Cleaning and refilling an AiO ?

[RejZoR]

I was transplanting components from old case to a new one and noticed my Nepton 120XL had quite a bit of moving liquid noise as I was rotating it around, like some of it is missing (evaporated), it was also operating for around 2 years if not more already and was thinking of cleaning it and refilling with new fluid. AiO has a refilling port so it should be doable.

Should I drain it and flush it with distilled water and then fill it with EK Cryofuel which is already premixed solution for the water cooling systems?
https://www.ekwb.com/shop/accessories/cooling-liquids-coolants/cryofuel-premixes

What would be the best approach? Flushing it with distilled water wouldn't really clean the block if some gunk collected on it. Would probably be better to disassemble the pump and clean the actual block and then somehow refill it through the refill port? Or through the block itself using a syringe and slowly pour liquid in it to prevent formation of air bubble. Never really done it... Any suggestions?

 

[natr0n]

The fill port is on the radiator next to the 2 tubes with a sticker over it.

use distilled water run it a few times with that then drain. then use fancy coolant.

 

[Durvelle27]

I usually cleaned mine with vinegar and than filled with Distilled water. Never cared for premixed coolants

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Ive never heard of anyone draining an AIO before let alone needing to. Personally, id just buy a new one.

 

[Durvelle27]

Ive never heard of anyone draining an AIO before let alone needing to. Personally, id just buy a new one.

It’s very common actually. No one expects the coolant to last forever

 

[bonehead123]

Like Nike says:

"just do it"

As long as everything is still working as it is supposed to, buying some coolant, or distilled water, will be way less $$ than the $100+ for a new unit, yes ?

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Id pay extra for the convenience quite honestly, but that's just me.

 

[RejZoR]

Frankly, I was thinking of getting a 280mm AiO, but majority of them are worse than my existing Nepton 120XL. Which is just bizarre. And which is why I'm thinking of just refreshing it and calling it a day. 10€ refill with purpose made liquid vs 120€ for a new cooler that might not even be better...

 

[John Naylor]

Ive never heard of anyone draining an AIO before let alone needing to. Personally, id just buy a new one.

Corrosion inhibitors have a useful life of 18 to 24 months, and in CLC type AIOs you are correct. You shouldn't even try to open them as you normally will void ya warranty and with an aluminum rad / copper block inside, you going to find something on its way to this.

https://martinsliquidlab.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/copperaluminumcorrosion.jpeg

So yes, by all means dump the thing. But if you chose more wise;y and purchased an OLC type AIO, than what you have is a set of custom loop components, that some guy / gal at the factory pre-assembled for you. In this case...

1. You got a 1.0+ gpm pump regular used by custom loop builders instead of a 0.11 gpm pump as commonly found in CLCs.

2. You have a more efficient copper radiator, eliminating the need for extreme speed fans.

3. You don't have mixed metals creating a galvanic corrosion cell.

4. You have a unit designed to easily bleed and drain / replace coolants.

5. You have a system whereby you can replace any of the components individually, no need to toss the whole "kit and kaboodle"

If someone wants water cooling, we will happily build any custom loop itha reasonable component list .... or if they want an AIO, the only ones we will install are the Swiftech and EK Units

http://www.swiftech.com/h240x2.aspx
http://www.swiftech.com/H240-X.aspx

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TivNOgQqW-M&t=1048s
See (17:30) it crush the H100i and 240L in noise (Corsair / CM are 5.7 times louder) while matching of handily beating the competition in performance
See (23:00) it crush the H100i, Kraken and Big Water 3.0 and 240L by 5 - 9C while in noise, they are anywhere from 2 to 4.6 times as loud

Unfortunately I haven't seen it carried much in Europe.... and the EK stuff is way too expensive there. Frankly I have yet to see a CLC type AIO that can match any of the better air coolers on a performance / noise basis.

The Scythe Fuma is $45 and it outperforms most 2 x 120 and 2 x 140 AIOs.

https://tpucdn.com/reviews/Scythe/Fuma/images/temp_oc_aida64.png
https://tpucdn.com/reviews/Scythe/Fuma/images/fan_noise_100.png
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/dVwqqs/scythe-cpu-cooler-scfm1000
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/ffKhP6/scythe-fuma-revb-790-cfm-cpu-cooler-scfm-1100

 

[phanbuey]

this is why i like that reeven naia... definitely my next aio

 

[RejZoR]

I was wondering, if there is less liquid in the cooler, I'm guessing there is less contact betwen radiator with the liquid somewhere then, resulting in smaller internal contact area -> lower performance. I've never seen how radiators look inside exactly, but I'm guesing, if it's placed horizontally on top of the case (top exhaust), there will be segments of it that have air inside instead of fluid as everything levels down into the pump and hoses chamber and only flows as high as liquid level itself goes. Correct?

 

[Durvelle27]

I was wondering, if there is less liquid in the cooler, I'm guessing there is less contact betwen radiator with the liquid somewhere then, resulting in smaller internal contact area -> lower performance. I've never seen how radiators look inside exactly, but I'm guesing, if it's placed horizontally on top of the case (top exhaust), there will be segments of it that have air inside instead of fluid as everything levels down into the pump and hoses chamber and only flows as high as liquid level itself goes. Correct?

