Well, I sprung my first leak (56k)

[Sporg]

So I was messing around in the case today and shortly afterward I got a voltage warning from the Intel Desktop Utility. About 15 minutes later I smelled that smell. You know the one...where it smells like factory smoke is leaving. Popped the case to try and find the culprit and found a leak.

The fitting loosened up a bit on the right hose and dripped fluid onto my SB Audigy card.






Looks like I fried a PCI slot. After I took the pick I blasted it out with compressed air.


I tightened up the fitting and changed to worm-drive clamps for the hoses. Fired everything back up and so far so good. From touching the fittings I'm not feeling any moisture on their undersides. I have a piece of notebook paper taped to the bottom of the case so I can see right away if it is still leaking. If all is good in an hour, then I'll button everything back up. I may try to clean out that PCI slot a bit more. I think when I take it apart for cleaning I'll add some thread tape to those fittings. I wasn't very impressed with the threads when I put that water block on in the first place.

Luckily the audio card was a cheapy and I'm not out too much.

[KnightRid]

This is what scares the hell out of me with water cooling!

Glad it wasnt TOO major.

Mike

Think I will put the 9600gso I ordered on the water cooling thing I bought...that way its only a $50 card

[martini161]

was this today? cause if it was then what a coincidence! i also sprung my first leak today, thankfully it was during leak testing and only on the rez. i also managed to get away with refitting the tubing with out draining, so seems like you were worse off than me!

[Sporg]

This is what scares the hell out of me with water cooling!

Same here, that is why it took so long for me to come around to the idea of giving it a shot. I must say though that this does not deter my liking for water. I should have added tape to it in the beginning and double-checked the tightness of that fitting earlier. I say that because during the construction phase I pulled the tube off and had to twist it quite a bit. I must have loosened it slightly then, and then today it wiggled just enough to drip a bit.

was this today? cause if it was then what a coincidence! i also sprung my first leak today

Yeah, happened this morning! Wow, that is crazy.

I didn't have to pull the tubing off and completely drain the system. I was probably playing with fire, but wasn't in the mood to drain the whole thing. I pulled the card and placed several towels underneath it before I jacked with the fitting. I have a pair of thin pliers that I used to tighten the fitting and then put the worm drive calmps on. I'm not super impressed with the fittings on that block, but didn't like the idea of mixing plastic and metal threads. I'll take it apart for cleaning/maintenance in a couple of months and add thread tape then. For now everything seems okay.

Glad to hear you had no damage with yours.

[Bio-Hazard]

From the looks of things, it appears to have leaked a fair amount of fluid on the card before it shorted out..................

Hope everything turns out OK for you and your board.

[Sporg]

From the looks of things, it appears to have leaked a fair amount of fluid on the card before it shorted out

I agree. And after I posted all of this my wife and I got to talking about it. I think maybe a week or so before I found the leak we noticed an electric burn smell. But we couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. I even sniffed around the case a bit and didn't smell anything. I'm guessing that the leak had started sooner. What bugs me is that I leak tested this thing for quite a while and it was bone dry, no leaks. But the fitting was lose, so I'm not sure what to think of that. So far the mainboard is acting fine, we'll see how long though. I know how electronics can sometimes come back and bite ya in the rear.

[DMB2000uk]

I guess it pays to be always checking out your system then.

I had a leak drip onto the back of a graphics card one time, but it was a slow one, and I caught it before too much water had dripped on the card.

Maybe you should look into getting non-conductive coolant

Dan

[Sporg]

Yeah, guess I wasn't paying enough attention to it. Lesson learned though, and luckily it didn't cost me much. I've been checking on it daily now and so far so good. When I do my first flush I'll pull those fittings out and add some tape.

[martini161]

I guess it pays to be always checking out your system then.

I had a leak drip onto the back of a graphics card one time, but it was a slow one, and I caught it before too much water had dripped on the card.

Maybe you should look into getting non-conductive coolant

Dan

nonconductive coolant isnt a good idea to use

[DMB2000uk]

nonconductive coolant isnt a good idea to use

Why?

Dan

[martini161]

nonconductive coolant isnt a good idea to use

Why?

Dan

because nonconductive water is dionized water, so the water trys to steal its ions back from the parts of your loop, degrading them and making the water conductive again, defeating the whole purpose of using it in the first place

[stev]

If you are going water cooling, the best bet is to have the unit external to the case with the exception of the tubes going to and from the cold blocks. This greatly reduces the chances of leaks.