So I heard gurgling noises coming from my Aquagate...

B

batmanwcm

Gawd
Joined
Oct 31, 2005
Messages
828
So I take a look through my case window and see what do I see? Water dripping onto my vid card. Thanks to this:

47b7d807b3127cce86580b15f4ad00000026108QctnLRq0aM



47b7d807b3127cce86580b2ff49700000026108QctnLRq0aM



47b7d807b3127cce86580b0bf4b300000026108QctnLRq0aM
 
Yeah, my vid card was fine, I just dried it off and put it back in. Thankfully, I had a big typhoon lying around.
 
batmanwcm said:
So I take a look through my case window and see what do I see? Water dripping onto my vid card. Thanks to this:

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d807b3127cce86580b15f4ad00000026108QctnLRq0aM

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d807b3127cce86580b2ff49700000026108QctnLRq0aM

http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7d807b3127cce86580b0bf4b300000026108QctnLRq0aM
Click to expand...

Ouch, if your GPU isn't dead already, get it out and wipe off the water quickly. Use some rubbing alcohol to clean it off, let it dry, and pray then :(

That really sucks, I'm pretty sure that's acryllic, rather a more flexible plastic. And even using non-NPT barbs :eek:
 
ikellensbro said:
Ouch, if your GPU isn't dead already, get it out and wipe off the water quickly. Use some rubbing alcohol to clean it off, let it dry, and pray then :(

That really sucks, I'm pretty sure that's acryllic, rather a more flexible plastic. And even using non-NPT barbs :eek:
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Ditto. There goes the whole theory that BSPP barbs won't crack acrylic. Looks like this sort of stuff happens to all manufacturers that decide to use acrylic.

Anyhow, do what ikellensbro said and clean it off asap. I'd test the card in another machine rather than powering the one the card came from.
 
I've never been a fan of acrylic tops for this reason.

Replace it with a Apogee GT or other water block of your choice and you'll be back in business.
 
Dan_D said:
I've never been a fan of acrylic tops for this reason.

Replace it with a Apogee GT or other water block of your choice and you'll be back in business.
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Agreed. Swiftech MCW60 would be the safer route for his video card if he chooses to purchase another block.
 
Ranker said:
Agreed. Swiftech MCW60 would be the safer route for his video card if he chooses to purchase another block.
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I thought this was a CPU block he had crack? In any case, the Swiftech blocks seem to be pretty good generally speaking. I have two Apogee GT's and an MCW30 and I am quite happy with them.
 
That's ok, I must not have tightened my barbs enough on my MCW30 because I had a leak all over my motherboard and one of my GPUs. Fortunately the leak wasn't too bad and I was using non-conductive coolant. More expensive, but worth it.
 
Sorry to hear about your misfortune in water cooling. :(

So what kind of fitting was on that cooler? Did it come with the fittings pre-installed? How tight did you tighten it? Did you use any alcohol or solvent in cleaning it?
 
I recommend not over tightening the connectors but am sadened by anybody who experiences water on their video card. Just plain sucks.

Thinking back to my poor 9700Pro that couldn't swim........
 
R1ckCa1n said:
I recommend not over tightening the connectors but am sadened by anybody who experiences water on their video card. Just plain sucks.

Thinking back to my poor 9700Pro that couldn't swim........
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Not all cracks happen due to over tightening. There's a horror show thread over on XS of random cracks occurring 3-6 months into usage across a variety of manufacturers. There's a reason why DD and others moved away from acrylic tops.

It's blingy yeah, but the risks are just not worth it.
 
Ranker said:
Not all cracks happen due to over tightening. There's a horror show thread over on XS of random cracks occurring 3-6 months into usage across a variety of manufacturers. There's a reason why DD and others moved away from acrylic tops.

It's blingy yeah, but the risks are just not worth it.
Click to expand...

Please provide XS link.

Yeah I'm sure there are other reasons like being wiped down by alcohol, cheap material used, and a lot of other factors we aren't privy to. If DD is moving away from using plexi they sure aren't moving very fast as they sure have a lot of plexi based products still being sold. :rolleyes:

Funny how we haven't seen any Aqua Computer blocks cracked. The people who use their products must be super engineers, heh? Or perhaps they use better quality plexi or just use thicker plexi?
 
