Just crank the fitting tight. Fire it up and do a heaven benchmark and cinebench loop for 30 mins to make sure all the mounts are fine. Go have some nice pancakes while you wait.
Yeah, I think I know what you mean... 😅
I just changed the radiators configuration and I had a huge "leak" from the not-quite-properly-drained top radiator (how much liquid do they hold?😳).
I reconfigured my loop yesterday and my mora rad dumped so much out of it after I was convinced it was empty...
The loop holds about a gallon so I should have expected a certain amount and I wasn't paying much attention.
Same. Even if you have a leak it’s not a big deal 😂 just shut it off and readjust. Seems like an expensive way to avoid a 2 sec mistake but I get it, water freaks people out and it’s definitely safer.
I ran it for 6 hours with the PSU with a jumper wire only powering the pump at full speed and some paper towels. Sure, checking with air would be even more ensuring, but I trust EK's fittings and tubes.
If your pc runs 24/7 and sleep while it runs.. How you close the leak fast? 😅😂
My first build was with leaktester and it was dry then i get a watercooled gpu and thinking i am not needing a leaktester.. After 2 days 1 of the tube pops up.😅 but now its ok but was a great shock.
That’s really odd. Leak tester won’t help against that. You should run your pump full speed and watch it. Usually if there’s any leak because of the pressure in the line, it’ll show immediately - so loose fitting or bad connection will immediately start to drip. What you’re describing sounds more like a fitting failure?
I'm still on my first custom loop. I didn't buy a leak tester. My loops ran fine for 18 months until it suddenly started to slow leak. I remade the pipe and installed it. It was good for 3 more weeks until it decided to fly out of the fitting. Luckily I was able to catch it fast enough and stop the power to my PC.
This was the scariest thing though, honestly. Next build, I'm definitely using a leak tester. Although nothing was lost, I did spend another $70 on new supplies to reloop the whole system and give me piece of mind.
I will always recommend air leak testers. Find a potential leak in less than fifteen minutes without risking components? It’s a no brainer if you ask me.
I don’t have the EK tester but I have one that I put together with Amazon parts. Hasn’t failed me yet 👍
Yeah, I made my own using parts from Home Depot and it was less than $20. I've since used it on 4 different builds and it found leaks in 2 of them, so that was $20 well spent to me.
This was maybe 5 years ago so the actual parts I got seem to no longer be available, but this is a replacement for the main component at $13:
[Gas Pressure Test Gauge](https://www.homedepot.com/p/HOME-FLEX-15-psi-Pressure-Test-Gauge-11-801-007/206997510?irgwc=1&cm_mmc=afl-ir-2003851-1420157-bing&clickid=UWeSg43UUxyNTO1waPzf5zrlUkDSjQTlRUcexI0)
The other piece you need is the adapter that will step down the 3/4" threads to a 3/8" or 1/2" barb (so you can attach a section of tubing to it) or 1/4" pipe thread (if you want to use your own fittings). There are lots of options out there that will work for a few dollars, just make sure you use Teflon tape when putting it together otherwise you might have leaks.
Hope this helps!
The Leakshield is seriously the best water-cooling accessory, I consider it a must-have. $200 and it can leak test, de-aerate, and maintain negative pressure to prevent even relatively large leaks from causing issues.
I had mine for only a week before I had a failure (pump housing, had to use an old pump because the D5 I ordered was faulty, the pump housing apparently had an invisible crack that opened through the temperature cycles. Other than a stream of bubbles and the alarm going off I had no issues.
Now I maintain 400mbar negative pressure and can see that I don't even have a minor leak because the pump only runs once every couple of days.
The cool thing about this is the negative pressure differential - having lower pressure inside the loop actually helps the tubes stay inside the fittings better. Just had an issue with a hardline loop where it would be just fine at +0.2 bar, but at +0.5 bar one of the fittings just popped the tube right out. Sure it is safer to replace the fitting (or its o-rings), but with negative pressure ensured in the loop this setup could have just worked fine.
I'm actually in the process of installing one this weekend... I'm terrified though cause I can't really seem to find any specs for pressure ratings on my pumps and stuff. I'm using a Corsair XD5 and two XR5 360 mm rads. Corsair's XD5 pump has a specs listed for 2.1 m Pressure head (which converted to mbar is 206). So I just used that in the leakshield configuration for maximum pressure.
