# Water Cooling problems - a sitrep



## DonaldG

Eight months ago, on 21st October 2008, I converted my quad core computer to water cooling. I purchase a new Zalman ‘Reserator TX hybrid liquid cooling system’ I wrote and article on converting from air cooled to water cooled CPU. Click here for the original article.

The following charts the progress and problems associated with the project .

The installation was very simple with the easy to follow instructions Zalman provided. 

The Zalman kit was supplied with quarter litre of concentrated Anti Corrosion Coolant ZM-G300 which must be diluted with distilled water. The main problem was associated before installation: locating distilled water!

In the UK, it is not easy to obtain pure distilled water. Go into any motor shop and ask for distilled water and you will be given de-ionised water, not distilled. The distilled water available in supermarkets for use in domestic irons contains perfumes and other contaminants.

A pharmacy sold me a bottle of ‘Pure Water’ assuring me that it was distilled. I telephoned the manufacturers and spoke with their quality control pharmacist. He confirmed it was de-ionised, not distilled. However, discussing my needs etc, he assured me that it would be absolutely safe to use de-ionised water and no harm would become of my system.

So, I diluted the deep blue ZM-G300 according to instructions. I filled and commissioned the Reserator TX. All seemed fine. It worked like it said on the box. I was very pleased and wrote up the article on the installation etc.

However... During March 2008, the alarm would go off occasionally. There are three items that can trigger an alarm: Low coolant level, no coolant flow and over temperature. The alarm does not advise which triggered it.

Investigating the alarms, I determined at the time, that it was low coolant level that triggered the alarm. 

During the interim period, I had located a seller of real distilled water on Internet and purchased 5 litres and another bottle of Zalman anti-corrosion coolant additive.

So, two months ago, I emptied the Reserator, removed the water block and pipe work and reverse flushed it out. During this process, I noticed that there were some small particles of blue ‘bits’ about the size of sugar crystals but didn’t take much notice or concern because of the cleaning.

Reinstalled the water block and filling with zm-G300/distilled water mix and all was well.

Yesterday, 15th May, the alarm went off permanently. I noticed that there was no liquid flow, indicating pump failure or blockage.

I disconnected the pipes from the CPU water block. I then connected the Reserator outlet & inlet pipes together. Powering the Reserator via an external 12v supply, full coolant flow was observed. Therefore, the blockage was most likely to be in the CPU water block.










I carefully removed the water block from the CPU. Cleaned off the thermal compound and stuck insulating tape underneath so as to protect the heat plane from scratching etc. I peeled off the warning notice: ‘Removing this sticker will void the warrantee’. Using the correct size allen key, I took it apart.

_Caution: do not dismantle your water block unless you are prepared to write it off and have to buy another or be prepared to invalidate warrantee!_ 

Extreme care must be taken when dismantling and handling the parts. There is a water seal ring that must not be touched. Likewise the sealing surface on the mating part must not get scratched.

What I discovered was astounding. The flow chamber matrix was blocked with a hard deposit or growth of some sort of crystalline material.


















The blockage was in the centre of the matrix, coinciding with the inlet pipe. It was mechanically removed with a small probe tool and then immersed in a jar of vinegar (acetic acid) to help dissolve any alkaline deposits such as calcium. It was then scrubbed thoroughly with an old tooth brush, rinsed and put to one side to dry.

The top section of the water block had massive growths of the same crystalline material in and around the inlet and outlet pipes. The majority being on the inlet pipe aperture.










There also appeared to be some sort of blistering around the inlet/outlet aperture. I discovered that the internal surfaces of the water block are coated with a very thin layer of a plastic material. This had lifted and allowed coolant to ingress under it. 










Side view showing the growth of crystalline material.









Close up










Removing the deposit/growth required a sharp knife to ‘slice’ away the stuff. It took some 30 minutes and another session with vinegar to remove nine tenths of it.










This is just a small amount of the dried out material removed from the top chamber of the water block. Crushing a small amount was very similar to crushing sugar crystals.