Ranker said:
Not all cracks happen due to over tightening. There's a horror show thread over on XS of random cracks occurring 3-6 months into usage across a variety of manufacturers. There's a reason why DD and others moved away from acrylic tops.

It's blingy yeah, but the risks are just not worth it.
Click to expand...

Actually most of the cracking problems were solved with they (Dtek, DD, etc) went to new fittings that included an o-ring instead of pressure against the threads to seal the barb to the block........
 
I told myself that I wasn't going to play on these WC forums anymore, but I got a invite and just had to make my standard acrylic comment........:eek: The stuff is dangerous, it will sooner or later crack, there are other types of materials out there better suited for the manufacture of water block tops (Swiftech). So save your self some money and your computer, and shop around.
 
Bio-Hazard said:
I told myself that I wasn't going to play on these WC forums anymore, but I got a invite and just had to make my standard acrylic comment........:eek: The stuff is dangerous, it will sooner or later crack, there are other types of materials out there better suited for the manufacture of water block tops (Swiftech). So save your self some money and your computer, and shop around.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with this. I don't consider myself a water cooling expert but it's not hard to understand that acrylic isn't the best material to be using for water cooling hardware. It's brittle and cracks easily. Fact is it's inferior to other materials.
 
R1ckCa1n said:
Actually most of the cracking problems were solved with they (Dtek, DD, etc) went to new fittings that included an o-ring instead of pressure against the threads to seal the barb to the block........
Click to expand...

Which is why I asked about the particulars concerning this pic. It's obvious to me that the cracks emanated from the threads. All the cracks I have seen of late have been because of alcohol or thread related.
 
Bio-Hazard said:
I told myself that I wasn't going to play on these WC forums anymore, but I got a invite and just had to make my standard acrylic comment........:eek: The stuff is dangerous, it will sooner or later crack, there are other types of materials out there better suited for the manufacture of water block tops (Swiftech). So save your self some money and your computer, and shop around.
Click to expand...

Dan_D said:
I have to agree with this. I don't consider myself a water cooling expert but it's not hard to understand that acrylic isn't the best material to be using for water cooling hardware. It's brittle and cracks easily. Fact is it's inferior to other materials.
Click to expand...

+1 to both.
 
Dan_D said:
I have to agree with this. I don't consider myself a water cooling expert but it's not hard to understand that acrylic isn't the best material to be using for water cooling hardware. It's brittle and cracks easily. Fact is it's inferior to other materials.
Click to expand...

My personal opinion on this is that it isn't the material that's the problem, but the way the material is used by various manufacturers. Plexi is clear so it adds some bling to the party and it also allows visual observation of what is going on inside your block without having to take it apart. We also have to remember that not all plexi is the same. There are different grades of the stuff.

The glaring things I have noticed about these cracks are that they all have used thin walls. The other thing we used to see is manufacturers here that used NPT threads. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that using a tapered thread causes a disruption of the material as the fitting is tightened up. The other issue is with tapping is you need to be very careful with exactly what kind of tap you use and the thread specs. All G 1/8 threads are not the same. I have seen some manufacturers who have used taps that produced tight threads either from poor tap design or the tap wore out and they kept tapping.

All my Aqua Computer BSPP threads are a bit on the loose side which is what you want because the fitting doesn't seal on the threads, but on the o-ring. AC recommends that you just use the fittings hand tight to sustain a good seal. Even knowing this I usually add a slight (1/8 th) turn to the fittings with a wrench. The threads being a bit on the loose side can only be made with special taps that other manufacturers may not spend the money on.

So from my perspective it isn't the material that should be in question, but the manufacturer who machined it. Buy from high quality manufacturers and this problem shouldn't be evident.
 
Top Nurse said:
My personal opinion on this is that it isn't the material that's the problem, but the way the material is used by various manufacturers. Plexi is clear so it adds some bling to the party and it also allows visual observation of what is going on inside your block without having to take it apart. We also have to remember that not all plexi is the same. There are different grades of the stuff.

