I got pretty sick of gambling with vinyl tubing in water loops, so I started experimenting with different types of tubing over the past couple of years. If anyone is interested, I have found a clear winner IMO, food grade high temperature silicone rubber tubing. Vinyl tubing will never see the light of day in one of my loops again! The only downside to the tubing I use is that it is semi opaque. Unlike vinyl, it just doesn't come in crystal clear, however, I think it looks extremely good with any colored coolant. I'll add some pics of my loop this evening if anyone is interested.
I order mine from a Chicago based company that has become my go-to for anything project related, McMaster-Carr, although I'm sure you can find the same stuff at other online retailers. The reason I stick with this tubing is pretty simple, it is cheap, extremely durable, has extremely good bend radius without collapsing, and NO PLASTISIZER. An added bonus for any extreme cooler is that it's a killer insulator, so condensation is of very little concern if running sub ambient.
Although propylene glycol, which many computer coolants use, isn't listed on the chemical compatibility sheet, ethylene glycol is listed, and it scores extremely well. I can attest to this fact, as I have been using high temp silicone rubber (soft and semi-soft) in my loop for about a year now with outstanding results.
Anyway, I hope this saves someone out there the headache of completely tearing down their loop to meticulously clean each component due to plastisizer. As I found out the hard way more than once, you just never really know when using vinyl.
link to what I use --> http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-plastic-and-rubber-tubing/=sz8mtp
on the left click on "beverage", then "rubber", then "semi-clear"
I order mine from a Chicago based company that has become my go-to for anything project related, McMaster-Carr, although I'm sure you can find the same stuff at other online retailers. The reason I stick with this tubing is pretty simple, it is cheap, extremely durable, has extremely good bend radius without collapsing, and NO PLASTISIZER. An added bonus for any extreme cooler is that it's a killer insulator, so condensation is of very little concern if running sub ambient.
Although propylene glycol, which many computer coolants use, isn't listed on the chemical compatibility sheet, ethylene glycol is listed, and it scores extremely well. I can attest to this fact, as I have been using high temp silicone rubber (soft and semi-soft) in my loop for about a year now with outstanding results.
Anyway, I hope this saves someone out there the headache of completely tearing down their loop to meticulously clean each component due to plastisizer. As I found out the hard way more than once, you just never really know when using vinyl.
link to what I use --> http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-plastic-and-rubber-tubing/=sz8mtp
on the left click on "beverage", then "rubber", then "semi-clear"