This shows the etching of the metal where the crystals were growing. The outline of the displaced plastic coating can be seen. (The oops is a scratch caused by careless handling of the removal knife!)

Eventually it seemed clean enough to re assemble. I offered a prayer that It would not leak all over a £600 CPU!

On reinstalling, everything appears fine – full flow is restored! (& my CPU remains dry!)

*Conclusion.*

I am now convinced that the earlier alarms were caused by restricted coolant flow. I am not sure of the cause of this problem. Two possibilities come to mind:

1) Using de-ionised water may be the culprit. Although I have been assured that it should not cause corrosion by an industrial chemist who specialised in de-ionised water. Because of my experience and unless it is proven otherwise, I do not recommend the use of de-ionised water.

2) I have a faulty water block that allowed coolant to make contact with the internal metal. I don’t favour this option.

*Unanswered questions: *

*The Anti-corrosion additive did not do its job! Why?

* What is the crystaline material - a precipitate? A chemical reaction with anti-corrosion liquid & de-ionised water?

I shall be forwarding these findings and photographs to Zalman and will report back their comments.

[all photographs copyright DonaldG


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## dai

i just use distilled off the supermarket shelf with car radiator inhibitor and have had no problems so far with it

i would think the a/corrosion liquid would be the first suspect


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## DonaldG

Unfortunately Dai, no where in town sells true distilled water - when you ask for it in all the places one would expect, they say yes, we have it & then offer a de-ionised water - they just don't know the difference.

The only distilled water available in the supermarket has so many additives, perfumes, along with benzines, alcohol and a raft of other chemical stuff. I looked at several brands.. all had additives that I am not happy to try.

Anyway, I now have distilled water so that part of the equation is taken care of.

I have just spent a social evening with a retired industrial chemist friend. He thinks it may have been a reaction between the anti-corrosion liquid and the de-ionised stuff. He tried to educate me with the details that de-ionised stuff has the calcium removed and sodium takes its place...

whatever, I have emailed the content of my posting above to Zalman in Korea asking for their comments. If & when they reply, I will update the thread.


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## dai

my brother was here 
he went back to the uk a couple of weeks ago 
he is also a industrial chemist he had a chemical works in coventry pity it did not come up while he was here
it's not what you expect to happen with a high end piece of equipment


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## DonaldG

dai said:


> my brother was here
> he went back to the uk a couple of weeks ago
> he is also a industrial chemist he had a chemical works in coventry pity it did not come up while he was here


Thats how it goes!



> it's not what you expect to happen with a high end piece of equipment


Absolutely! However, in fairness, I did deviate from their mixing instructions using de-ionised rather than distilled because of said difficulty in procuring..

Chemically, it may be OK to use de-ionised but something is dramatically wrong. 

I cannot, for one moment, think that the Zalman Reserator XT is a bad piece of kit. It has been out long enough for any shakedown faults or errors to have been sorted (& reported on the 'net)

It is beautifully engineered. I did lift the lid and peeked inside. There are two integral heat exchangers. The main body is machined & anodised aluminium which also has coolant pathways machined into it so that the whole body acts like a heat sink. The internal reservoir is large and the built in electronics control looks like a very high standard PCB & components.

The water block is likewise beautifully engineered. 

My only criticism is the single alarm. It is certainly attention getting, beeping and flashing on/off all the indicator LEDs. But it is the same alarm irrespective of what triggered it. It is triggered on: Low coolant level, low or no flow rate and coolant temperature. 

It would be nice to have some indication as which of the three points triggers it...

Even with the problems I am having, I still like it & would recommend it to anyone with the caution re de-ionised water.


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## DonaldG

So far I have had 2 emails back from Zalman - both saying that they are refering my email to the appropriate department. I live in hopes.


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## dai

well at least they have not put it in the no answer basket


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## DonaldG

Further Sitrep
I have not heard back from Zalman as yet... Do I expect to? I live in hopes.