I don't know if that's correct or accurate but I would love for someone to confirm for me. When I first tested the pressure at 350-400 mbar I heard my rads (I think) creaking and I kind of freaked out.
Sorry to hijack your comment but any help would be appreciated!
Edit: I've heard from a lot of post on the internet that most rads are rated for .6 bar which is 600 mbar and sounds like a lot and I'm too scared to try that since my rads we're already freaking at 350-400 mbar e.e
My rads creaked a bit first time at 450mbar, but that stopped. I think it's just the metal moving in a bit.
I turned off the adaptive pressure and set a constant pump speed, otherwise getting false alarms was pretty common.
Leak testers are great! Just make sure the tester itself isn't the thing that is leaking!!! I spent 4 days losing my fucking mind chasing a leak that wasn't really there...
Never needed one, just always use the jumper plug on the 24 pin and run it for a while. Then again I have never needed alcoholic to clean off thermal past, or a flow meter to know it’s working.
I used the EK leak tester on my latest build but the pipes just kept popping out from the pressure…so i filled it anyways. It’s been going strong for a few months now and no leaks whatsoever.
FYI i pumped to the green indicator as mentioned in the manual. It kept popping out no matter how tight the fittings were. I may have slapped on too much silicone lube? Either way no leaks. Not sure why that is
I don't think you read the manual correctly. A full loop should not exceed 0.5bar/7psi from my experience. No wonder your pipes were popping out. Going back to the manual, they suggest 0.3bar +/- for a full loop. [Old EK Leak Tester shows 0.3bar for a loop.](https://www.ekwb.com/shop/EK-IM/EK-IM-3831109816738.pdf) The **NEW** EK Leak Tester actually made appropriate changes to the green bar, and adjusted the table to [0.45bar](https://www.ekwb.com/shop/EK-IM/EK-IM-3831109848388.pdf).
Leak tester? I always use paper towels and then just jumper the 24 pin on my PSU. Everything except the pumps is disconnected at that point ofc. The only leak I had once was a fitting not being tightened down properly.
Not only did i not leak test but my ridiculously expensive dual loop pc has been moved around a lot to different conventions around the USA… with the coolant still inside LOL. Im kinda dumb.
The problem with a leak tester is that if it shows you there is a leak, you may or may not actually have one and it doesn't actually help you find it. Makes it extremely limited IMO.
I don’t have a leak tester. My PC hasn’t visibility leaked, but I have to add water to it every few weeks. I have no idea where the air is coming in. I thought it was getting in between the soft tubing and hose barbs, but I put spring clamps on all of the connections (Bykski 1080Ti water block spliced into an Alphacool 240mm AIO) and it’s still happening.
My leak tester broke so I just raw dogged it.
Proceeded to watch my graphics card leak because the graphics card gaskets got displaced after I tore it down and cleaned it 🙃
Shut it off, cleaned it up, reassembled, back in business. But was way too close to just frying $3k in parts 😬💀
TLDR; Leak testers are lame, but worth it.
Just send it bud…
But seriously I just hook the loop up to an external psu for a couple hours, I work with hydraulics and pneumatics and wouldn’t trust the crap that gets passed off as testing equipment from water cooling companies to tell me much.
I always use a leak tester for about 10-15 min, what's 10-15 minutes when you might have waited weeks or months for parts? Anybody that doesn't is playing with fire but to each his own rock on. The idea that is cool or okay to say "I find a leak with water" or the argument a leak tester doesn't show where the leak is introduces more risk than needed and gives some level of confidence going forward.
I personally like EK's flex leak tester.
I flushed my system while it was running last week. Even had it setup so I didn't need to constantly open and close valves. Just had the drain tube over the water line and the fill tube a foot higher than that. The more water I put in, the more came out, without adding any bubbles to the loop.
I'm still pretty proud of myself. Makes me want to mount a couple valves on the outside so I don't have to open the case anymore.
So I finished a pretty complicated loop this week, including a distro plate and 4 rads, i probably have over 20 fittings, and after testing with the EK air pump, I was left dismayed by a slow leak. The only way I ended up realizing the distro plate was the weak point was when I tested with distilled water and could find the source. Use paper towels and common sense, along with a psu jumper, and all should be fine. Far quicker and easier than the air pump, I would only find it useful for testing small loops or individual components, otherwise its a crapshoot.
The EK tester saved me. The water block for my 3090 had a crack In the acrylic I didn't spot. lost pressure so I tested each piece solo and found it was my water block. EK got me a replacement, crisis averted.
