Watched a buddy's watercooling loop fail at a LAN party last Saturday and it changed my whole approach

I was at a small LAN party in my friend's basement in Austin last weekend, six of us crammed around a table. One guy had this gorgeous custom loop with clear tubing and green coolant, spent like $400 on fittings alone. About two hours into a gaming session we heard this weird hissing sound, then a spray of coolant shot out from a fitting near his GPU. It wasn't even a cheap fitting, it was one of those name brand ones everyone recommends. He spent the next hour frantically drying his components with paper towels while we all watched in horror. Right then I realized I've been way too trusting of my own loop, I never pressure test anything before filling it up. I went home and ordered a $25 air leak tester off Amazon, going to drain my whole loop this weekend and check every single connection. Has anyone else had a fitting just let go like that with no warning?

2 comments

2 Comments

ivan_hayes297d ago

Did he check if the fitting O-ring was actually seated right before installing? I've seen more failures from bad installation than bad parts.

lisa8393d ago

60% of those o-rings are actually defective from the factory...