In the meanwhile, after only TWO MONTHS, I am getting the same alarms - there is no coolant flow when on automatic flow but works on manual flow. This is exactly the same symptom as before. It is my belief that the water block is becoming clogged with the 'growth' again. I shall have to strip it down again to investigate.

I have just telephoned Overclockers UK, where I purchased the unit from back in October 2008. They were most UN-HELPFUL saying that I "...had invalidated the whole system warranty because I used the wrong water" (Is deionised water the wrong water? I have been assured by the QA Manager of a pharmaceutical supplier to hospitals & pharmacies that the de-ionised water will have no adverse effect on the anti-corrosion fluid and/or the system.)

I was not trying to get a repair or replacement under warranty, although it would be nice, I just wanted to get to the root cause of the problem - They told me that they do not deal directly with Zalman but get the kit from 'QuietPC' - Overclockers will take my machine and send it to QuietPC if I pay for the 'repair'...

I explained that *all *I want is to speak with someone who is technically oriented so that I can sort the problem out and warn/advise our members what went wrong. The guy I talked to claimed that he did not have contact information for QuietPC. 

When I asked to talk to a manager at Overclockers, I was told that he does not speak to customers, I must email....

I am very disenchanted with the lack of help and co-operation I have got from Overclockers UK

Keep tuned for the next episode....


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## DonaldG

Further sitrep:

I have just had tremendous help from QuietPC (UK) - their telephone number is on their Home page.

After some discussion on the subject, they are going to contact Zalman direct on my behalf and see if they can help in resolving the cause of the problems.

QuietPC's Tech support have a _theory_ as to the cause which is in line with my thoughts but as it is only a theory, I don't want to suggest yet it in case we are wrong! Best wait for confirmation from Zalman....

I would like to mention the help cooperation from QuietPC is great customer service. It was a pleasure to speak with someone who took an interest in this problem. Thanks 'A' :wink:


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## DonaldG

Further update 
First of all, please note that the Zalman Anti corrosion liquid is a deep blue colour.

On 15th May 09, I stripped and cleaned the Zalman waterblock – It was clogged as reported and photographed in the posting #1 above. I cleaned the unit and refilled it with fresh Zalman Anti-corrosion/distilled water as per Zalman’s instruction sheet. All went well for a while.

On July 1st, the flow alarm went off again, only 1½ months later. Unfortunately due to pressure of work and a constant stream of overseas visitors, I was unable to address the problem until a few days ago. What I found was horrific. 

Firstly, I disconnected the pipes leading to & from the water block and connected the outlet of the Reserator to the inlet to check the flow. Sure enough, it was OK.









However, I immediately noticed that the colour of the coolant was clear – not blue at all!









But the pipes had little lumps of something inside them.









The clear transparent pipes leading to & from the water block were coloured blue, making me believe it was the colour of the coolant. I soon discovered that the pipes had a coating of ‘blue residue’ in them and that the coolant was a clear, colourless liquid. 









I drew up coolant mixture from the reservoir and that was a clear colourless liquid too. It seemed as if the colorant in the Zalman anti corrosion fluid had precipitated out.

I was convinced that the water block was clogged up again and needed to be removed, dismantled & cleaned out.









The inside of the heat plane showing the clogging matter


















The growth of matter in the top of the water block. The aperture on the right is the inlet to the water block.

I was now very concerned as to what growths/crystallization was in the main unit; pump, radiators (2), internal pipes etc.









I shone a torch through the filling hole and could see contamination around an aperture within. It appears that my suspicion of internal problems was correct.









I removed the top plate carefully to reveal the reservoir. 









I immediately noticed growths of stuff around the inlet/outlet pipes. There were further growths of matter in patches on the various surfaces of the reservoir. 

It was also apparent that just draining the liquid via by removing the pipe work leading to/from the main unit was not enough. Note the liquid level at the bottom of the outlet pipe. 









