Danner 3 Pump Broke :(

[Gulp35]

As many know, my W/c loop was filled with some nasty looking crap.... I just put in distilled ...So last weekend I was planning on cleaning it out with the Airspirit *sol Flush. Hoping to weaken some of the junk before the weekend cleaning, I poured a little bit into my system. Less than 48 hours later I found a crack in the inlet on the inlet manifold on my Danner Mag 3. I had been running this system, gunk and all, for about 4.5 months, and I believe that the Pinesol somehow caused my pump to crack. I'm not 100% sure of this but right now it seems to be the only thing I can blame (besides my neglegence and procrastination).

It was a good thing (as matha likes to say) however, because I found that I really needed to clean out my system. My Cascade is Black inside, including the plastic, and all of the nylon barbs were coated/stained with a brown residue. Near spring cleaning was well due.

Anyone have any suggestions? comments? scathing critisisms?

What would turn the cascade black, was it the algae or was I having some corrosion going on (I have no aluminum that I know of, and I am pretty sure my HC is all/mostly copper (and brass))?

In the Future what should I use to clean my system if Pinesol id cause the pump trouble?

[bigben2k]

I'm going to take a guess that your heatercore wasn't completely clean to start off with. Was it new?

[Cranky]

id get rid of that danner if i were u. i had 2 mag 5's that did the same thing..

[JWFokker]

Oh, definitely corrosion. No matter what, you cannot run just water in your loop. You NEED a small amount of antifreeze or other corrosion inhibiter. Your waterblock was probably covered in black crap within a couple weeks.

[Gulp35]

It was a new heatercore but I didn't wash it out (I did rinse it, but that water was just filtered and sent back into the system sans Cascade). Could I get the black stuff off with ketchup? vinegar? New G5 .

I ordered a new inlet manifold from reefgeek.com as I can't find any pumps that perform as well at that price level (the Swiftech pumps are close but cost twice as much as a new pump and 15 times more than the new inlet). I have only become more unimpressed by all the work I put into this external box, and Now am pondering a new system with one of the Boniville 4x120mm fan heatercores and more efficient tubing layout hopefully in a lighter, more unified package.

*boo hoo*

[Brandon_Tyler]

may we see pics of your set-up . I like looking at people external loops.


Brandon

[JWFokker]

You did replace the o-ring with silicone sealant and used nylon fittings, right?

As for the corrosion, your heatercore is probably covered in crap too, so you may want to clean it out with C-L-R or something similar. And buy some antifreeze already.

[Gulp35]

You can see the Watercooling pics before the crack but after the infection here. Later I ma post some pics of the broken pump.

I didn't seal the o-ring of the pump, but that wasn't what leaked. And I did use nylon fittings with teflon tape.

[JWFokker]

That pic had a bit of a greenish tinge to it. Does it look greenish in real life or was that just the picture? You may have had some algae in there too. Buy some iodine too. A few drops will kill anything in your water. Some coolant additives have this in them already but it's cheaper and usually better to go the antifreeze/iodine route. Zerex and Redline have a tendency to foam up for some reason.

[Gulp35]

Yeah the tubes were/are green with algae (or something) but when they were full of fluid they were a green brown color.

Hopefully I can clean out the Rad and Cascade and repair the pump tonight and then rehose everything (still deciding btw. some new tygon or some smoked tubing that I got with the new pump intake.

Man a new water cooling rig is looking good right now.... I just want to get a new start and get more things right.

[Gulp35]

Great.... now I may need to get a new motherboard... When going to uninstall the Cascade for cleaning (which even after being cleaned has a brown discoloring) I saw that a few of my capacitors have puffed up tops and some light brown corrosision like stuff on the peak of said puffyness.

On top of this, the new tubing I got is very stiff (at least compared to my old Clearflex60). What type of tubing would you recommend to use besides CF60, and where dud you buy yours... Right now my options are CF60 for .68/ft. ; Tygon R3603 for 3.91$/ft. or R1000 for 4.54$/ft.

[JWFokker]

I'd get Clearflex or Masterkleer (McMaster's version of Clearflex). Get it from www.mcmaster.com Best place to buy tubing and fittings.

[Gulp35]

I thought that their CF60 was the Chemical PVC Tubing, AFAI-Remember That is the stuff I got last time and it says ClearFlex60 on it. I heard some good things about the R1000 Stuff but it is really expensive.

[Cyco-Dude]

Originally Posted by Gulp35

Great.... now I may need to get a new motherboard... When going to uninstall the Cascade for cleaning (which even after being cleaned has a brown discoloring) I saw that a few of my capacitors have puffed up tops and some light brown corrosision like stuff on the peak of said puffyness.

On top of this, the new tubing I got is very stiff (at least compared to my old Clearflex60). What type of tubing would you recommend to use besides CF60, and where dud you buy yours... Right now my options are CF60 for .68/ft. ; Tygon R3603 for 3.91$/ft. or R1000 for 4.54$/ft.

first, what tubing did you get? tygon 3603 is good stuff, but is expensive at 2.90 a foot. i have no experience with clearflex. the tygon 1000 formula is softer, but as i recall has a lower melting temperature than 3603. so if you have a meltdown, 3603 might keep you alive a little longer befor melting and spewing coolant all over your hardware lol. if clearflex is as flexible, kink-resistant and chemical-resistant as tygon, by all means go with that.

you need to RMA your motherboard. i just RMA'd mine for that same reason, but have to get a new system because they (Abit) are out of stock of my board (KT7a-RAID). not exactly a bad thing. also my antex 430w has defective caps; its not even a year old. dammit all heh...

do *** NOT ***, for whatever reason, use CLR in your system to try to clean it. it explicitly states on the bottle to NOT use for copper or brass. i made that mistake, and wound up with a leaky rad. to clean the block i'd get some stuff called "copper-glo". it comes in a powder and paste, and works fast and easy without fuss.

danner housings; gotta love 'em. they leak if the o-ring seal isn't just right (which is why most people seal it with silicone sealant), and as you found out, are somewhat brittle and prone to craking over time. i just replaced mine not too long ago; make sure your tubing loops are big enough so as to not stress the housing. i think that's what got mine in the end; inlet tube was just a little too short.

[Gulp35]

What did Abit do? send you a rebate? or just take your Mobo off your hands? I ended up just using this tetra smoked tubing that I got from reefgeek.com, but After leaktesting for 3 days, I found that my Cascade had cracked its top .

Maybe god doesn't want me to watercool (or even use my own PC).

[Gulp35]

One year+ later... Computer Fixed (RMA'd board, new WB, new Pump Inlet, Antifreeze)... everyone happy...

2 weeks ago... tubing starts to become "cloudy"... decided not to mess with it because of finals and no other way to cool the computer...

1 day ago... while moving realize that "cloudy" is actually "bubbly" and that with the pump off the system is loosing water FAST... emergency water dump in community showers...

Now... sad... old WC'd computer that has all my games on it is "dead" and/or needs to have it's pump replaced...

What should I do?

PS (sorry for the whole brevity thing, the forums ate my last message)

[Brians256]

Not much you can do other than salvage what you can.

[nicoliani]

Originally Posted by JWFokker

Oh, definitely corrosion. No matter what, you cannot run just water in your loop. You NEED a small amount of antifreeze or other corrosion inhibiter. Your waterblock was probably covered in black crap within a couple weeks.

My blocks are anodized, do I need coolant?

[Brians256]

Yes. Anodization wears down. Just slower.