I Will Never Watercool Again – Water Cooling Maintenance Guide

with the help of our sponsor life's wave

electric toothbrush we are giving

David's extreme home upgrade machines

the full treatment I'm talking coolant

change de gunking o-ring lubrication by

the end of this you guys are going to

know how to get your liquid cooling

system running as good as new no matter

how scary it is oh my God can't believe

I just put my mouth on that what is that

we've never Revisited a $5,000 Tech

upgrade but looking at this I feel like

I should be keeping a closer eye on you

guys this is disgusting my favorite is

you can see the line where I once dusted

but then it's now been dusted over so

there's like mhm beautiful texture of

dust I might have been responsible for

this zip tie was I I think so yeah this

is kind of a roast of you I like that

no no I didn't pick the parts for this

is any water even getting through here

yeah I think the first thing we're going

to do assuming that we didn't configure

our loop with a drain Port is pop one of

our tubes in a way that oh it's easy to

catch all of the water now to ensure

that my instructions are clear and

complete we're going to have David work

on his second system while I work on the

main one you might not remember but this

is actually the second episode of lonus

cleans David's tech for free one of my

favorite tricks to clean out a loop

especially one that you're about to

clean anyway is

uh

oh my

God can't believe I just put my mouth on

that what is that was that ever

alive much

better funny note about their packaging

by the way when I first saw this I was

like wow they really ripped off Apple's

packaging and then I found out they are

literally using the same

Factory assuming your Loop is not this

nasty

uh it's a quick way to get everything

drained out so that when you disconnect

your hoses they don't start leaking

water all over the place because even

once you've drained the reservoir

radiators can hold a significant amount

of water now look if you're looking at

this so far going oh my God I want to

let you know a little secret water

cooling is not necessary to have a great

gaming experience I happen to love it

it's one of my passions and if you're a

silence Enthusiast or you just like hot

rotting things for fun you might want to

take the plunge but the reality is that

the

inconvenience generally outweighs the

benefit while no one really likes

talking about it least of all the

manufacturers of aios all kinds of water

coolers can require maintenance in order

to perform their best now the additives

that they put in the coolant and the low

paracity tubing that they use in these

all-in-one Solutions should keep them

running Gunk free for many years but if

you read the fine print many generally

means something like three or five and I

know a lot of people who expect more

than 5 years of dependability from their

coolers so while we're focused on custom

water cooling some of these same

principles could be applied to an aiio

that is no longer performing its best

what's interesting is I don't see where

these flakes came from in either the CPU

or GPU block I don't know if that's

reassuring or even scarier let's see how

nasty my CPU block oh yeah oh shoot did

you get CPU temps before we started

because I didn't know it was this gross

I didn't think we were going to need

that I promise you cuz I've seen it

before that this would have a

multi-degree impact on cooling

performance basically this acceleration

plate right here the slit down the

middle of it is completely jammed and

the water that's coming into this block

is not able to get at the fins very well

it's slowing it down significantly we

need this loop Clear and we need this

block clean yuck I do have to question

the overall complexity of your setup

here David you've got the gaming machine

and then you've got if I recall the nz/

capture PC

virtualization yeah the idea was that I

could game unfettered on the gaming

computer and then stream and capture at

the same time on this uh how long did

that last not very long I went to an

older system that I had that's a little

higher end uh and I've been running that

but every time that I've needed to

upgrade or fix or change it I don't even

want to think about it I just like shove

in the back ignore it what was your

biggest mistake water

cooling and that's a really good point

almost no one has a system that has

compromised nothing on reliability and

performance whether it's a cheap HBA or

a low-end motherboard and so often I see

budget wasted on RGB or liquid cooling

that could have been spent much more

effectively elsewhere so did you learn a

valuable lesson at least David oh yeah

that lonus will fix all my problems if I

wait long enough and pitch a good video

thanks lifein for that you get the

manual toothbrush and I get the lyen so

we can do our comparisons I don't

remember ever seeing anyone else

recommend this stuff but I've always

liked Brasso for cleaning my blocks it's

compatible with Copper Brass duh

aluminum chrome nickel and silver so all

the major water cooling materials and it

contains a fine abrasive that helps to

remove even tough oxidation and buildup

