What kind of WC disasters have you had?

[cotdt]

I never had a problem, 4 years and going strong, although I replaced my Eheim pump with a CSP-MAG. It never had any problems, I just wanted to go all DC-powered. It is beyond me how so many people has had problems with watercooling. To me it seems more reliable and maintenence-free even compared to standard aircooling. I cannot even imagine how watercooling can possibly have so many problems, thinking it is due to a lot of random circumstances rather than the idea of watercooling being inherently unreliable. In theory, and in my practice, watercooling if done right can be very reliable, quiet, and maintenence-free. In fact I didn't like the idea of refilling my res, so I built a humidity condenser to keep the res filled via moisture from the room air. Good stuff, you guys shouldn't have so many problems, really.

[Brians256]

cotd, we are seeing only the problems in this thread, not the many happy watercooling people.

[Marci]

I've had ALL of the above... but all long ago. Back then stuff wasn't as reliable and refined as it is now. Bugs then have been ironed out in the same product now. Lessons have been learned. All the causes of my problems were either choosing cheap products, or not paying attention, or simply not knowing what I was doing... I'll take it from the top...

Pump leak or total pump failure

Eheim 1250 - slow leak at inlet due to incorrect thread used on a fitting of my choice - my fault.
Hydor L30 - complete failure - running on a TEC Rig submersed - Hydors don't like high operating temps. Lesson learned, wrong product choice.

Block SLOW leak (drip, drip, drip)

NexCool GT3 - new product, testing sample, leaked from every seal. Returned.
DangerDen Maze3 - bad block top, quickly RMA'd and resolved.
Innovatek Rev3 - bad seal, quickly RMA'd and resolved.
DangerDen Maze3 GPU - but I'd removed the barbs prior and not put `em back right - my fault.

Block total failure (FLOOD!)

Swiftech MCW462 - not a clue what happened. Seal gave way. Had never been disassembled at all.
D-Tek LRWW - Screws weren't tight holding the layers together... hadn't checked before fitting, hadn't leak tested. Block had never been disassembled - I should have leak tested. Tightened up screws, all fixed and resolved. My own fault really. Never assume...

Hose / barb SLOW leak (drip, drip, drip)

Crap hoseclamps (I hate nylon hoseclamps)

Hose / barb BLOW OFF or Hose rupture (FLOOD!)

Never use zipties as hose clamps - lesson learned.

Radiator leak or blockage

Maxxxpert Rad, Aquacoil rad, Senfu Rad... had all with leaks, but back in the later days of Maze2 era.

CPU / Block separation

Yep - nut dropped off back of mobo. Again my own fault for not putting it together properly.

Radiator Fan failure

Frequently due to a faulty fanbus... replaced fanbus, problem solved.

Other problem not described

Tube resting on ramchip of graphics card - hadn't realised. Slowly melted thru the tube and flooded the case, card etc whilst all powered up. Fuse blew in PSU. Left all hardware to dry out for a week in the airing cupboard - all worked fine. Lesson learned. Ensure tube is routed properly.
Senfu Reservoir - shattered once WaterWetter was added - lesson learned - senfu = crap res anyways, replaced res, made sure didn't use too much WaterWetter.

In all leak cases, soon as I noticed I powered down system. If leak occured when I wasn't around, fuse always blew in PSU. I tend not to flap under this kind of stress. Just kill the mains, mopup, dismantle system, leave what needs drying out to dry, replace what needs replacing, repair what need repairing. Always had a fully working system again within 7 days.


Nowadays however, I haven't had ANY problems like these... but I also only use relied-upon products with the reputation for not having problems.

Laing pumps, Swiftech & DangerDen blocks, Steel Jubilee Clamps, check every screw and fixing is tight on everything - block tops, barbs etc. Leak test out of case before mounting to any components. Mount in case on components but with no power other than to pump and bl00roll over common drip areas (back of VGA card for instance) so any leaks are fairly instantly and easily spottable. If all is clear, wire it up, fire it up.

I have a blacklist of brands which I'll never recommend to anyone, based on personal experience, either from a poor QC standpoint or just from a poor performance standpoint. Tend to find those not on that blacklist are the usual suspects that everyone already knows and respects for quality & performance.

[TerraMex]

just a few remarks.

D-Tek LRWW - Screws weren't tight holding the layers together... hadn't checked before fitting, hadn't leak tested. Block had never been disassembled - I should have leak tested. Tightened up screws, all fixed and resolved. My own fault really. Never assume...

I always leak test (also have a Dtek WW), no leaks
but, that is Dtek's quality issue, not your fault.
Buy a car, check every bolt?

Never use zipties as hose clamps - lesson learned.

Er. Been using them for years. No issues.
however i use very large ones, given the swiftech shipped as reference,
mine are about 4x larger.
More "permanent" areas get the zipties,
else gets those double snap-grip plastic ones, no issues yet
althou they don't really look that safe.

... can we see that blacklist in full?
should be interesting.

[varro]

I voted pump failure, but the pump was only the immediate cause of failure.
I had a massive dose of some kind of very fine white precipitate form in my system one week. It fouled the water blocks, rad and pump something fierce. The pump eventually died ( I leave the pump on 24/7) when I wasn't around.
I still have no idea what the precipitate was, and it has not occurred since.....

No damage except to the pump, which was terminal.