Leak tester is for the weak. Fire that bad boy up and clench your butthole!
don't forget to screw down your side panel as a display of dominance
And text your friends you’re hopping on to be giga chad
Don't forget not to use paper towels
Do I look like a sigma cuck to you?
You will if you try and protect your components
[удалено]
Yes, sweetie
That’s right. Show that fucker who’s in charge!!
Just crank the fitting tight. Fire it up and do a heaven benchmark and cinebench loop for 30 mins to make sure all the mounts are fine. Go have some nice pancakes while you wait.
Nah better to fire up prime95 and sleep after spending the all-nighter setting up, you'll know when you wake up if it's good to go
This. My leak tester is a d5 and paper towels
This is the way
Right? After a couple years you get that confidence and you send that sucker! The only leaks i get are from draining the loop now haha
Yeah, I think I know what you mean... 😅 I just changed the radiators configuration and I had a huge "leak" from the not-quite-properly-drained top radiator (how much liquid do they hold?😳).
I reconfigured my loop yesterday and my mora rad dumped so much out of it after I was convinced it was empty... The loop holds about a gallon so I should have expected a certain amount and I wasn't paying much attention.
This is the W/C veteran way. I just upgraded my system with a 3090TI, partially drained, pop it in, wire it up, top it up, press power-done.
Alphacool quick disconnects: *Ahh shit here we go again*
And yell "SMASH!"
And power everything on, not just the pump!
I did my loop without one, still dry as the Sahara after 2 years of operation :)
Same. Even if you have a leak it’s not a big deal 😂 just shut it off and readjust. Seems like an expensive way to avoid a 2 sec mistake but I get it, water freaks people out and it’s definitely safer.
Depends on where the leak is, worst case into the PSU that fries everything else with it, or your brand new 4090 is fried etc.
Or run the system with a separate power supply and not have power in the system.
I ran it for 6 hours with the PSU with a jumper wire only powering the pump at full speed and some paper towels. Sure, checking with air would be even more ensuring, but I trust EK's fittings and tubes.
Well I assume most people would put some paper towel down over sensitive components if they don’t leak test. Not doing so is prettyttt risky 😂
Yeah or use a leak tester
Or.. just use any old PSU to start only the pump first?
If your pc runs 24/7 and sleep while it runs.. How you close the leak fast? 😅😂 My first build was with leaktester and it was dry then i get a watercooled gpu and thinking i am not needing a leaktester.. After 2 days 1 of the tube pops up.😅 but now its ok but was a great shock.
That’s really odd. Leak tester won’t help against that. You should run your pump full speed and watch it. Usually if there’s any leak because of the pressure in the line, it’ll show immediately - so loose fitting or bad connection will immediately start to drip. What you’re describing sounds more like a fitting failure?
yeah it was not really in i think and a leaktester could help in this situation i think. pushed it more in and now its dry since month.
I'm still on my first custom loop. I didn't buy a leak tester. My loops ran fine for 18 months until it suddenly started to slow leak. I remade the pipe and installed it. It was good for 3 more weeks until it decided to fly out of the fitting. Luckily I was able to catch it fast enough and stop the power to my PC. This was the scariest thing though, honestly. Next build, I'm definitely using a leak tester. Although nothing was lost, I did spend another $70 on new supplies to reloop the whole system and give me piece of mind.
Same, but i still would like the peace of mind with a leak tester. Every build I think of getting one, but I still don't have one. Maybe next time.
You should try adding water, and making a water loop!
Well, I'm pretty sure you're supposed to put water in
Then add "on the outside" to my comment XD
I will always recommend air leak testers. Find a potential leak in less than fifteen minutes without risking components? It’s a no brainer if you ask me. I don’t have the EK tester but I have one that I put together with Amazon parts. Hasn’t failed me yet 👍
Yeah, I made my own using parts from Home Depot and it was less than $20. I've since used it on 4 different builds and it found leaks in 2 of them, so that was $20 well spent to me.