to get the Brasso off we're going to

need a hit of some other soap I guess

now's a good time to mention the IP 7x

water resistance of this toothbrush not

every electric toothbrush is waterproof

one soapy rinse

later not bad you can see around the

outside it still looks scummy but if you

look closely you see copper through it

so that's not something sitting on the

surface we've actually worn through the

nickel plating there's nothing I can do

to fix that with a toothbrush okay so we

both did pretty good but getting into

those little crevices there there is no

question that even though mine are finer

I was able to clean them better I mean

look this is not a life and talking

point you talk to any dentist they going

be like yeah you should probably use it

like yeah because they freaking work of

course if whatever Gunk we found in our

Loop ended up being organic we can't

just clean the parts that affect

performance or it's just going to grow

back so the next part I want to clean is

this acrylic top now my understanding is

you can actually use Brasso for that as

well but you can also use household

cleaner or a headlight polish like this

one whatever you do do do not use

alcohol or it'll end up looking like

this you know I'm going to take a shot

with the Brasso and then we'll try those

Plastics stuff dang

Brasso you awesome and life and I guess

you guys help too check that out that is

really good that took 2 minutes now that

David's done a round of manual cleaning

Lifey and boasts that with their app you

can configure their brush to oscillate

up to 60° and it has 10 levels of power

that vibrated up to 66,000 times a

minute using their proprietary servotech

they claim it's three times more

powerful than the competition so let's

see if we can take his block to another

level David I had it at like 30% before

that was plenty of power uh okay

yeah I actually have been using this

thing for a couple of weeks now and

that's the first thing I noticed about

it it's like holy crap is this thing

ever

powerful not going to lie David

everything you did kind of a waste of

effort that's a lot better yep again

there's absolutely discoloration on the

Block but that's copper that's where the

nickel plating has been worn Away by the

erosive power of water looking great do

you think brass was safe on this painted

stuff all I think this is anodized

aluminum I'm pretty sure when I looked

it up it was not but it might be let's

see Zotac mini Zac mini I mean I can

find out for you how do you find out

it's aluminum so there's but that's not

even the loop that was having the

issues it will I think this GPU block

might be a little bit wonky there's like

it's like where it's oxidized I thought

that was dirty but now I'm not have you

hit it with the toothbrush oh I've hit

it with the

toothbrush that's what happens when you

mix Metals I didn't mix the metals yeah

so it eats away at the aluminum and then

I believe it deposits on the to The

Copper the good news is I wasn't

actually really planning on using this

card the bad news is I was planning to

sell it and now I can't really do that

now that my Block's as good as it's

going to get it's time to put it back to

get wait double check make sure a that

you've got all of your O-rings in place

because if they're not you're going to

going to have water shooting everywhere

inside your PC and number two if you're

a smart boy you're going to want to give

them a quick lube before you reassemble

them we use this sinko stuff but

anything silicone not petroleum based

should do you just fine for those of you

who do Automotive work this won't be new

information but when you are

reassembling anything with a lot of

Fasteners you're going to want to go in

a star type pattern to ensure that

you're not just cranking one side

causing the O-ring to slip out on the

other side and then cranking that down

leaving it in a position where it's

going to cause a leak ah I'm so happy

with this result I'm a little behind

David I think he's actually done his GPU

block already but you know what I say

quality first now we find out if David's

going to get some really bad news losing

a 1080 TI that sucks losing a

3080 all right I have more bad news oh I

don't like that this block cannot be

meaningfully cleaned without us pulling

out like the heat gun and undoing the

adhesive on this and ripping these two

pieces off are we doing it I think it

needs to be cleaned you saw what was in

this

Loop yeah let's do it all right the

resale value goes also this is acrylic

oh our temperature control is not going

to be great so you break my 380 what

happens well look no you're going to do

it

no I advising you as your veterinarian

that your pet needs surgery oh God

you're telling me to do surgery on my

dog I'll be there every step of the way

I don't want the

liability oh my God David what are you

doing I might have put too much Lube no

you did put too much Lube who taught you

how to do this Alex you no I did you

said put it on your fingers and rub it

through and that's exactly what I did I

said put it on your fingers and run it

through yeah you just you didn't tell me

how much to put here that's the problem

