Survey: What's your coolant, and how well is it working?

[bigben2k]

Following Airspirit's latest stepback, and the recurring question: "what coolant/additive do I use?", BillA's misadventures, Brian's article, ...

I'd like to get a definitive answer as to the proper combination of various additives that'll successfully prevent algae and microbe growth, while keeping a good cooling ability, for the coolant we use in our rigs.

As any such discussion requires, I am starting with a survey!

Please report the following:

1-Did you use distilled or tap water (or other water)?

2-What type of tubing do you use? (Tygon specify grade, Clearflex, vinyl, silicone,...)

3-What anti-corrosion additive do you use? (Water Wetter, Hyperlube, Purple Ice, Zerex, Silkolene ProCCA, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, etc...)

4-What other additive, if any, did you use? (methyl alcohol, rubbing alcohol, Jet-Dry, soap, etc...)

5-What amount of light reaches your coolant? (direct daily sunlight, UV from my X CCFL, none, etc...)

6-How long have you been running with that solution? (First time, 6 months, 1 year, etc...

7-Have you noticed any color changes in your coolant? (yes, turned green, grey, red, clear, etc...)

8-What metals are exposed to the coolant? (Copper, raw aluminium, brass, stainless steel, Anodized Aluminium, all of the above, etc...)

and lastly:

9-What are your results? (white deposit on tubes, some algae growth, everything OK, etc...)


Please limit your posts to the results: I'll start another thread for an analysis.

Thanks!

[Monster811]

My wc system will arrive in two days, but I can answer all questions except 7 and 9 before that.

1) Distilled Water

2) Clearflex 60 1/2" ID

3) Zerex

4) none

5) some sunlight (external parts), light from incandesant bulb(some through case window), blue ccfl, blue led

6) first time

7) N/A

8) copper, brass, blue anodized aluminum (swiftech block)

9) N/A

[TerraMex]

>1-Did you use distilled or tap water (or other water)?

Distilled.

>2-What type of tubing do you use? (Tygon, Clearflex, vynil,
>silicone,...)

Beats me, some i bough at my local hardware store. It was all they had ... and no reference to them either . It's clear, heavy (thick walls) , and very very resistant to kinking.

>3-What anti-corrosion additive do you use? (Water Wetter,
>Hyperlube, Purple Ice, Zerex, Silkolene ProCCA, ethylene glycol,
>propylene glycol, etc...)

Anti-freeze. 5%-7% tops.

>4-What other additive, if any, did you use? (methyl alcohol, >rubbing alcohol, Jet-Dry, soap, etc...)

None.

>5-What amount of light reaches your coolant? (direct daily
>sunlight, UV from my X CCFL, none, etc...)

None whatsoever, i'm a like a bat, even during the daylight i keep my blinds closed .

>6-How long have you been running with that solution? (First
>time, 6 months, 1 year, etc...

3 month.

>7-Have you noticed any color changes in your coolant? (yes,
>turned green, grey, red, clear, etc...)

The Anti-freeze is green, and... well it keeps green.

>8-What metals are exposed to the coolant? (Copper, aluminium,
>brass, stainless steel, all of the above, etc...)

Copper water block, copper BIX, plastic (eheim) and a couple of brass fittings in the reservoir (made of plastic too).
and lastly:

>9-What are your results? (white deposit on tubes, some algae
>growth, everything OK, etc...)

Very light white deposits on the tubing, the block was clean of them thou.

PS: its offline now, im changing my case , so it's not handy having it fully assembled.

[Cyco-Dude]

ah, a good question.

i had my setup on for about 2-3 months using distilled water only (no anti-corrosion / biological additives) running thru silicone tubing, brass barbs, copper block, rad, pump. was exposed to light (daylight and light from lamp). no direct sunlight. after i pulled the system off i noticed small 'things'; appeared to be biological (imagine that lol). other than that everything was clean.

[zoson]

1 distilled
2 tygon 1/2" id 5/8" od
3 water wetter
4 dyelite, rubbing alcohol 99%
5 2x ccfl blacklights 24/7
6 5 months
7 from pink to clear
8 copper and brass
9 tubing has turned a sort of brownish color. no living things, no funny deposits... I suspect the water wetter discolored my tubing.
-Zoson

[#Rotor]

ambient H2O cooling ( CU/CU)



1-tap water
2-vynil
3-ethylene glycol 1/9 H2O
4- nothing
5- 60w clandestine lightbulb radiation.....
6-about 8 hours now
7-NOOOOO!!!!
8-Copper, stainless steel, Brass
9-troublefree 24/7/365 liquid-cooling, as per usual...





controlled 0ºC Liquid TEC assist cooling. (Al\Cu)


1-tap water
2-vynil, HDF insulate
3-ethylene glycol 4/6 H2O
4- nothing
5- 60w clandestine lightbulb radiation.....
6- 3.5 years +-
7-Not much
8-Copper, Aluminum, stainless steel, brass.
9-troublefree 24/7/365 liquid-cooling, as per usual...