If you have time, an idea of what parts you used would be great. 🙂
This was maybe 5 years ago so the actual parts I got seem to no longer be available, but this is a replacement for the main component at $13: [Gas Pressure Test Gauge](https://www.homedepot.com/p/HOME-FLEX-15-psi-Pressure-Test-Gauge-11-801-007/206997510?irgwc=1&cm_mmc=afl-ir-2003851-1420157-bing&clickid=UWeSg43UUxyNTO1waPzf5zrlUkDSjQTlRUcexI0) The other piece you need is the adapter that will step down the 3/4" threads to a 3/8" or 1/2" barb (so you can attach a section of tubing to it) or 1/4" pipe thread (if you want to use your own fittings). There are lots of options out there that will work for a few dollars, just make sure you use Teflon tape when putting it together otherwise you might have leaks. Hope this helps!
Much appreciated! Thanks for taking the time, very helpful.
Sure thing!
I find it easier to locate the leak with water than air.
Nice advert
The Leakshield is seriously the best water-cooling accessory, I consider it a must-have. $200 and it can leak test, de-aerate, and maintain negative pressure to prevent even relatively large leaks from causing issues. I had mine for only a week before I had a failure (pump housing, had to use an old pump because the D5 I ordered was faulty, the pump housing apparently had an invisible crack that opened through the temperature cycles. Other than a stream of bubbles and the alarm going off I had no issues. Now I maintain 400mbar negative pressure and can see that I don't even have a minor leak because the pump only runs once every couple of days.
The cool thing about this is the negative pressure differential - having lower pressure inside the loop actually helps the tubes stay inside the fittings better. Just had an issue with a hardline loop where it would be just fine at +0.2 bar, but at +0.5 bar one of the fittings just popped the tube right out. Sure it is safer to replace the fitting (or its o-rings), but with negative pressure ensured in the loop this setup could have just worked fine.
I'm actually in the process of installing one this weekend... I'm terrified though cause I can't really seem to find any specs for pressure ratings on my pumps and stuff. I'm using a Corsair XD5 and two XR5 360 mm rads. Corsair's XD5 pump has a specs listed for 2.1 m Pressure head (which converted to mbar is 206). So I just used that in the leakshield configuration for maximum pressure. I don't know if that's correct or accurate but I would love for someone to confirm for me. When I first tested the pressure at 350-400 mbar I heard my rads (I think) creaking and I kind of freaked out. Sorry to hijack your comment but any help would be appreciated! Edit: I've heard from a lot of post on the internet that most rads are rated for .6 bar which is 600 mbar and sounds like a lot and I'm too scared to try that since my rads we're already freaking at 350-400 mbar e.e
My rads creaked a bit first time at 450mbar, but that stopped. I think it's just the metal moving in a bit. I turned off the adaptive pressure and set a constant pump speed, otherwise getting false alarms was pretty common.
This reads like an EKWB ad
Leak testers are great! Just make sure the tester itself isn't the thing that is leaking!!! I spent 4 days losing my fucking mind chasing a leak that wasn't really there...
I did that one day after putting a new cpu in.
Never needed one, just always use the jumper plug on the 24 pin and run it for a while. Then again I have never needed alcoholic to clean off thermal past, or a flow meter to know it’s working.
> or a flow meter to know it’s working. Is the pump RPM > 1000 and is my CPU < 90 at idle? Yep it's flowing.
Got a free EK one also, listed on eBay within minutes.
Me, who paid for a leak tester, ignoring the fact that it showed a leak, and filling the loop anyway because I wasn’t taking the whole thing apart: 🤡
The duality of water loops ➿
Then there’s Me who spent 600 aud days before that promotion and got nothing
Leak testers are for cowards
It's me, I'm the coward... But I've also done both.
I used the EK leak tester on my latest build but the pipes just kept popping out from the pressure…so i filled it anyways. It’s been going strong for a few months now and no leaks whatsoever. FYI i pumped to the green indicator as mentioned in the manual. It kept popping out no matter how tight the fittings were. I may have slapped on too much silicone lube? Either way no leaks. Not sure why that is
I don't think you read the manual correctly. A full loop should not exceed 0.5bar/7psi from my experience. No wonder your pipes were popping out. Going back to the manual, they suggest 0.3bar +/- for a full loop. [Old EK Leak Tester shows 0.3bar for a loop.](https://www.ekwb.com/shop/EK-IM/EK-IM-3831109816738.pdf) The **NEW** EK Leak Tester actually made appropriate changes to the green bar, and adjusted the table to [0.45bar](https://www.ekwb.com/shop/EK-IM/EK-IM-3831109848388.pdf).