The glaring things I have noticed about these cracks are that they are all have used thin walls. The other thing we used to see is manufacturers here that used NPT threads. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that using a tapered thread causes a disruption of the material as the fitting is tightened up. The other issue is with tapping is you need to be very careful with exactly what kind of tap you use and the thread specs. All G 1/8 threads are not the same. I have seen some manufacturers who have used taps that produced tight threads either from poor tap design or the tap wore out and they kept tapping.

All my Aqua Computer BSPP threads are a bit on the loose side which is what you want because the fitting doesn't seal on the threads, but on the o-ring. AC recommends that you just use the fittings hand tight to sustain a good seal. Even knowing this I usually add a slight (1/8 th) turn to the fittings with a wrench. The threads being a bit on the loose side can only be made with special taps that other manufacturers may not spend the money on.

So from my perspective it isn't the material that should be in question, but the manufacturer who made it. Buy from high quality manufacturers and this problem shouldn't be evident.
Click to expand...

I don't believe any legit manufacturer has used NPT threads for the longest time. EK has used BSPP since its inception. Swiftech has used NPSM (basically the same thing except for thread count 18 vs 19) for the longest time and recently switch to BSPP. D-Tek uses BSPP. BSPP threading is irrelevant to the discussion as of today's components for the most part.

Whether its alphacool, EK, aqua computer, or DD, acrylic/plexi can crack. Now if the user wants to deal with the risks, by all means, (I roll the dice too on occasion). However, I think it'd be best if all manufacturers offered a delrin replacement top if they choose to offer acrylic tops. Delrin tops don't run the risk of cracking like acrylic tops. They can withstand torquing of barbs/tubing/temperature changes/alcohol/etc like a champ.
 
Alcohol anywhere near acrylic topped blocks...
Using Acrylic to hold a block down...
Huge 1/2" thick tubing that exerts lots of pressure on the top...
Using pressure to keep the fittings in the tapped inlet-outlets...

All need to die.

I almost lost my current setup due to a cracked TDX waterblock... The Dtek Fuzion is simply a superior waterblock.
 
Dan_D said:
That's ok, I must not have tightened my barbs enough on my MCW30 because I had a leak all over my motherboard and one of my GPUs. Fortunately the leak wasn't too bad and I was using non-conductive coolant. More expensive, but worth it.
Click to expand...

I use non-conductive coolant too!

Cost me 1.29 at Food Lion for a gallon of it too!
 
Ranker said:
I don't believe any legit manufacturer has used NPT threads for the longest time. EK has used BSPP since its inception. Swiftech has used NPSM (basically the same thing except for thread count 18 vs 19) for the longest time and recently switch to BSPP. D-Tek uses BSPP. BSPP threading is irrelevant to the discussion as of today's components for the most part.

Whether its alphacool, EK, aqua computer, or DD, acrylic/plexi can crack. Now if the user wants to deal with the risks, by all means, (I roll the dice too on occasion). However, I think it'd be best if all manufacturers offered a delrin replacement top if they choose to offer acrylic tops. Delrin tops don't run the risk of cracking like acrylic tops. They can withstand torquing of barbs/tubing/temperature changes/alcohol/etc like a champ.
Click to expand...

Delrin can even be machined. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delrin
 
The block was doing well with no problems since November, until it cracked. I did not use alcohol so I don't think that was the problem. Before buying the aquagate, I remember reading a few threads on the CM forums where some have reported the same problem. I was just hoping that I would not be one of them.
 
batmanwcm said:
The block was doing well with no problems since November, until it cracked. I did not use alcohol so I don't think that was the problem. Before buying the aquagate, I remember reading a few threads on the CM forums where some have reported the same problem. I was just hoping that I would not be one of them.
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Well in my opinion, you should steer away from any blocks with acrylic tops. They just aren't that strong and are more prone to cracking than some other materals like certain plastics and Delrin. I think there is something to the methods used to construct the block having to do with some blocks being more prone to cracking than others. I just decided to not chance it and steer clear of anything using an acrylic top regardless of it's design. Just like I won't use aluminum blocks. They just don't make sense to me.
 