[ataxy]

Originally posted by #Rotor
ambient H2O cooling ( CU/CU)



1-tap water
2-vynil
3-ethylene glycol 1/9 H2O
4- nothing
5- 60w clandestine lightbulb radiation.....
6-about 8 hours now
7-NOOOOO!!!!
8-Copper, stainless steel, Brass
9-troublefree 24/7/365 liquid-cooling, as per usual...





controlled 0ºC Liquid TEC assist cooling. (Al\Cu)


1-tap water
2-vynil, HDF insulate
3-ethylene glycol 4/6 H2O
4- nothing
5- 60w clandestine lightbulb radiation.....
6- 3.5 years +-
7-Not much
8-Copper, Aluminum, stainless steel, brass.
9-troublefree 24/7/365 liquid-cooling, as per usual...

man dont you have big time problem from the condensation of your pelt

[BrianH]

No ... he uses a paper towel every few hours.

[Cova]

1-Distilled Water
2-Tygon lab-grade, 3/8" ID thin-wall
3-Water-wetter. Initially ~3% WW, after about a week the coolant was clear again, so I added pure WW till it returned to the same shade of pink it originally was.
4-None.
5-During normal operation - None. At LAN parties/occasional showing off (less than 1% total operational time probably), 1 blue neon and some blue LED's)
6-~1 Year.
7-It is now a milky pink. I am unsure if it is the coolant or if it is a white buildup on the tubing.
8-All copper parts with brass barbs (Edit: block is soldered shut - depending how much leaked inside there could be a very small, or reasonably large surface-area exposed to coolant - is a Maze-2)
9-Possible thin white buildup on tubing (see #7).

[bigben2k]

To get more responses, I've started the same thread over at OC, here.

[ambient]

1. distilled
2. Tygon
3. Hyperlube
4. Dyelite
5. not much comp's in the basement
6. almost a year bout 10 months
7. no change
8. Copper and stainless. Everything seems fine. temps are even the same

[#Rotor]

Originally posted by ataxy
man dont you have big time problem from the condensation of your pelt

If I did , then a could not lay claim to 24/7/365 troublefree cooling, now could I....




with linkage here.

[ataxy]

Originally posted by #Rotor
If I did , then a could not lay claim to 24/7/365 troublefree cooling, now could I....




with linkage here.

wath is the wattage of your pelt

[bigben2k]

Please either stay on topic, or start a new thread.

thanks.

[airspirit]

I ran 50% water/40% Pine-Sol/10% Lysol through my system for a couple of hours and all of the biomatter was destroyed, dissolved, and removed. It even cleaned my tubing to crystal clear conditions. I highly recommend this for those with any bacterial growth. It is much easier than using pipe cleaners and such.

[bigben2k]

Originally posted by bigben2k
Please either stay on topic, or start a new thread.

thanks.

[ataxy]

Originally posted by bigben2k
Please either stay on topic, or start a new thread.

thanks.

sorry

[airspirit]

That was on topic ... you're asking for people with success and/or horror stories, right? I've come to help with the horror ... but to be on topic:

In one system I used distilled/Hyperlube and had no buildup of any kind. In another I had massive algae buildup even after adding isopropanol. It appears that hyperlube isn't toxic to all algae.

I use clearflex tubing and Hyperlube does NOT stain it in any way. After washing it, it is now perfectly clear and looks like new. The hose has not degraded in any way from the use of the additive. My system is solid copper, is exposed to moderate amounts of daylight as well as a lot of room light which was the same between the two systems that I ran that specific coolant mix through. In the original system I used vinyl tubing and there was no staining from it in that one either.

As far as results went, I noticed a 1-2 degree C temperature drop across the board after adding the Hyperlube (idle temps) at a 10% ratio. I have a unique system, though, so I don't think this would be the case for many others.

[msv]

1. De-ionized tapwater
2. Silicone
3. WaterWetter
4. None
5. None
6. 1 month
7. Pink to clear
8. Copper and stainless steel
9. Everything OK
regards
Mikael S.

[Puzzdre]

Ok, here's mine:

1: distilled
2: vinyl (Cristallo extra)
3: none
4: isopropyl alcohol
5: almost none
6: 7 months
7: no, except for the first attempt I used some antifreeze and all the color was absorbed by the vinyl tubing, no antifreeze since then

8: copper, brass, aluminium (guess it's raw, I use alu rad)
9: all, white deposits on the tubes and some algae growth


Planning to change the whole tubing and the rad, so I'll keep it like this some more...

[bigben2k]

Lots of good info, so far, please keep it up!


Note: please try to be as accurate as possible: aluminium and anodized aluminium are not the same

If you have a heatercore, you can include brass as part of the metals in your loop.

If you soldered anything, include solder (and the type of solder) in your metals.

If you picked up your tubing at a local hardware store, it's probably vinyl.


