Hard Piping WC circuit in copper or clear pvc?

[CustomModAddict]

Just wanted to get some thoughts on doing the water loop on my new build in hard pipe. I was thinking either doing high polished copper tubing with nice smooth bends and curves, or doing the circuit in clear pvc pipe. Just wanted to see what others thought about it. I haven't really seen it done, so it will definitely be different.

The only down fall I see to the copper is you really wont see the water loop. But then again I can put a high polish on the copper, or even just paint it. And with the soft copper tubing, I can pretty much run the whole loop anyway I want to.

So let me know what you think?

 

[astroidea]

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1431806
there's some inspiration

 

[CustomModAddict]

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1431806
there's some inspiration

Thanks that was cool looking.

It was new and never done, but not what I was looking at...

I want a soft copper water cooling loop in side my Chyang A320 case.

I want just the actual water loop in soft copper (not hard copper as he did) then you polish it by hand (like a stripper pole ) It would be a pretty cool looking industrial look to it. Or I could do it in break line, and paint the line, maybe like some type of distressed metal look.

The nice thing about using those two materials they are more then soft enough to make almost any kind of bend possible. Theoretically you could make it all look like it was supposed to be there. I think it would be such a clean and fresh look. Just wouldn't really have that eye candy bling bling look like uv reactive water or tubing....

But then again I could throw in a little piece of clear pvc tubing as say a sight glass. Might work

hmmm... Liking this soft copper piping job more and more I think about it.

 

[BillParrish]

A link I have been looking for for a long time was a guy in the UK I think who plumbed his loop in copper pipe with sweat fittings. Polished and then laquer I think, you would have to protect the bare copper or it would quickly tarnish. But anyway, it was a thing of beauty and craftsmanship. Really stunning but you had to have an appreciation for the work. It was pretty, but your concern about not seeing the water is a very good one. To most people its the water thats the "neato" thing. But if you are out to impress us engineering types go with it, but I hope your an expert at measuring and cutting and that guys solder joints were awesome, must have been 20 at least and every one perfect and identical etc. It impressed the crap out of me so much I remember it clearly to this day at least 5 years later. He used much smaller diamter pipe than the build linked above and transistioned to larger pipe for just one or two long runs.

This is not the guy and apparently from my searches parts 2 and 3 are gone or never where writen.
http://www.procooling.com/index.php?func=articles&disp=35

I dont recall any rigid clear PVC plumbing jobs. I actually looked at it one time but the tubing was expensive and the fittings worse (keep in mind I am the cheapest SOB on the earth and it was affordable but I just was not going to pay that when $10 would get good tubing).

 

[CustomModAddict]

A link I have been looking for for a long time was a guy in the UK I think who plumbed his loop in copper pipe with sweat fittings. Polished and then laquer I think, you would have to protect the bare copper or it would quickly tarnish. But anyway, it was a thing of beauty and craftsmanship. Really stunning but you had to have an appreciation for the work. It was pretty, but your concern about not seeing the water is a very good one. To most people its the water thats the "neato" thing. But if you are out to impress us engineering types go with it, but I hope your an expert at measuring and cutting and that guys solder joints were awesome, must have been 20 at least and every one perfect and identical etc. It impressed the crap out of me so much I remember it clearly to this day at least 5 years later. He used much smaller diamter pipe than the build linked above and transistioned to larger pipe for just one or two long runs.

This is not the guy and apparently from my searches parts 2 and 3 are gone or never where writen.
http://www.procooling.com/index.php?func=articles&disp=35

I dont recall any rigid clear PVC plumbing jobs. I actually looked at it one time but the tubing was expensive and the fittings worse (keep in mind I am the cheapest SOB on the earth and it was affordable but I just was not going to pay that when $10 would get good tubing).

Thats exactly what I was going for, but I want to use soft ACR copper, which is pretty easy to bend, which means less joints to solder or braze. But I have pretty decent soldering skills considering heating air conditioning and refrigeration was my career.

I just have not seen it done in any work logs, and just thought it would be really nice to see a hard piped job done right. Its those kind of details that really show of your work. I could easily put a sight glass in the loop. And yes the clear pvc is ridiculously expensive, but I could also just put in say one or two pieces of clear pipe in the loop, just for some wow effect. And with the bends and offsets you can do with soft copper, you could get the loop to conture to turns hardware etc, what ever you wanted. Then polish it by hand, and then clear coat it to protect the polished piping.

Another option would be flare fittings, which I have the tools and know how for that. I could do it in break line, then just have someone chrome it for me? Hmmm. much design work still ahead I see

 

[sok0]

I think it wouldnt be to bad if you installed all the blocks and everything, then measured extremely close for the copper runs between the blocks. Then cover the motherboard in cardboard so none of solder gets onto the board. The only problem I see would be removing the copper at a later date to upgrade. Its a lot of work when regular tubing that bends at a nice radius looks really good to begin with. And UV tubing would pop a lot more than pvc or copper. And you would also have to clear coat or do something to the copper so it wouldnt tarnish.