I used a large syringe to suck out all the coolant. I discovered that the reservoir had a trough either side. I presume they are designed to catch any solid matter.
After drying out the reservoir I tried to wipe away the growths of matter. They had the consistency of crystalised sugar and wipes away relatively easy.









However when the material was removed, the metal surface showed considerable erosion as if the aluminium had oxidised (rusted away). The 'oxides' were white in colour which is consistant with alluminium oxide. This erosion was apparent in several places throughout the reservoir container.


















The surface of the reservoir is anodised but has some rough areas.

I cleaned the ‘oxides’ away as best I could. The unit needed a very thorough flushing out. The only efficient way was to fill the tank with plain water and run the system on manual mode, with maximum pump flow for 10 minutes. The water was replaced several times. I then did the same, flushing out with clinical ‘Pure’ water, changing it several times. Then finally, I did the same with distilled water letting the various changes pump through the system for 10 – 15 minutes each. This process took several hours & could not be rushed. Perhaps it is an overkill but I wanted to make sure that all traces of the old stuff was gone as far as I could achieve. I could not address the perceived issued with possible oxidisation in the pump & radiators.









I had been given a second hand water block









This is what mine should have looked like!

I put on the second hand water block and replaced all the old pipe work to/from it.

For the time being, I have replaced the coolant with ‘Feser One’ which is ready mixed. It claims to “…Protect copper, aluminium, brass & nickel”.

As the Zalman mixture I had quite plainly did not protect the system, I felt it was wise to change until I have the root cause of the problem resolved. I am a believer of using the maker’s recommendation but in this case….









A close up of the clogged pins within the water block. I am not sure of the metal that the heat plane of the water block is but it is not the same as the top. It cleaned up perfectly with a stiff tooth brush and showed no signs of damage/corrosion etc.









The top of the water block appears to be made from stainless steel. The whole unit appears to be beautifully engineered. However after cleaning out all the growth, I noticed much pitting and erosion on the surface of where the plastic coating had lifted and been removed (See my earlier posting). The stainless steel pipe ends show severe erosion too.









A close up of the erosion pitting. This pitting was not evident 1½ months ago.

*The whole unit was brand new only 10 months ago. I would expect a product if this quality to last a lot longer!*

I am still waiting a comment from Zalman. I shall post an update as and when a reply comes back from them.


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## dai

great when their own fluid cause all that rubbish

for flushing out i put a desert spoon of kerosene in the water and circulate it for a few hours
then flush it with clean water

then refill


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## DonaldG

I have my opinions on that too Dai, but in fairness to Zalman, I am happy to reserve them until I get a statement from them.

It is a beautifully engineered piece of kit. Now I have seen inside, I am very impressed with the design. I think that I may have got a 'bad copy' - perhaps some form of electrolyses between the aluminium of the reservoir and the stainless steel of the water block - I just don't know. 

I cannot believe that it is a bad design - there are too many out there & Zalman do have a good name. If this had been a problem, the forums would be buzzing...


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## DonaldG

Hi folks - I would appreciate posting kept on topic (IE: sitrep on Zalman Reserator) 
Many thanks.


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## Dblanchard1278

I too would assume the coolant is at fault from the evidence I have seen. The seperation of the coolant and the crystals that clog up the heat sink and tubes. IMHO don't sell some thing if people are going to have trouble getting things to use it(like the distilled water)


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## ebackhus

Distilled water can be purchased at virtually any grocery store. I'm also pretty sure you can make it yourself.

Some of what I see in there looks like it gelled a bit, especially on the block.


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## Phædrus241

From the OP he said he can only get de-ionized water where he lives, which is better than tap water but far from ideal.


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## DonaldG

- I did manage to get distilled water on line. - 

Without a proper still, home brew distilled water is a no-no. Apart from anything else, doing it in the kitchen, there is a sever risk of organic contamination. It also takes a lot of power & time with little return. (I tried to distill it myself)


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## Epirb

Hi all,

I am new here, Google brought me along and I joined specifically to post on this thread.