Did the fittings come pre-installed or did you assemble them yourself?

What kind of fittings are they?
 
batmanwcm said:
The block was doing well with no problems since November, until it cracked. I did not use alcohol so I don't think that was the problem. Before buying the aquagate, I remember reading a few threads on the CM forums where some have reported the same problem. I was just hoping that I would not be one of them.
Click to expand...

It happens to every manufacturer and is just one of the dangers of using acrylic tops. Hopefully there's a delrin replacement top for yours?
 
Ranker said:
There's a horror show thread over on XS of random cracks occurring 3-6 months into usage across a variety of manufacturers. There's a reason why DD and others moved away from acrylic tops.
Click to expand...

Please no back flips, flip flops, or evasiveness on your statement above. Just provide the link. Or did you just blow a raspberry? :eek: :p

Ranker said:
Not that you can see the thread for the next 7 days considering the mods banned you over on XtremeSystems, here's the most recent acrylic crack thread (along with corrosion): http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=147847&highlight=thermaltake

There's another thread with an EK crack, DD crack, and a Zalman crack. I'll search for it when I have time.
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For someone as learned as you claim to be you sure say a lot of silly shit. It always pays to have more than one way in and out of where ever you go... :D

I knew getting banned was coming up real fast when I challenged XS about their Aluminum Censorhip. No big deal as they have also locked all the threads now that had good things to say about using aluminum in a water cooling circuit including the one called What's up with the Aquaduct?.

I probably won't be back as they are some of the most incredibly closed minded group of people I have ever had the misfortune to run across. I will leave them and you to wallow in your ignorance. :D
 
cast acrylic is a lot like tempered glass, a flaw or a stress crack. from manufacturing or over tightening the fittings by the user, can lay dormant for a while and then a small change, thermal, air pressure, shock, and the damn things crack badly/shatter.
 
Top Nurse said:
I knew getting banned was coming up real fast when I challenged XS about their Aluminum Censorhip. No big deal as they have also locked all the threads now that had good things to say about using aluminum in a water cooling circuit including the one called What's up with the Aquaduct?.
Click to expand...
I believe it was for a variety of reasons as told to me through PMs with both mods including:
1) willful attempts at spreading misinformation regarding aluminum galvanic corrosion.
2) rampant flaming and disrespect towards all members
3) blatant "look at me posts", such as your "What's up with my AC gear" post.
4) flame baiting posts taken a whole new level

I probably won't be back as they are some of the most incredibly closed minded group of people I have ever had the misfortune to run across. I will leave them and you to wallow in your ignorance. :D
Click to expand...
Ah yes, manufacturers, retailers, block designers, established WC'ing pioneers and gurus...XS is definitely the backwaters of the WC'ing community.

BillParrish said:
cast acrylic is a lot like tempered glass, a flaw or a stress crack. from manufacturing or over tightening the fittings by the user, can lay dormant for a while and then a small change, thermal, air pressure, shock, and the damn things crack badly/shatter.
Click to expand...

It's exactly why users experience random cracks weeks/months down the line. Due to the dangers that acrylic tops bring along, I think all manufacturers should provide delrin top replacements as an accessory at the very least, similar to how Eddie of EK waterblocks does.
 
After looking at this tread and the links to the ones at XS, I havent seen such a witch hunt since Salem in the late 1600s. (and I was there) All TN does is ask questions or show information, but gets constantly attacked. Very sad.


Gentlemen, I wash my hands of this weirdness.
 
While I disagree with aluminum in the loop (I just don't see the benefits to it :eek:)...

Very, VERY few people understand the science behind galvanic corrosion... and need to STFU about it.
 
BillParrish said:
After looking at this tread and the links to the ones at XS, I havent seen such a witch hunt since Salem in the late 1600s. (and I was there) All TN does is ask questions or show information, but gets constantly attacked. Very sad.
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Which is why I refuse to post there. XS is probably one of the worst forums for ignoring the truth (except for a very small minority of enlightened individuals, who have been advocating logic since I started doing this sort of stuff) in favour of disinformation. :eek:
 
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