Oh My specificity Linus now I'm teaching

you how to teach who's the master

now okay well this is lubed that

little hey hey hey hey there we

go yeah buddy cuz this one's not all

corroded and stuff so you can really see

what a good job you can do with

that there you go woo

not bad huh almost as shiny as my

toothbrush we've already talked about

the numbers that are possible thanks to

the sophisticated servos with tech that

life and claims has only ever been used

in robot arms before now but it also

uses hall effect sensors to generate

consistent brushing power and that helps

it hit that 60° oscillation within an

accuracy of. 1° which is pretty cool

when you see the price I've been using

one for about a month month now I've

been really pleased with the results of

it and I've only had to charge it once

in the entire time that I've had it you

remember your janky solution for this

pump no strip the wires and shove them

into here oh yeah and you were like

replace the cable I'm like what what

cable the

pump yeah you just take this and then

you uh you know put a mered on it and

then you get a Molex and you put a mered

on that and then you make a Molex end

for it sounds like sounds like something

that never happened no it happened I

just disassembled it for the video

oh it stinks the pump

stinks oh God that does stink it's green

is it possible that we had no bioside on

the day of the shoot and I said hey make

sure you throw some bioside in here it's

been drained and filled a couple times

so every time I move I drain it cuz it's

just they're so heavy with water in it

so I think I actually did put iodine in

it the first time but not the second two

times and now he knows just in time for

him to never water cool again yeah it

looks a little worse for the wear but

the inside is clean and for that matter

so is the back which means now is a

perfect time to replace our thermal goop

it's generally good for five plus years

but David never does maintenance and I'm

not coming back to this thing so we're

going to upgrade to the PTM 7950 phase

change thermal pads that we just started

stalking on LTT store.com this stuff

lasts a freaking long

time yeah I'm going to find a way for

you to come back to this no no these

just came out of the fridge so that

means I need to move pretty quickly to

get it

measured and cut if I wait too long it's

going to melt that's the phase change

part of phase change thermal pad so why

does it have to be cold when it's

installed cuz it's going to go to room

temp right away because otherwise when

you pull the plastic protective covering

off of it it rips it apart oh okay as

for the rest of our pads they're in

pretty good condition and I'm not

worried about those ones drying out over

time I guess you really are passionate

about water cooling cuz you've been in

the game since before there was PC water

cooling parts there were some okay but a

lot of people were using pumps from like

aquarium suppliers and stuff like that

back in the day there used to be a point

to it water cooling was and actually

still is the quietest way to cool a

computer but it's only quiet if you

configure it in a particular way the

average person putting an A in their

system or even building a modest custom

Loop is not really getting the silence

benefit that I would be looking for you

need big radiators with super slow

moving fans a particular pump like it

ends up being a really big system yeah

and computers are kind of getting

smaller these days tell that to the GPU

makers got them speaking of a particular

pump this is the one the Lang D5 and its

variants are among the highest

performance and more importantly highest

reliability pumps that you can get for

for PC water cooling so I've been

holding on to this

one for 8 years in hopes of restoring it

to its former glory you see it went

through some stuff when it was installed

in whole room water cooling all that

time ago and we had a cheap reservoir

from Princess auto rust and uh well this

this will be your greatest

challenge don't quite have enough to mer

it okay there we go so there's that like

water filter thing right yeah that's

what it is oh no

way I have never seen that before yeah

like that's the shoo that's the shoo it

was just a tiny little piece and I went

to pick it up and it like fell apart in

my hands it's that that that EK little

puck yeah so they've got this anti

Vortex like kind of mesh Puck thing that

is included in some of their reservoirs

and something about your system you know

I don't know that those are compatible

with

iodine oh maybe I've used iodine in my

Loops for a long time but that's not

necessarily something that EK recommends

that makes so much more sense than this

tubing which was our leading theory so

far cuz we've deployed this stuff yeah

dozens of times internally and it's been

great but then I mean the same goes for

those so I don't

know

radiators can be a little physically

challenging to clean but the idea is

simple you just get yourself a pair of

oven mitts then you fill the radiator

with the hottest 7525 water vinegar mix

that you can handle you plug the ends

almost sealed not quite sealed and then

Shake lettuce what are you

[Laughter]