I recently got my first water cooling system, a reserator 1 Mk II. I fitted it into a mega 865 SFF HTPC (Of all places and bizarre projects to start on)

I was so impressed that I decided that Zalman, me and cooling have a future. I have a new office PC build coming up so I started looking out on Ebay (UK) for a cheapie.

The Reserator XT came up, one year old and less than half price, I bought it.

When it arrived the unit was filthy, really full of dust, it smelt pretty unpleasant too.

I stripped it down, hoovered and cleaned the unit and dropped the previous owner an email. I was worried that it was actually much older than he had said. It had the look about it of something that had got overloaded, clogged up with dust and then really hot.

The previous owner replied and said that it was dusty but had been no problem and that he had used it as recommended with no problems.

This evening I stripped the heatsink.......










Look familiar?

Really interested to see the results of your investigations. I beleive the problem lies in the OEM coolant additive.

I guess I will have to strip the reervoir and investigate more.

More pics here http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg261/epirb/Reserator/

And some of the Mega here: http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg261/epirb/Mega/

Good to meet someone in a similar predicament and who knows maybe we will find the solution!

All the best, Epirb.


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## DonaldG

Hi Epirb

First of all, a very warm welcome to TSF :wave:

When the flow alarm on the XT goes off, I disconnect the pipes from the waterblock and connect the degassing pipe. If the flow rate is normal with just the degassing pipe on, then it is a blockage in one or more water blocks (if you have multiple waterblocks).

I suggest that you make up a spare degassing tube. You can buy spare pipe connectors from QuietPC. Click on the Union Flag for the QuietPC UK site...

Have another look at my photographs showing the Reservoir. You will notice two shallow troughs on either side.. Just draining out the unit from the in/out pipes on the back is not good enough to empty it completely. (It will contain old stale liquid as will the radiators in all probability.)

Take the screws out of the top plate, then remove the screws round the filling aperture & lift the top plate away. Undo 8 screws on the top of the reservoir. 

I found that a large syring was very handy at removing the liquid in the troughs.

Edit: Hey - I have just looked at the Mega - Nice looking job - Neat one.


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## DonaldG

Just a an addendum to the above post, when you dismantle the water blocks for cleaning, be very careful not to damage the very thin plasticised coating. On my waterblock, when I first dismantled it, i noticed that the flow of liquid had actually ingressed under the coating revealing the metal itself. (Stainless steel?)


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## Epirb

Hi Donald,

Today was the day to strip and clean the reserator reservoir.

Looks like ours are two of a kind!

What has happened inside the unit is that the anodising on the alloy has failed, in some cases it has blistered, the warm coolant has then got to the bare alloy and started to corrode in a big way.

I have topped up the http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg261/epirb/Reserator/ album with pictures of the clean up, they are very similar to yours.

EG:









I am really interested to hear what your correspondence throws up, if it is the case that they are all like this after less than a year then we do not have a value for money product here!


If it is a case that there are a bad batch out there with failing anodising then penny to a pound ours are from the same batch. Mine has a sticker on the bottom which reads '2007 JB2278'

One thing to mention is that I have a sailing background and the corrosion we are seeing is identical to salt water on damaged anodised alloy spars. This is exacerbated by galvanic action when dissimilar metals are present (Electrolysis)

It seems that the Zalman coolant is a conductive corrosive!

Where to next? Well, will be interested to hear where you end up with your enquiries and maybe then I will follow on behind.

What we really need to do is remove the reservoirs and get them shot blasted and reanodised.....probably not going going to happen in my case. However, now the corrosion has started there is no going back and it will just accelerate as more and more anodising comes off.

I think that I am going to look at other non conductive coolants that I know are available.

What do you think?

All the best, Epirb


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## DonaldG

So far, I am no closer to finding the actual cause. Electrolyses is a favourite idea at the moment. 

For the time being, I am using Feser One Cooling fluid which is ready mixed with distilled water. I got mine from Chilled PC. I ordered some on a Friday afternoon & it was delivered on Saturday morning!

