Hello,
I want to prepare my own coolant since shipping of pre-mixed coolants cost too much to my country.
I was using primochill liquid utopia with UV Green colorant before. I don't want to use dyed coolants this time, I know that they are bad for blocks and radiator.
What are your suggestions? I need both algae and corrosion protection. My setup is: copper radiator, copper vga block and electroless nickel plated cpu block(copper inside).
I need one product or two compatible products. I mean two products without chemical interactions/side-effects. As I read, we need to pick the right anti-corrosion agent for different types
of metals.
They've done all the homework already, all you need to do is mix it with distilled water and your good to go. Are you in the US, performance-pcs.com stocks stuff like this.
They've done all the homework already, all you need to do is mix it with distilled water and your good to go. Are you in the US, performance-pcs.com stocks stuff like this.
I'm not in the U.S. and performance-pcs.com offers high international shipping costs, unfortunately. It's like $40-$50 for just shipping.
I generally prefer ebay sellers or amazon, even aliexpress. The products you suggested seem nice, but you can only make 1L of coolant with one pack.
My loop needs more than 1 liter to be filled. I kinda look for an alternative to Liquid Utopia.
You can make 1 gallon of coolant with a small additive. I wasn't satisfied with algae protection of Liquid Utopia, this is why I want to prefer a different product this time.
I'm not in the U.S. and performance-pcs.com offers high international shipping costs, unfortunately. It's like $40-$50 for just shipping.
I generally prefer ebay sellers or amazon, even aliexpress. The products you suggested seem nice, but you can only make 1L of coolant with one pack. I kinda look for an alternative to Liquid Utopia.
You can make 5L of coolant with a small additive. I wasn't satisfied with algae protection of Liquid Utopia, this is why I want to prefer a different product this time.
And if you want really cheap algea & mineral protection.... : 1 flat teaspoon of Citric Acid for 1 liter of water
Citric Acid can be found below or on the same shelve as Baking Powder (Sodium bicarbonate) either in the cooking/cake-making section or the household cleaning section of your local supermarket or grocery.
Tip: both products are excellent cleaning products also , although each with their own "specialisation" : cleaning coffee makers, kitchen sinks, toilet bowls, laundry refreshment, teeth whitening, etc
Instructions were saying "mix with 1 gallon DI water". I live in Cyprus so it's very hard to find PC water cooling supplies here. I need to buy everything from
international shopping sites. I can buy automobile additives though. If you recommend using an antifreeze product, or an automobile radiator additive, I may check.
Paying $50 for shipping of a $8 product doesn't seem reasonable. When you need to buy 2 or more products from different sellers(because amazon/ebay you know) shipping costs get even more ridiculous. Ebay sellers from Germany/UK send with much lower shipping costs, I generally prefer them.
I can consider using cheap alternatives like glycol/citric acid/anti-freeze but I don't want to destroy my blocks and radiator. So it must be safe at first.
And if you want really cheap algea & mineral protection.... : 1 flat teaspoon of Citric Acid for 1 liter of water
Citric Acid can be found below or on the same shelve as Baking Powder (Sodium bicarbonate) either in the cooking/cake-making section or the household cleaning section of your local supermarket or grocery.
Tip: both products are excellent cleaning products also , although each with their own "specialisation" : cleaning coffee makers, kitchen sinks, toilet bowls, laundry refreshment, teeth whitening, etc
If i couldn't get a a concentrate from mayhem, xspc, ek, swiftech (etc), i'd probably mix automotive coolant and distilled. Be aware that ethyl glycol is poisonous so be careful if you've got kids or any other critters around.
I think I noticed a mention of EK blocks having an issue (or at least had customers squawking the issue), so this must be what you are referencing? I use UV reactive tubing and lighting so material deposits along the walls have not been something that I would of found unacceptable. The acetal components never showed deposits just the inner tube which I just assumed was the mediocre metal of the jet plates oxidizing or flux I didn't get when cleaning the rad.
I assume some of these coolants suppress galvanic corrosion? Would that be harsh on the PVC tubing? Any articles that address the trade offs you could recommend?
I think I noticed a mention of EK blocks having an issue (or at least had customers squawking the issue), so this must be what you are referencing? I use UV reactive tubing and lighting so material deposits along the walls have not been something that I would of found unacceptable. The acetal components never showed deposits just the inner tube which I just assumed was the mediocre metal of the jet plates oxidizing or flux I didn't get when cleaning the rad.
I assume some of these coolants suppress galvanic corrosion? Would that be harsh on the PVC tubing? Any articles that address the trade offs you could recommend?
It has never been proven that silver "eats" nickel in our watercooling loops. But you can extrapolate that from their properties and lab behaviour. Thus, manufactures are playing it safe and putting in a "disclaimer" of sorts to discourage use of silver in the loop. Just like they advise to only use the mixture they sell. Some of them allow for Mayhems ready-mix, thou.
So you get a thing which is a bit like a self-fulfilling prophesy ... people not sure to believe it or not play it safe also.
As for the EK debacle... that was actually bad plating jobs and for a long time EK denied that and pushed the blame on their customers. Something for which they are still hated today, no matter how much they want that to be forgotten.
Mayhems mixes. I'm not going to say they dont "work"; they surely do and they are "easy", so you dont have to work out for yourself the best & safe "mix", and they are "sexy".. you can get them in any colour you want, so you dont have to chase up which colorants are "safe" to use in your system. And they are not outrageously hi-priced... but nevertheless.. for me there are some parallels to Dasani, but that is my opinion. I know that i can make a "safe" mix for a fraction of the price of a "ready mix", but i also admit it would be a lot easier if i had a bottle of "ready mix" handy.
Harshness on PVC tubing.. probably, but ordinary PVC tubing are no longer used.. because of plasticiser you know. So, nowadays "specialised watercooling tubing" is sold -by the foot. Never mind that you can pick up food grade or medical/surgical grade phthalate-free hose in 30 feet rolls which come out a lot cheaper by the foot... if you know where to look.
Now, i don't deny anybody making a living or even a quick buck. Good for them. I'm just saying that you can do watercooling a lot cheaper without cutting back on quality by using your brain and by making the time to "shop around".
i have run a silver coil in my loop for 6 years problem free had a few nickel blocks that didnt have any problems never had any build up of anything in my loop always clean when i drained it.
Several of the major manufacturers talk about Silver and Nickel plate but its generally just the observation (like Shoggy of Aquacomputer has made) that the majority of corrosion cases they see involve distilled water with a lack of an anti corrosive additive and either Silver or Copper sulphate. I don't believe its necessarily the silver or CUso4, but just that, that is the most common coolant used by people without an anti-corrosive.
Liquid Utopia is very popular in the Australian community and has been for years. Many people have had good results with it for a long time. The advent of the lower cost super concentrate coolants has made some switch.
Instructions were saying "mix with 1 gallon DI water". I live in Cyprus so it's very hard to find PC water cooling supplies here. I need to buy everything from
international shopping sites. I can buy automobile additives though. If you recommend using an antifreeze product, or an automobile radiator additive, I may check.
Paying $50 for shipping of a $8 product doesn't seem reasonable. When you need to buy 2 or more products from different sellers(because amazon/ebay you know) shipping costs get even more ridiculous. Ebay sellers from Germany/UK send with much lower shipping costs, I generally prefer them.
I can consider using cheap alternatives like glycol/citric acid/anti-freeze but I don't want to destroy my blocks and radiator. So it must be safe at first.
Just use distilled and get a simple biocide (petra's, mayhems, silver, citric, etc). Avoid nickel if you are worried about companies with shoddy plating trying to put the blame on their customers.
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