks etc. to ensure nothing has been disturbed and accidentally knocked or tugged loose. I can easily run the loop with the system OFF due to my external PSU just for the pump and fans - I built it this way by design.

Anyway, fun this water cooling lark ain't it? :D

Btw: did you ever figure out why your pump exploded?

Scoob.
 
Pressure. It was a pump res combo and old so the plexi cracked.

Ah, I see. Bad luck!

My res, pump and rad are all external, so it's only the integrity of the internal fittings, blocks and pipes that are a potential danger. I did have a poorly machined compression fitting once, as I previously mentioned. Other than that though, it's proven fairly robust.

Scoob.
 
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