Many folk I have talked to and many of those on TSF use ordinary water and car antifreeze with no problems. I don't necessarily advocate the use of tap water myself.

I think that the fact that you bought it off ebay, I doubt if you will be able to claim on anyone other than the eBay seller. If the reservoir is too corroded to salvage, is it possible to replace it with a plastic box? A 0.9 litre Really Useful Box from Rymans or WH Smiths comes to mind. (I use the 3 litre boxed as storage of all my CDs.)

If you can claim on the seller, then I would suggest getting a new one wher you would have a proper warranty. If you can do that, I suggest QuietPC would be a good place to go.

Other than being blocked, your water block looks in good shape.


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## Epirb

I don't think that it is worth me pursuing Zalman either, however, if they were to acknowledge that yours is a faulty unit then I would be very interested to know if ours are part of the same batch.

I am not pursuing the Ebay seller. I think that he sold it to me in good faith and though it is not in the 'excellent' condition that he described it I don't think he was misrepresenting it.

I have actually been in quite a lot of correspondence with him and he has sent me a copy of his receipt for the unit. He bought it from Ebuyer in June last year. He used it for 8 months and was disappointed with its performance so he gave up on it, just getting round to moving it on now.

I have bought a bit of a dog but the question remains, is it just this one or do they all do this?

I am going to install when I get round to this new build and put in an in line filter. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts!

yep water block is fine, coating not breached like yours.


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## DonaldG

Epirb - check your PM & email...


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## tidzapete

Hi, I am having exactly the same problem and I used distilled, not ionised water.

On the last 4 occasions the alarm has gone off I have run on "manual" for a while and the had to empty the reserator, rinse out and clear away the blue bits.

Tonight I've reached the point where even after doing this the reserator will not start so I'm about to start dismantling it and am certain I'll find exactly the same problem. 

I suspect the cause is that the additive creates the problem (It is a bit too much of a coincidence that the offending lumps are the same colour as the additive). I don't know what metals are around in the system including joins and welds. This sort of corrosion looks just like a galvanic reaction. If this is the case it may be possible to slow it down by flushing out all the addative and just using plain water but the bad news is that without a redesign from Xalman my processor is going to continue to get fried and close the system down if I don't happen to be around to hear the alarm.

The whole situation is completely unsatisfactory, Overclockers should be more helpful than hiding behind a warranty statement and Xalman should have the courtesy to respond. If it turns out to be a common problem all we can do is make known our opinion of these suppliers and move on.. life's too short to try sorting out crap customer service (because the crap ones never actually listen!).


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## tidzapete

I'm a newby to forums and have just re-read the thread and discovered EPIRBS comments. I too am from a sailing background and agree 100 per cent with his views on electrolysis.


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## hegjon

Hi, looks like I got the same problem with Reserator1 V2.
The water stops in the CPU-block, and there are small blue dots in the tubes. The blocks and tubes are covered inside by something blue. I haven't opened the CPU-block because of the warranty.
I suspect that the anti-corrosion coolant cause the problems.


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## Epirb

Thought that I would just check out on this thread, let you know what my personal thoughts are and hopefully help those that come to search in the future.

Remember, these views are mine only but I shall lay out what I think I have found.

Quiet PC were more than helpful to me and sent me out a good few bits and pieces to get me going and help out, amazing since I not only didn't buy the kit from them but also bought it second hand. This is what I think I found:

There is no difference between deionised and distilled water.

The anodising on the reservoir on the XT is thin and not up to the job of protecting the alloy from warm circulated water.

The principal culprit is the Zalman OEM coolant, the blue comes out of the coolant and crystallises in the system leading to sludge and lumps which clogs the cooling blocks and attaches to the bare alloy. I don't know if that add to the corrosion but personally I think it does.

For people like me who want silent computing, are prepared to do a bit of homework and fiddling, the Zalman Reserator XT is a beautifully engineered elegant solution. For committed overclockers it is not where it is at!

