WC questions

[J-Roc]

Yeah, i'll admit im no water cooling expert. I just purchased a ThermalTake aquabay unit and i am wondering if the anodized aluminum will slag up my coolant and corrode my fusion block and radiator.

Down the road i want to try and chill my collant with a TEC and will have to make a new end cap for the reservoir. What sealents or paints can i use to keep the thermal conductivity and avoid corrosion?

http://www.pccasegear.com/images/images/w0032mainsb.jpg

[Spawn-Inc]

i would return the res if you can at all costs. you seem to have already known about mixing metals and how its not good but for some reason bought it anyway.


if you wanted to coat the res, internally then your going to pretty much loose all thermal properties it has, which is very little to begin with anyway. the only way to really cut down, your never going to stop it, would be a coat of silicone but i'm not sure how it will react with water/coolants.

[J-Roc]

i would return the res if you can at all costs. you seem to have already known about mixing metals and how its not good but for some reason bought it anyway.

Ouch..

My system is thermaltake, i've only changed the block for the fusion. I thought the anodizing might be enough of a barrier to stop the reaction. Will a coat of epoxy/paint not be enough?

Worst case scenarion (heh) i'll make my chiller and make an all aluminum system for another computer.

[Spawn-Inc]

oh. well then might as well toss it in the loop as is.

what's your full w/c specs?

if you have a thermaltake rad then your are already dealing with corrosion, so adding that won't make that big of a difference.

and yes anodizing does help but it will wear off over time and at the barb's it has been worn off by installing barbs.

the Swiftech apogee GTX first came out with a nickel plated aluminum top with copper base and people have had issues with it. i'm not sure why such a reputable and top brand company would even release that but they did. they also later released a all copper top to replace it.

here is the GTX and what you could look forward to if you had one.
http://hardware-geek.com/Pictures/corrosion01.png

what coolant are you using? you can slow down the reaction and make it last longer but you will never stop it.

[J-Roc]

I have the d-tek fusion v1 block with acettle top, thermaltake copper tube rad, and a thermaltake pump/res combo. using fluid XP with a dye bomb.

[Spawn-Inc]

is your rad like this?

http://www.kbombpc.com.au/shop/images/Thermaltake%20AquaBay%20M2%202U%20Radiator%20for%2 0LiquidWater%20Cooling.jpg

i mean with the copper tubing?

either way you can try to paint the inside and it should help it alot but no matter what you do you will always have corrosion take place. just keep an eye on things and just check the water colour every now and then.

[SXRguyinMA]

I've got that same bay unit, same rad, and the std thermaltake waterblock, been running my system for almost 4 years that way, change the fluis about once a year, all my lines are clear as well, theres no crap anywhere in my system, all is clean. so yes, the annodizing on the resi will hold up just fine, and no corrosion with the copper block or rad either :up:

[J-Roc]

yeah my rad is like that, 360mm though. SXR, if your not having any trouble with yours, i'll give it a shot and watch it carefully.

[SXRguyinMA]

mines 120mm like the one shown, but not the 5.25" bay version, its the std mount-at-the-back-of-the-case version lol

[The boy 4rm oz]

I'm pretty sure that Aquabay you brought is anodized on both the inside and outside so you shouldn't have a problem with the corrosion for quite some time. As Spawn said though it will happen eventually. I have the alu topped Swiftech GTX and as it stands I haven't noticed any rise in temps or gunk floating in my loop. I am using an anti corrosive coolant though (AlphaCool TEC-Protect) so that may be playing a part. MY loop has only been running for a few months though. When my block does gunk up I will be getting a FuZion though.