Bitspower Reservoir Cracked, took out PSU

[Subyman]

I built my set up about 6-8 months ago and have been enjoying it. I was playing with a friend last night and the computer suddenly shut off. I thought the power went out at first, but the lights were still on. It wasn't a soft reset or a OS level shutdown. It was something hardware. I looked in the window and saw water dripping! I've never had a leak in the 15+ years I've been water-cooling. After breaking it down, it ended up being a crack in the reservoir!

It is a stress crack between the "top" inlet and where the cap screws to the res tube. When I purchased the Bitspower tube, I did paid a little extra to have a better quality product over the generic tubes. There goes that!

Pic:

BOOOOOOO!

 

[X3NIA]

Did you have insane amounts of head around this or something? I've had bitspower stuff in the past and it seemed to be pretty high quality. This is very odd.

 

[aigomorla]

did u tighten it with a tool?
The corners looked dented where the crack could of started.

Also its the top of the res... i dont see how it could of leaked unless u had the res horizontal?

This is why i prefer derlin or acetal over straight up poly-carbonate.

 

[Subyman]

I had the res horizontal in the case. The pump was pulling out the bottom, so it should have been the lowest pressure point in the system. I hand snugged the res about 6 months ago. I think maybe the picture just makes it look like the corner is dented.

The water was warm to the touch, probably 35C or so. Luckily, I opened the PSU and let it air out over night and it worked the next day! Saves me about $140.

I completely agree with the delrin top. Acrylic is horrible about stress fractures with any load at all.

 

[Subyman]

Haha, well tonight my pump decided it was time for retirement. I have a D5 pump (Swiftech 655.) It made a terrible grinding noise so I shut it off. Cleared the loop and opened the pump. The bushing on the impeller is made out of a carbide looking material. It rides on a ceramic ball. The carbide looks to have heated up and melted the surrounding plastic causing the impeller to sit too low on the ceramic ball causing it to rub the surround. I'm guessing there was an air pocket at the bushing during operation when it should be cooled by the pumping water.

So now I gotta find a replacement impeller... Fun times!

 

[thilanliyan]

Yeah I once had an acrylic topped CPU block that cracked around where the screws were. Tried to stay away from anything acrylic that needed something screwed into it ever since. Actually I try to stay away from acrylic period...stick to delrin/acetal or metal.