As I say, just my thoughts, hope they are of use to passers by, thank you for every ones help, especially you Donald,

All the best, Epirb.


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## Epirb

Distilled water.....Deionised water.....it's a red herring. 

Don't use tap water.


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## tidzapete

I have now dismantled my system and have identical problems to everyone else.. no point in posting photos they look identical.

There is no question that this is *galvanic corrosion*.

If you look at the pictures of some early Reserators the tank appears to be stainless steel and the fittings were probably brass, this is a lethal combination if you also have a conductive solution. Zalmann obviously identified this problem and modified the tank to a poorly galvanised version. This reduced the problem in the tank but they didn't modify the cooling blocks which are still stainless and brass and are now the focal point for the galvanic reaction.

I have now cleaned things up and bought 2 litres of *non conductive coolant*. Short of trying to find a completely stainless cooling block - _or getting Zalmann to modify and replace theirs_ there is no other fix to this problem.

Only time will tell now.


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## dahweng

Hey peeps, quick message... first of all, as the owner of a Zalman Reserator XT I would like to thank all of you who contributed to this thread!! Especially DonaldG!!

Yesterday morning my bro saw some strange residue in the pipes near the quick couplings after he tried to power on my PC and it was getting zero flow. Quick google brought me here and sure enough, the same thing has happened to my system. I used distilled water & Zalman's coolant. I did not open the water blocks (my loop goes through my CPU, RAM & VGA...) because they do not sell waterblocks or any liquid cooling items in my country (I had to import mine).

What I did was, remove the quick couplings and let it hang vertically so that all the 'crystals' were near the opening and repeatedly pushed and released the coupling to drain the coolant a bit, as well as the crystals. I then opened the reservoir, drained it, cleaned out the crystals I found forming in it (not a lot yet), diluted the coolant while waiting for an opportunity to buy some Fesser One coolant (which I was planning on even before seeing this thread).

I also tried to flush the system with some distilled water. Then I had to remove air in the internal tubings by running it without powering on my PC. I noticed that sometimes switching the IN/OUT connections at the back of the Res. XT helped with the flow & removing air bubbles.

During the previous steps I noticed the coolant was flowing a lot better than before, even on Automatic!!

When I was done and connected everything the way it was supposed to work, did a final test and would-you-believe no flow at all. No matter how many times i tried, and even when I switched the IN/OUT of the tubes. After a few minutes of turning it on and off without any flow, I notice there were still some bubbles in the flow sensor... so I took a screw driver's 'butt' and tapped on the metal casing of the Res. XT next to the flow sensor, this jolted the air bubbles inside it and I started seeing some flow. After a few more taps and turning it ON & OFF, the flow returned to its former speed. I ran the system all night last night and it worked very well. Tonight i'm gonna see if the flow rate is still the same... might post update here for those who care.

DonaldG - how's Fesser One working out so far?

Thanks again!
no longer a quick msg... lol


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## hartmic3

Greetings and Salutations all,

Thanks DonaldG for the very informative thread.

I have a LQ1000 and my flow rate decreased ever so slowly over time and then the alarm went of and the Blue Gyunk of Doom appeared. Im still working with zalman RMA to replace my pump and other parts that have gone bad due to the BGoD.

I used Distilled water aquired from my brother who is a universities Organic Chemistry Professor.

I'm not going to dismantle anything just yet because most of my stuff is still under warrenty.

and Ironically enough when I sent in an RMA report about the BGoD zalman told me to read this thead.

I hope this isn't the extent of there support.


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## hartmic3

Just got this in a reply from the RMA Dept.

http://www.techsupportforum.com/f274/water-cooling-problems-a-sitrep-376303.html

Hello 

Check out that website. It has a very detailed information about cleaning and all that. I don’t think there is a specific “soaking” method in removing the Blue Gunk.

