coolingliquid
 

Hello,

As I'm installing my first watercooling ever, I wondered wich coolingliquid I should use. One is telling me to get destilled water and add some waterwetter others tell me different. I tought to get some coolingliquid that is used for cars becasue of the good heattransporting properties.
Suggestions are welcome.

Mr.Bluestar

Distilled water is a must.

Your choice of water wetter or anti-freeze is pretty much up to you.

Water Wetter is supposed to allow the water to move better through the system, but it doesn't actually improve the water's ability to absorb heat, However, it appears to coat everything with a thin layer of smegma (tm), and could eventuallt make your crystal-clear tubing semi-opaque and kinda brown looking.

Anti-freeze raises the boiling point, and lowers the freezing point of the water, but I don't think it improves the water's ability to absorb heat. It's also generally green in color (I don't recall seeing any other colors, but it's been over 15 years since I did anything mehchanical on a car that was more difficult than un-threading the fuel filler cap. :)

Either one will inhibit algea growth, so that's a good thing.

Adding to the general confusion:

http://www.overclockers.com/articles609/

Methanol added to distilled water seems to do the trick. Not that I have tried it, but on the other side I didn´t write the article either. ;)
Methanol at least is venomous/poisonous/toxic (my english isn´t good enough to sort these out) to keep You tubes free from algea, fungi etc.
regards
Mikael S.

It should also be mentionned that methanol will evaporate, and that it's not something you want floating around in your house, so you *MUST* keep your loop sealed.

Check the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) for methanol.

Note that OSHA (american standard for working conditions) prohibits the indoor use of methanol, under any circumstances.

Otherwise you can find the right solution as Windshield Wiper fluid.

NONONONONO

I tried to use water/alcohol before and I ended up with massive algae growth in a few months. Besides, it does absolutely nothing for corrosion protection.

Antifreeze will significantly reduce the cooling ability of your fluid.

Alcohol will too, but not nearly as much, though it is commonly used for organic buildup and DOESN'T WORK ON ALL OF IT! The gunk that was in my system after using diluted Isopropanol (just as toxic to the little beasties) was almost impossible to wash out. It soured me on the alcohol scene, and I'm not going to try it again.

Water Wetter has proven to leave nasty deposits on your materials.

Okay, so now that I've ragged on all of that, what do I suggest? Distilled water + 10% HYPERLUBE. The stuff is neon green, kills the fsck out of algae, drops your coolant temperature because it makes your water more "slippery", prevents corrosion, and doesn't screw up good tubing. It can be purchased at most NAPA, Schucks, and other auto parts stores.

Notice I said GOOD TUBING. It will make cheap tubing turn a bit whitish, but if you use Tygon or Clearflex 60 it doesn't react at all ... or if it does, it is unnoticable.

While there may be products that cool a bit better, in my estimation Water and Hyperlube 9:1 is a lot of protection at a very decent level of performance. Typically Hyperlube costs about $7 per bottle. I used two in my water tower ;)

Oh, and as Ben said: methanol can kill you. Cheerio.

Interesting to see HyperLube make a comeback :)

I'm opting for the WWF solution, but will be trying out Silkolene ProCCA ($10), a sample of which I should receive Monday, thanks to Bruce, from www.cooltechnica.com (end shameless plug of one of our sponsors!)

I'm going for a blue color pattern ;) I was hoping to try out blue UV dye, but I can't find a reasonably priced source for it, plus any explanation as to why the effect dissipates so fast.:shrug:

Airspirit, are you trying to say that destilled water + methanol combination isn't as good as the article from overclockers.com is telling? Because it really convinced me. The Hyperlube is probably very difficult to find around here (Belgium)

It is most DEFINITELY not what you were lead to believe at OC. They only focused on the thermal properties. They did NO long term testing and they didn't look at the toxicity issues involved. That stuff should be avoided unless you have no choice. I suspect that you may be able to order some Hyperlube or other similar chemical mixture online.

Agreed.

You want to stay away from methanol at all costs, and only use it in a chiller, where the coolant is expected to drop below freezing.

The same goes for the glycols, but many would argue otherwise.

I would go with Airspirit's recomendation, and use a combo of distilled water (58 cents/gallon at Wall-Wart) and Hyperlube, since all are readily available.

I will try some carparts centers around. But I'm surely not going to buy it somewhere far away online and pay 3 times more just because of posting and taxes. But tnx for the tip anyway.

I run ~20% ethanol. Its been 7 months with no trouble. My system is airtight tho. The cap actually pops when I unseal it.