Cleaning advice - no flux coming out

T

TechJeff

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 25, 2009
Messages
185
I read the FAQ and have been cleaning my NEW water cooling parts with DI water, boiling and using for my blocks and radiators.

The EK Nickel CPU blocks were perfect and it did nothing much to clean them.

Then I tried my Black Ice SR-1 rads using a boiling pan of water, turned off for a few minutes, then inserted a submersible pump running 2 tubes to the outlets on the rad with compression fittings. It was left running for almost 1 hour and I did not find anything coming out from the rad. Maybe a few specs at most, but mostly just clear water. I had the outlet line from the rad running back into the pan of water so I could see if it was getting anything out. Just wondering if this is normal or anyone else had nothing really to come out of their new rads? Can't think of anything else since this is how most say to do it and advise NOT using vinegar since it is bad for the copper and such.

I could try filling the rad with hot water after boiling, letting sit, draining some, shacking and emptying, repeat, etc. as stated in the FAQ here. However, it doesn't seem like this would do much else the method above wasn't doing.

Any thoughts or advice? Is it normal to not have flux come out of new rads or very little? I kept reading about how you HAD to REALLY clean new parts because they had LOTS of gunk in them, but I'm not finding much or any at all so far.

Thanks.
 
I didn't clean my parts at all and when draining the water after 1/2 a year the liquid looked completely clean. To sell water cooling parts they have to leak test it with the maximum rated PSI, so that process probably cleans it as well.
 
Nightbird said:
I didn't clean my parts at all and when draining the water after 1/2 a year the liquid looked completely clean. To sell water cooling parts they have to leak test it with the maximum rated PSI, so that process probably cleans it as well.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info.

I don't understand though why the FAQ on this site and some other youtube water cooling videos always say to clean your new parts because there is a LOT of flux in them. It makes it sound like there is a lot of debris that will come out and such, some even show it, but I have not found that to be the case with mine so far.
 
You're better off being safe than sorry. There is no good reason not to flush out your rads and blocks before use.

I did a half asked job flushing my UT60 and a week or so later suddenly had debris in my loop.
 
TechJeff said:
Thanks for the info.

I don't understand though why the FAQ on this site and some other youtube water cooling videos always say to clean your new parts because there is a LOT of flux in them. It makes it sound like there is a lot of debris that will come out and such, some even show it, but I have not found that to be the case with mine so far.
Click to expand...

Jeff, when that sticky was written back in the day, WC parts were no where near as evolved as what we are lucky enough to enjoy today..Many companies have their radiators made for them, and since they use the cheapest bidder (like everything else), often there was a lack of QA..Many factories used way to much flux when assembling the rads, and even if they did briefly leak test, I'm sure it was only for a 30 second window or so..They then dropped them in the box and mailed them to the OEM..

Now a days, EK and a few other companies make a point of declaring they took the time to "Flush" their product and you the customer should consider that a bonus point when selecting which brands to use:rolleyes::rolleyes:..

Personally, I have always just heated up a large pot (maybe 1/2 to 3/4 gallon) of distilled water until boiling, then pour it into my rad in the sink, let it sit for about a mintue, the shake the hell out of it..Dump the water, repeat and you are good to go..It took me about 20 mins to do 2 rads, a cpu block, and a gpu block, which I spent some more time on since I bought it used and the guy used Frasier coolant)...I have never had any issues with this method, so after 5 loop builds, I am happy..
 
The Black Ice radiator I have (can't remember the model name) came out with nothing after it was flushed.
 
Yep, back in the day my first rad was a complete mess to the point I had to toss it. Once I got a newer one (Black Ice) it was clean as can be.

Personally I only clean out my loop once every year or when I add new parts (For me tends to be a lot sooner then that :) )

If it's coming out clean I would not worry about flux. Just make sure you are using pure DI or RO water or a good coolant to keep crap out.
 
Thanks for the info everyone. That explains why my parts were so clean to begin with. I did boil some DI water, fill the rads and let sit for a while, then shook them. Still clean with nothing at all. Like other said, my Black Ice SR-1 rads were just fine but I did it just to be safe. Didn't spend a lot of time on the others, just did them once and they were clean too.

Seems like parts are MUCH better now or at least mine had little or no flux or gunk at all.
 
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