Also as a side note, depending on the environment of where you live, it is recommended that you use 3rd party anti-corrosion as ours have caused some issues. It is being resolved as we speak at the main HQ.

Zalman USA

So the question is what is a GOOD 3rd party anti corrosive?


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## GZ

I find it amazing (and quite amusing) that Zalman would use TSF as a referal point in a customer care situation! I have been doing some on and off research into water cooling for a project I have lined up in the near future. I was seriously considering Zalman products for my project. (My project being a full custom water cooled or oil cooled case to build a powerful media center pc). I am glad I read this thread now, and not later. I must hand it to DonaldG for putting together such an informative thread!


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## Baeleth

Same issue here, ive been looking the other way for over half a year now.
Rinsed the system couple times, even with 80celcius water and vinegar.

Now opening stuff up and cleaning is the next step for me, but:

I have 2 VGA blocks, which cannot be opened asfar as i've seen.

Has anyone tried to dissolve some of the crystals in anything?

I am going to try this myself and post my results later, but any help would be nice


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## Baeleth

ok this is what i found out:

most anti-corrosion coolants in the automotive industry have sillica added, this is a possible explanation for crystal forming.

now i have a bottle premixed zm-g200 ready to refill my reserator and no crystals or goo has formed in there, so these are my thoughts on why THAT happens.

The main problem is different kinds of metals within the circuit, for instance mine has mainly alluminium and some parts stainless steel(cpu block) and i pressume copper in the radiators. This stimulates electric corotion, even with only distilled water.
If you put in anything of higher grade metals, like silver (which i have seen as an alternative on forums about zm-g200 problems!), the electric corotion will find a 'sacrificial' metal, which will mean in this case alluminium.
Now moving on, somehow this makes the silica in the coolant in its turn adhere to the corotion spots and build up there, the blue color going out of the liquid seems to be a by product.
This in its turn pollutes the water even more, further stimulating the electric corotion and speeding up the process.

The story of DonaldG strengthens this: he first noticed it after 8 months of slow build up. The corotion spots where covered by crystals and goo. Now after cleaning he put in a new mixture, but since there already was allot of affected metal in the circuit the process could pick up where it left off with cleaned 'contact points'. That explains why it reclogged in 1.5 months.


I also tested with dissolving the goo and i can confirm that vinegar does the trick. this should keep anyone from opening up their entire rig (for mine it imho isnt worthwile to do that, since the system is 4 years old).
Be sure to completly rince the system multiple times after using vinegar though.


Also comming back to coolants: there are special car coolants WITHOUT cilica, these are premixed and NO WATER should be added since this, again, stimulates electric corotion. Im going to try this and see what happens.


Ps. sorry about the messy post and typo's... I'm dutch if that helps


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## grimx133

I suppose it depends on the vga blocks, but they should be able to be opened. Usually an allen wrench is needed. When I opened mine (EK), there was a whack of allen screws, 12 or 16 or so, can't remember exactly. The hardest part was getting the rubber seal to stay in the groove when putting it back together. 

Mixing copper and aluminum in a loop is never a good idea. 

Silver coil is available, but I've heard it's less expensive to get some .999 silver wire and make your own. I don't use it, just put a splash of Water Wetter, 1/2 ounce or so, into the coolant. I getting close to being due for a complete flush and refill with fresh coolant, but have yet to see any signs of corrosion or growth. 

Always better to make your own loop out of components, but it's very expensive. Nice though, I've got 13 or 14 fans in this one, you can barely hear it. Using a couple of fan controllers I keep the fan speeds down, unless I have a need for extra cooling when going for a bit higher OC's.


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## Epirb

Interesting to see this still rumbling on, interestingly I notice that every so often I get a spike of people looking at my photos on photobucket, presumably when someone is doing some research.

For the record, I disposed of my XT(s) and since I was in it just for the quiet not the speed just run my P4 mega 865 just with a Reserator 1 Ver 2 and am totally fanless.

Finding the hard disk a bit noisy though............

Happy cooling folks.

'pirb.


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