Question about Parallel Flow/Galvanic Corrosion

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jadawgis732

Gawd
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Jun 18, 2009
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So I reworked my build over the past few days, and installed some bitspower crystal links. Two questions: is this what galvanic corrosion looks like? It seems like the nickel plating is peeling away to reveal copper underneath. Yet another testament to why you should only use distilled+kill coil.

Second question has to do with parallel flow. Does it only work if you have the flow going against gravity? Because after playing CODBLOPS for less than 5 minutes the temps on the two GPUs were 90/45 before they were about 51/53 (flow was more restrictive on the loop). Still I think it's clear from the temps on this setup, that parallel flow is NOT working the way it should be. Thanks for the help.
 
That does look a bit like corrosion, but I'm no expert.

Parallel flows can be a pain to balance, and in my opinion aren't worth the trouble. For the flow rate through each branch to be equal you need each branch to have the exact same amount of restriction. Pulling that off usually involves artificially restricting with valves, and then you're sacrificing total flow rate of the loop...
 
without better pictures, that discoloration could be from just about anything. galvanic corrosion is the same process as electroplating, just not on purpose or for a good cause. copper will corrode slightly preferentially to nickel. aluminum will corrode preferentially to almost everything, so if that is actually galvanic corrosion, what you see in that block would be aluminum deposits from other parts in the loop; radiators are usually aluminum for example. it does appear to have a lighter milky grey color of aluminum, but hard to tell from that picture.

as for parrallel flow- if one leg is going against gravity and the other is not (depends on where the splits are) then, yes, there would be an imbalance of head pressure and the flow would not be equal. if both legs are at the same elevation and the same legnth and restriction, they would be equal.
 
swiftech_apogee.jpg

IMG_3225.jpg


That's what Galvanic corrosion looks like. Top one is a Swiftech with military-grade anodizing and the bottom one is a SlitEdge
 
that is why I use 1:10 distilled water to radiator coolant mix. a plain distilled water with with pt nuke or kill coil will only prevent algae growth, not galvanic corrosion
 
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