This is how the copper core is made with fins on top to dissipate the heat

And yes air inside the system can decrease performance and can result in the water actually boiling

 

[RejZoR]

Eh? I'm not following. What copper core? The block has fins groved into the copper contact plate and radiators are usually split design with thin flat tubes going through the radiator with wavy fins soldered between them to increase surface area. I'm not sure what you meant with that drawing...

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Most AIO's use a copper block and an aluminium radiator, therefore they use some type of corrosion inhibitor. If you were to fill an AIO with just water, galvanic corrosion will occur and it's lifespan will be shortened.

 

[RejZoR]

Which is why I'd use an off the shelf solution with included inhibitors (EK's CryoFuel). There are exceptions tho, BeQuiet Silent Loop coolers for example all have copper block and copper radiator. It's still recommended to use corrosion inhibitors since copper still reacts to water over time.

 

[Animalpak]

Buy this as your next AIO

 

[Ferrum Master]

Where is the problem?? I do that all the time. When I get a bad AIO. I just replace the tubes and add a 6$ aliexpress tank, with two barb fittings. The 6mm tubes are from car world, pretty much everywhere.

You can refill a closed one too, do it in some sort of bucket filled with distilled water, run out the bubbles and close the loop while submerged.

 

[RejZoR]

I'm gonna do it more elegantly. Will flush it with distilled water and then make a contraption to fill the thing without submerging the radiator entirely as I'd need a lot of liquid to do that (CryoFuel is 900ml).

 

[Ferrum Master]

I'm gonna do it more elegantly. Will flush it with distilled water and then make a contraption to fill the thing without submerging the radiator entirely as I'd need a lot of liquid to do that (CryoFuel is 900ml).

Just submerge the edge of it. Not much point in flushing, as usually it is all clean except for one point, the head, that acts as a filter and gets stuffed. I don't bother using anything except distilled water. After few cleaning cycles usually nothing bad grows afterwards. Using a tank actually helps, to see what's inside in the liquid, and you can control it more easy. You have nothing to loose, it is an old AIO anyways.

 

[FireFox]

as I'd need a lot of liquid to do that

I would like to know what is a lot of liquid for you

 

[RejZoR]

The port is placed in rather unfortunate place. I think it'll be cleaner and easier to just make an attachement and plug the bottle directly to it. Or fill it using large syringe to avoid overflow and having air stuck in tubes and radiator.

 

[Ferrum Master]

just make an attachement and plug the bottle directly to it..

It won't work like that, bubbles are a stubborn. I've tried at start the same as you did, but somehow the darn bubbles still were there and came from nowhere, got tired of filling in again, and doing it so often you damage the vent. Attach a tank and call it a day, it will look pretty too.

 

[FireFox]

Attach a tank and call it a day, it will look pretty too.

Agree on that.

 

[RejZoR]

I don't want that, if I would, I'd have a regular water cooling already. I like AiO coz it's just that, water block and radiator, no separate pump and tank.
Depending on screws on the block, I might fill it through there instead through the port. And I'll measure the liquid poured out so I'll have a rough estimate of how much I have to fill in. Besides, I want to make sure block is clean without clogged up block micro channels.

Already ordered the fluid, so I'm doing this If I had a larger vacuum chamber I'd do it that way. Submerge the thing into liquid and vacuum it whole. Same trick used to lubricate sealed bearings. But I'll improvise somehow...

 

[RejZoR]

Ok, CoolerMaster kinda screwed me over with ridiculous amount of safety screws used on the block. I only checked online images which only had triangular safety screws. Mine actually had triangular and also single side screwing screws on each corner (the ones that you can only screw in, but if you want to unscrew them, the screwdriver is just slipping out of the slot). Meaning I'd have to really go a long way getting them out.

So, I just drained the original coolant (which was greenish/yellowish, but perfectly clean, just not enough of it), flushed it with distilled water, drained it and filled it with EK CryoFuel. What surprised me is how much CryoFuel I put into it. When I emptied I got out 1 and a half of small plastic cups. I poured in at least 2 and a half if not 3. I can barely hear any liquid moving now. And temperatures are massively different now and I'm only using MasterGel Maker again instead of Conductonaut.

REFILLING METHOD

I've used the syringe approach. Placed radiator on highest position with refill port being the highest point with pump hanging down and just kept on shoving CryoFuel into it with a syringe. After around 1 and a half cup, I hooked up pump to 12V DC adapter with spliced 3-pin connector so I could circulate the liquid while shoving more of it into the thing. I stopped when the thing kept squirting out when I pushed it in with syringe. I still repeated that few times just to be sure. Screwed back the refill port and shoved in the rubber cap. Done. A lot of improvisation, but I refilled the AiO for 10€ for the CryoFuel and 70cents for distilled water. If nothing miraculously blows up, it was a cheap "repair". Totally worth it