I'll be compiling this info into a database.

[MMZ_TimeLord]

1-Did you use distilled or tap water (or other water)?

Distilled

2-What type of tubing do you use? (Tygon specify grade, Clearflex, vinyl, silicone,...)

Clear vinyl

3-What anti-corrosion additive do you use? (Water Wetter, Hyperlube, Purple Ice, Zerex, Silkolene ProCCA, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, etc...)

None

4-What other additive, if any, did you use? (methyl alcohol, rubbing alcohol, Jet-Dry, soap, etc...)

None

5-What amount of light reaches your coolant? (direct daily sunlight, UV from my X CCFL, none, etc...)

None, the case stays closed and I have no windows in it.

6-How long have you been running with that solution? (First time, 6 months, 1 year, etc...

Well, since I first built it 4 years ago. However the solution has been changed a few times. The last time was well over a year ago.

7-Have you noticed any color changes in your coolant? (yes, turned green, grey, red, clear, etc...)

No, crystal clear. This happened when I first started with tap water and my reservior was not sealed. Sealed it and went to distilled... never happened again.

8-What metals are exposed to the coolant? (Copper, raw aluminium, brass, stainless steel, Anodized Aluminium, all of the above, etc...)

99.9% pure copper blocks (probably some solder inside but not much) and the aluminium trans cooler I used for a radiator... I believe it's untreated aluminium. *EDIT* It's a Perma-Cool Trans cooler and is all aluminum in construction. (Thin Line coolers feature 1/2" aluminum tubes, TurbulatorTM cooling fins, 11/32" multi-barb fittings and plastic fin protectors. Kits include transmission oil hose, illustrated multi-lingual instructions, and all necessary mounting hardware. Coil size: 3/4" x 5" x 15-1/2")
Mine is the second from the left.

9-What are your results? (white deposit on tubes, some algae growth, everything OK, etc...)

A total of about a half teaspoon (eyeball estimate) of white-ish scale deposits in the reservior. I presume this is from the untreated aluminium as I never introduced an anti-corrosion agent. Other than that ... nothing.

[leejsmith]

1. De-ionized
2. Silicone 3/8
3. car cooling system conditioner stops bacteria and corrosion
4. None
5. window on side of case but no direct sunlight
6. 1 month
7. clear
8. Copper block base , brass barbs , copper chevvy heater core with brass barbs
9. no problems so far but have to check levels once a week. The cooling conditioner left a white residue on the tubes

[jtroutma]

Here I go:

1) Water = Distilled

2) Tubing = Tygon R3603 (i think)

3) Anti-Corrosion = NONE

4) Extra Anti = NONE

5) Light = Artifical mostly (barely any natural)

6) Time = 4 months (just recently flushed)

7) Color? = yes; slight green on newer tubing, green with white film on older (could be leftover from long time ago of running non-distilled)

8) Metals = copper, brass, solder (around barbs)

9) Results? = Good performance, have slight white powder on older tubing (could be left-overs though), tubes turn slightly green.

Hope this helps!

[ndtinker]

Hi, I'm new, but I figure I'd add to the discussion.

1-Did you use distilled or tap water (or other water)?

Distilled, first stuff in gallon jugs from Kroger, then after I found it might have a bit of sodium in it, I changed it out for Aquafina bottled water.

2-What type of tubing do you use? (Tygon specify grade, Clearflex, vinyl, silicone,...)

Tygon, R-3603

3-What anti-corrosion additive do you use? (Water Wetter, Hyperlube, Purple Ice, Zerex, Silkolene ProCCA, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, etc...)

Nothing.

4-What other additive, if any, did you use? (methyl alcohol, rubbing alcohol, Jet-Dry, soap, etc...)

Nothing.

5-What amount of light reaches your coolant? (direct daily sunlight, UV from my X CCFL, none, etc...)

Possibly some sunlight through the blinds, although doubtful, flourescent lights on the ceiling, a UV CCFL that's on only 24-48hrs a month while at LAN's.

6-How long have you been running with that solution? (First time, 6 months, 1 year, etc...

6 months exactly.

7-Have you noticed any color changes in your coolant? (yes, turned green, grey, red, clear, etc...)

No, at least not in the coolant. Although it looks like milk while the system is running (too powerful a pump and too small a reservoir, although I'm swapping out the Res for a larger one this week) and the water goes back clear if I shut the system off.

8-What metals are exposed to the coolant? (Copper, raw aluminium, brass, stainless steel, Anodized Aluminium, all of the above, etc...)

Copper, Anodized Aluminum, Brass.

9-What are your results? (white deposit on tubes, some algae growth, everything OK, etc...)

Great temps so far, but the hoses have a white haze, probably from water wetter a few months ago, no telling really. I didn't know they had changed any until I took the system apart and saw how clear the part of the hoses were that were attached to barbs.




I'll probably try that PineSol/Lysol solution I read about earlier.