How often do you guys top off water in system?

[icewolf69]

Hey everyone. Quick question, i have to top off my fluid in my water cooling kit about every once in a while (every 2 weeks or so). I mean, not much by any means, but if i don't the tubes get really sucked in and flat because the water in the reservoir is below the line.

I've checked a million times for leaks and stuff, and i don't see any, so where is the water going in a closed loop? i would think any water that's evaporated do to heat stays in the lines as condensation and then gets put right back in with the rest of the water.

Thanks.

 

[tool_462]

It actually slowly evaporates out of the tubes. Some tubing is more porous than others, having a reservoir also adds a little surface area to evaporate and slowly purge out of the threads or diffuse through the reservoir itself.

I have a T-line setup with about 4 feet of tubing and it has only dropped the width of a Bic pen mark (~1/2mm) in the couple months that my woody has been up and running.

Friend of mine using T-line with different tubing has to top his off every month or so, only has to add a couple bottle caps full of water, but his for sure evaporates faster than mine.

 

[brokenshoelaces]

i had a cooler master aquagate in my last system, i had to top of the coolant once every 3 months or so, not very much evaporated at all though. it also depends on your ambient room temps, humidity level and case cooling on how often you should refill.

 

[wun911]

The evaporation is minimal, it happens very very slowly, so you may want to top up every 6 months or so...

It depends largely on the tube you use, and how thick the tube's walls are etc etc.

 

[icewolf69]

If this is the case then i'm a little worried, i'm topping off every 3-4 days depending on how much my PC is on. The longer it's on, the more i top off.

I've checked a hundred times for leaks, and nearly every connector is even double clamped now ( metal worm driven as main, and a light reusable plastic clamp as second.) No resedu in case or on floor. I mean, it is running through 2 8800 GTX's which run pretty hot, but damn that's a lot of water going somewhere.

Tube size is 1/2" ID and 5/8" OD, very thin and soft hoses. Tygon to be exact.

this may not be normal, but if it's not leaking, it's ok then?

i'm lost.

 

[tool_462]

Tygon evaps pretty quickly but 3-4 days seems ridiculous. What kind of reservoir/rad do you have?

 

[icewolf69]

Tygon evaps pretty quickly but 3-4 days seems ridiculous. What kind of reservoir/rad do you have?

i got a swiftech micres micro reservoir and a thermochill 120.3 radiator (3 120mm fan)