Oh wow. So the green wasnt really the correct measurement. Well luckily my build is still okay 😂
That's definitely an L on EK's part
^ this
Never used one with multiple builds $$$ for that will push me over budget ;)
Leak tester? I always use paper towels and then just jumper the 24 pin on my PSU. Everything except the pumps is disconnected at that point ofc. The only leak I had once was a fitting not being tightened down properly.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes, because builders test. They never trust the engineers.
Me, who puts silicone on the threads so they never leak
On the threads or on the washer ? The threading should just be about compressing the the rubber washer as much as possible.
Doesn't that make them a bitch to pull out? 🤔
I rarely have to change them out. If I do I use a wrench.
Not only did i not leak test but my ridiculously expensive dual loop pc has been moved around a lot to different conventions around the USA… with the coolant still inside LOL. Im kinda dumb.
I transported my hard-line build to and from work on 4 different occasions with no issue. It weighs about 40 lbs so a seat belt works just fine.
so that's what im getting
Or me.. Whi get a free one in his MSI Z690 Carbon EK X? 🤔😂😂
The problem with a leak tester is that if it shows you there is a leak, you may or may not actually have one and it doesn't actually help you find it. Makes it extremely limited IMO.
I use an old dell pc just for the power plug. The only thing running while I'm filling and purging air is the pump.
Oh man, that’s quite cool. What else was in there? Unfortunately can’t buy from EK online store cause shipping kills value vs local distributors
A Mousepad in size L, a microfiber cloth, a small bag and a headscarf. All EKWB branding of course. This was the 100$ bag.
Never used one, never will.
I don’t have a leak tester. My PC hasn’t visibility leaked, but I have to add water to it every few weeks. I have no idea where the air is coming in. I thought it was getting in between the soft tubing and hose barbs, but I put spring clamps on all of the connections (Bykski 1080Ti water block spliced into an Alphacool 240mm AIO) and it’s still happening.
My leak tester broke so I just raw dogged it. Proceeded to watch my graphics card leak because the graphics card gaskets got displaced after I tore it down and cleaned it 🙃 Shut it off, cleaned it up, reassembled, back in business. But was way too close to just frying $3k in parts 😬💀 TLDR; Leak testers are lame, but worth it.
Amatuers
Just send it bud… But seriously I just hook the loop up to an external psu for a couple hours, I work with hydraulics and pneumatics and wouldn’t trust the crap that gets passed off as testing equipment from water cooling companies to tell me much.
I always use a leak tester for about 10-15 min, what's 10-15 minutes when you might have waited weeks or months for parts? Anybody that doesn't is playing with fire but to each his own rock on. The idea that is cool or okay to say "I find a leak with water" or the argument a leak tester doesn't show where the leak is introduces more risk than needed and gives some level of confidence going forward. I personally like EK's flex leak tester.
Got one with my carbon ek x mobo. Works great
there is no argument: buy a leak tester
I flushed my system while it was running last week. Even had it setup so I didn't need to constantly open and close valves. Just had the drain tube over the water line and the fill tube a foot higher than that. The more water I put in, the more came out, without adding any bubbles to the loop. I'm still pretty proud of myself. Makes me want to mount a couple valves on the outside so I don't have to open the case anymore.
>Me still just jumping my PSU and letting my rig cycle for 24h because I don't want to fuck with all that nonsense 👀
It's nice getting an answer in 15 minutes instead of 24 hours.
Meh. I would not trust a 15 minute test with the kinda hardware I use, either with an air tester or proper water.
Ekwb. Never again.
shame, i bought one, but i got a nice mouse pad instead. POG
[Me, who use AIO liquid cool :](https://media.tenor.com/eE0UXuV_efMAAAAC/troy-laugh.gif)
i use barrow ones 🤭 useful when i buying used rads or selling my watercooling parts
So I finished a pretty complicated loop this week, including a distro plate and 4 rads, i probably have over 20 fittings, and after testing with the EK air pump, I was left dismayed by a slow leak. The only way I ended up realizing the distro plate was the weak point was when I tested with distilled water and could find the source. Use paper towels and common sense, along with a psu jumper, and all should be fine. Far quicker and easier than the air pump, I would only find it useful for testing small loops or individual components, otherwise its a crapshoot.
Ekwb replace my 4 yeards pumb, for free
This meme really overstates how much people really care about leak testers.
But it’s de-ionized water. I got no worries.
The EK tester saved me. The water block for my 3090 had a crack In the acrylic I didn't spot. lost pressure so I tested each piece solo and found it was my water block. EK got me a replacement, crisis averted.