Best tubing for water cooling

[kenshinco]

Hi,
I'm looking to build myself a custom loop. I tried to look for tubing review but didn't find anything.

Can someone please give me your advices on which are the best tubing out there?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Lutfij]

Primochill with their Advanced LRT are the best soft tubing out there right now but if you're asking around for hard lined tubing you have a plethora of options. There are monsoon, EKHD, Alphacool HT, Primochill and ofc you can also pick them up from mcmasters. Soft tubing always discharge plasticizers into the loop and cloud the res/clear tubing and often gunk up in the blocks cooling fins.

Maybe if you could state the fittings your're planing on using would help narrow the field on ID and OD required/recommended...?

Oh and I forgot, welcome to the wild world of watercooling and to Tom's Hardware

 

[kenshinco]

Thanks Lutfij for the reply.
My fittings are 3/8 ID 5/8 OD. Acrylic tubing is out of the question for me as I don't have experiences.
Do we have any soft tubing without any plasticizers?

Thanks.

 

[Lutfij]

Oddly enough the compound used in soft tubing to add flexibility to the tubing is what causes the plasticizers to leech into the loop. I'm afraid the answer is no.

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l3/g30/c99/s1615/list/p1/Liquid_Cooling-Tubing-38_x_58_Tubing-Page1.html
^ Choose between the color found in Primochill Advanced LRT and you get a bottle of Sysprep with their 10 feet pack. The sysprep should reduce the leeching but the compound will inevitably leech. Trying to stop leeching in soft tubing would be like stopping someone from aging while alive(not cryostasis). You also get a good selection of colors from Primochill.

+ You're welcome!

 

[rubix_1011]

I like LRT but I've recently used XSPC tubing and found that it seems much more flexible. I've used Tygon, Primochill LRT and I think some Masterkleer in there...but all works well. I'd recommend thicker walled tubing rather than thinner walled tubing; this will help you with tighter bends but also means if you are buying compression fittings, you need to be aware of the wall thickness of the tubing you wish to use so the compression rings snug down and secure the tubing correctly.

 

[Lutfij]

Yeah good pointer, Rubix!

 

[rubix_1011]

Don't get me wrong...all those brands all make good tubing and I would recommend any of them to anyone, especially over crappy hardware store tubing.

Although, in fact, Home Depot does make some good stuff that is thick, clear tubing and seems similar to Tygon ('Watts' branded, I think?), but I don't really know if it is simply just thicker vinyl or is actually developed to higher standards like these other brands. I've used this stuff for home beer brewing misc. tubing and have been pretty happy with it so far, especially since I'm dealing with fluids between 140 F and 200 F.

 

[Lutfij]

Nah, buddy, no misunderstandings!

I'm a user of Watts tubing as well and they clouds within a very short period of time, say, about two weeks tops. I can't remember the ID/OD of the tubing I have now but they are very soft and easy to cut through. Unlike the other brands where a bit of leverage is needed. Oh and I've also used masterkleer tubing but of 10mm for my H50 re-mod which had really thin walls and easily collapses.

You know, I'd stab the Primochill Advanced LRT for having the least compound in its tubing since you can make relatively tight bend radi's(being stiffer than the XSPC) however I don't think the sysprep is all that necessary - more like a marketing gimmick, to state, frankly.

The plasicizers don't matter that much if you're going to maintain the loop regularly and scrub the blocks restrictive parts with a good toothbrush 😀

 

[rubix_1011]

The only time I've felt that plasticizers are really an issue are with clear tubing...colored tubing really isn't as big of a deal as far as tubing 'look' is concerned, but it still can leech into reservoirs, etc. and cause some clouding. However, I do like the look of crystal clear tubing at times as well...something about being very clean and pure looking.

 

[Lutfij]

yeah, but hardline/crystal tubing takes the most equipment investment and ofc some practice before achieving show room worthy results while soft tubing is much more forgiving - provided the tubing and fittings are of the corresponding dia's.

 

[1LiquidPC]

Using Primochill LRT Advanced myself. Only real complaint other than it's tough getting BP compression fittings on for the first time is forcing it to bend the way you want it to go...don't know if it's possible to get a kink though,lol. It was easier to work with my old Tygon-3603, but I like using the White Primochill tubing Using 3/4 OD 1/2 ID.