doing you really do want this to be as

vigorous as you can Poss handle for as

long as you can possibly

handle oh and the reason that we don't

fully seal them is that the radiator

starts cold and the fluid that you put

into them is hot and what can happen is

if it's sealed pressure can build up and

then when you go to unseal them you can

get vinegar water spraying out of it and

it's really

unpleasant so we want that to be a

little bit open so that pressure can be

released as we're shaking

[Music]

all right that's probably once it runs

clear I'd give it another blast or two

with just the hot water and then you

should be good to go now for our last

component a lot of people don't bother

cleaning and reusing their tubes but as

a certified cheap gate I do nothing gets

me going like saving a buck all you need

is a little pipe cleaner like this you

can get this at the dollar store and

then for good measure if you use

compression fittings or realistically

any kinds of fittings you're going to

want to find anywhere where the tubing's

deformed and cut that off if you had a

little bit of extra length then your

runs should still be good and you can

totally reuse

[Music]

this

[Music]

[Applause]

we've soaked these Rusty Parts in CLR

for quite a long time now we're going to

try and see how much rust comes

off

it's still pretty

Rusty but it's definitely an improvement

I'm back and the system looks I mean so

much better yeah a lot better you um

mounted your Reservoir a little wrong

but the uh the clamp goes on the pump

not on the it's an aesthetic Choice

good job thank you but the temps are

great check this out how long has this

game been running oh hour Okay cool so

let's just pop over into Hardware info

we're looking at GPU temps of I don't

know maybe

45° Hot Spot temps of 56 and our CPU

temps are sitting in the neighborhood of

about

55° it's pretty quiet too yeah only the

power supply is making noise okay maybe

water cooling still

cool it's uh it's definitely cool it is

but I will not do it

again that's pretty cool oh my God his

arm jeez it's

fear I can definitely see the fun

immediately though oh yeah as

unrealistic as it might be wait what how

did those guys are really tough like

you'll have to slow-mo to get around

them and shoot their tanks oh all right

or I could just not I could just do the

conclusion of this video our blocks

might be clean but our toothbrush heads

are decid decidedly not do not Brasso

then brush your teeth thankfully The

Replacements are affordable they're

about 10 bucks for three and while there

are a lot of Alternatives actually to

what we did like an ultrasonic cleaner

or a flow cleaner or just plain old

elbow grease I'm pretty impressed at how

these worked of course the best

alternative is to optimize your Loop so

that it doesn't need as much maintenance

in the first place low paracity tubing

like ek's zmt or Z maintenance tubing

will reduce evaporation from your system

so you don't need to do as many topups

but that does nothing to prevent growth

so I always recommend distilled water

with a couple drops of bioside like

iodine to make sure that things stay

sanitary in there just make sure that it

doesn't um interact with anything else

in your Loop we don't know that that's

what happened to ek's little filter

thing but maybe it is of course none of

that stuff looks as good as the cool

tubing and colored coolant so if you do

want that stuff

it's dead anyway

cool just make sure that you configure

your system with a drain port at the

bottom and your pump directly below your

Reservoir you'll find this whole process

if you have to do it much faster and

simpler just like brushing your teeth we

have a few more things to cover for Len

their wave toothbrush lasts about 2

hours on battery and charges in Just 2

and 1/2 hours and it's available in

three different configurations with this

one being the world's first first

aluminum alloy electric toothbrush built

from one seamless piece it's a little

specific but hey at least there's a

benefit to it cuz you won't get any dirt

build up getting into the crevices it

starts at $70 for the plastic version

and they all have the same ergonomic

handle extra wide 60° oscillation and

Powerful 66,000 vibrations per minute

that mean you can deep clean your teeth

or your computer like a pro if you guys

enjoyed this video maybe check out

David's $5,000 Tech upgrade yes it was

full of exactly that kind of Chaos

energy maybe more even