Disaster!

[Groth]

I had written a masterwork diatribe for the mcw6000 thread and was about to click 'submit', when my monitor went dark. Okay, so room temperature had gone up 15 C with this week's sudden influx of spring, but WTF?! Taunting communications majors who can't write shouldn't stress my baby at all.

As I reached towards the reset button, I heard a terrifying sound - a choking gasping gurgle. In a haze of adrenaline, I dived under the desk, fumbling in the dark tangle of cables. As the wet coughing noises grew louder, I found the master kill switch on the UPS. Silence.

'Twas with great trepidation that I then pulled the side panel off my black beast. My worst fears were realized at the sight of a pale green pool spreading across the smooth steel bottom. I died a little as I looked up to see a thin drizzle pause briefly on the back of my video card before continuing downward.

My heart has been ripped asunder -- the heater core of my dreams, a beautiful copper lattice with shining brass ends, has betrayed me. And wrapped in its inexplicable suicidal rage, it murdered an innocent video card and grievously wounded a shy, quiet pump.

[trit187]

sympathies....
what was problem, leak in the heater core, barb or what?
what model graphics card was it?
again, my sympathies....

[Demonfire]

what pump?

[Jabo]

Thats why keep rads and pumps outside the case now and have only three pipes inside the case: CPU-in, CPU->GPU, GPU-out

[bobkoure]

Just wash off areas that have gotten your coolant on 'em with plain distilled water and let 'em dry (hairdryer or put in sealed container with silica gel packs) and chances are good you electronics'll be OK.
Bummer about the leak
Any idea what let go?

[prandtl]

you can also try to pour the whole card in an Isopropyl alcool bath, wash it and let it dry a good 24h.

[BillA]

ok, leak detection 101

most hobbist electronics stores have water sensor kits for ~$10 that have 2 contacts and sound an alarm when wet
- use pieces of screen insulated with a paper towel on the contacts, and tape to the underside of all wbs, etc. near the mobo or video card

this can be rigged for a hard shut down as well

(works to preclude disasters on unattended test benches as well)

[bigben2k]

You have my sincere condoleances.

Your story was quite gripping! Do you write novels on the side?

[Groth]

Update: The pump was a direct drive landscape one made by Beckett, intended for...waterfalls! The seal between the pumping chamber and motor is fubar. Eh, no big loss, it was free.

The video card, a radeom 8500, has an ugly burn mark around the leads of a capacitor. I've washed it well and set it to dry in front of a fan. Whatever.

The heater core - Looks like a solder joint gave way between a tube and the end tank - water flowed out readily when I put it on a pump. After twenty seconds work with an oxy-MAPP torch, it's been pressurized to 10 PSI and is sitting in a bucket of soapy water. Now it knows who's boss.

All in all, it wasn't too bad. Nothing important was destroyed, and I only lost seven hours of folding before if was back up. Plus, I had a chance to show off my purple-prose.

[bigben2k]

Did you test the core before you installed it, originally?

Any idea what the cause of failure was? Stress on the pipes/solder joint?

[Groth]

Not only did I leak test before putting it into a computer, but I had leak tested it for years when it was in my van! (I removed the heatcore and blower before I sent my dead van to junkyard last spring.)

I don't know why that join split, and that bothers me. There would have been some stress on the inlet/outlet from the weight of the hoses, but that shouldn't have been significant. The core was held in place by a strips of wood screwed to each side, then bolted to the top of the case. Shouldn't have been any stress from the mounting. The whole system is brass and copper, no signs of corrosion anywhere.

[BillA]

ah, the salient fact emerges: a 'rotten' core
no tears please, that was earned

[Groth]

Whoever said engineers can't be funny?

[BillA]

I admit to surprise, this lash-up from the inventor of the Grothmeter ?

EDIT: I'll add a bit; at the onset of WCing all the kids headed straight to the wrecking yards and then regaled all and sundry with their tales of woe and ruin as the rotten cores eventually started leaking

some like cheap pumps, others rads - so it goes

[Groth]

Heater cores have life spans of decades. (Have your ever replaced one? Know anyone who has?)

Surely you're not suggesting that a year filled with water/HydrX is more damaging than 10s of years of water/glycol exposure?

[BillA]

the phrase 'rotten' is not mine, it is the expression used in the industry for old cores
yes, like any part under stress it has a finite 'life'
and it could have been bumped, or simply had a 'thin' soldered joint; who knows ?

also yes, over the past 40 yrs of owing cars I have indeed replaced several heater cores (4 I think, but I drive old stuff)
- had an Aerostar with a leaking core that was 6 yrs old
-> my daughter's '83 Fairmont has a leaking heater core, the ENTIRE goddamn dash has to be removed, bummer - #5 I guess now

[Groth]

some like cheap pumps, others rads

and others cars.

I'm thinking that solder joint was weak from the beginning, but had never been sufficiently stressed (original leak test was with just a 6 ft water column). The recent rapid rise in room temperatures, combined with a sealed-system reservoir that contained more air than it ought, could have increased pressure enough to pop a weak joint.

The core has held 10 PSI for a day now, so it'll go back into service tomorrow.

I would have take both cores and blowers from the van, but it too was a vehicle that wanted the entire dash removed, plus a weird structual beam under the dash.

[FizzledFiend]

Originally Posted by unregistered

ok, leak detection 101

most hobbist electronics stores have water sensor kits for ~$10 that have 2 contacts and sound an alarm when wet
- use pieces of screen insulated with a paper towel on the contacts, and tape to the underside of all wbs, etc. near the mobo or video card

this can be rigged for a hard shut down as well

(works to preclude disasters on unattended test benches as well)

this has got to be the smartest thing i have heard for watercooling failure yet...why didn't i think of that and why in gods name haven't i seen a thread on this already.....too many post too little time?

thanks BillA

[FizzledFiend]

Originally Posted by unregistered

the phrase 'rotten' is not mine, it is the expression used in the industry for old cores
yes, like any part under stress it has a finite 'life'
and it could have been bumped, or simply had a 'thin' soldered joint; who knows ?

also yes, over the past 40 yrs of owing cars I have indeed replaced several heater cores (4 I think, but I drive old stuff)
- had an Aerostar with a leaking core that was 6 yrs old
-> my daughter's '83 Fairmont has a leaking heater core, the ENTIRE goddamn dash has to be removed, bummer - #5 I guess now

no you don't have to remove the whole dash, but this option requires a bit of cutting. i have had those fairmonts and the 80's mustangs are the same dash same setup..had those too ...anyways you can cut the heater box open and replace the heatercore that way...when you get the new in silicone the cut panel back in place

[BillA]

Originally Posted by FizzledFiend

no you don't have to remove the whole dash, but this option requires a bit of cutting. i have had those fairmonts and the 80's mustangs are the same dash same setup..had those too ...anyways you can cut the heater box open and replace the heatercore that way...when you get the new in silicone the cut panel back in place

good tip, I'll try it; Thanks