How do I test for watercooling leaks ?

[choliscott]

Hi Everyone,

I have a "Cool it systems" ECO-R120 watercooler that seemed to work great until yesterday, I heard a noise & all of a sudden started smelling coolant.

Come to find out there was a very small leak, but big enough to kill my motherboard.

So now I have to get a new MB & decide if I want to stick with watercooling or go back to a heatsink/fan (current price will help determine at the moment, which way I'm going to go)

So my question is there a way to test to see if a watercooler should be replaced, before it actually does anything bad?

Thanks

 

[Rifter]

my recommendation would be to either go real water or not at all. With a real water setup you can use coolant thats non-conductive so its unlikely to kill anything if it leaks.

 

[Gillbot]

turn it on and look for puddles. Many of those who are paranoid set up their loop or system outside the case and turn it on through a molex, then after everything checks ok they install it.

Me, I do a leak test while windows is loading.

 

[WoodButcher]

Me, I do a leak test while windows is loading.

Yeah, me too, but then I don't think either one of us would run a loop "built by Coolit":biggrin:

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would give it maybe 50PSI of air, and see if it holds overnight. If you get woken up by your air compressor, you have a leak. Not sure how you'd go about hooking it up though... But this is how they test gas lines and such.

Also look at using distilled water, it will have a lower chance of being an issue if it leaks as it's not conductive on it's own.

 

[WoodButcher]

I would give it maybe 50PSI of air, and see if it holds overnight. If you get woken up by your air compressor, you have a leak. Not sure how you'd go about hooking it up though... But this is how they test gas lines and such.

Also look at using distilled water, it will have a lower chance of being an issue if it leaks as it's not conductive on it's own.

LOLz, 50 PSI will burst the hoses and explode the rads.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

There is a jumper for the 24 pin power cord that you can use to power on the pump for the loop by the PSU: or you can just use a paper clip to jump the current..

EDIT: of course it is recommended that you do this before installing the core components or anything for that matter

 

[bmaverick]

Hi Everyone,

I have a "Cool it systems" ECO-R120 watercooler that seemed to work great until yesterday, I heard a noise & all of a sudden started smelling coolant.

How old of a CoolIT unit is it? Is the unit still under warranty? Does the warranty cover hardware loss like a MOBO?

 

[EarthwormJim]

The best air coolers outperform most of those water cooling kits. Just stick with air unless you're ready to take the real dive into water cooling.

 

[Lightflash]

I would go with what everyone else has already stated. Go with custom water or go with air cooling. These kits are nice for awhile, but are not really worth it in my opinion.

If you do wish to check for leaks, just use a paper clip in the 24pin while only having the watercooling components hooked up to the PSU. Then take paper towels to each point where it connects to a component (fittings around CPU for example). Run it for 24 hours at minimum. I only did this once and now just hook everything up and go since I am not too worried about compression fittings (except the 90degree fittings).

 

[biseydaha]

The best air coolers outperform most of those water cooling kits. Just stick with air unless you're ready to take the real dive into water cooling.

I also prefer air coolers. At least I know they won't leak. But is the unit under warranty?

 

[Gillbot]

I also prefer air coolers. At least I know they won't leak. But is the unit under warranty?

Does a warranty really matter if the leak can fry your entire system?