Liquid Cooled Desktop Losing Coolant With No Leaks II

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dennisc10853

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Mar 18, 2008
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I have an external liquid cooling setup which has been running for about 2 years. Every month I have to add about 1 to 2 ounces of coolant and there are no leaks. When I put the system together I purged all of the air so there isn't anywhere for it to go. I took the cover off the external unit and inspected everything with a magnifying glass and without while everything is running. I also took the cover off the computer and inspected. I took pieces of paper towel and put them in strategic places where there are joints and also under the radiator. The tubing runs from the external unit to the inside of the computer with quick releases in the middle which I also wrapped with paper towel. It is about a month now since I topped off the reservoir and I am again short between 1 and 2 ounces of coolant and there are no indications of leaks on the paper towel areas. I am using UV reactive green coolant and I have also used a UV light to inspect the paper towel areas and nothing has leaked. What a mystery! If anyone has an idea I would really appreciate any feedback or knowledge about this problem. I have two other liquid cooled machines and they don't lose any coolant, not a drop.
 
the liquid can evaporate - it's not a leak, but you lose some of it.
the things that can cause that are:
1. tubing - some tubes are "breathing"
2. not perfectly sealed joints - while not bad enough to have a leak, it allows vapor to come through. Under load the liquid is warmer and creates some pressure withing the loop.
3. micro puncture in rad/tube - same as above.
 

Mikel_4

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http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/10470/how-does-water-evaporate-if-it-doesnt-boil , so we know that case ambient is quite dry, this will make
... water is not turning into a gas, but random movement of the surface molecules allows some of them enough energy to escape from the surface into the air. The rate at which they leave the surface depends on a number of factors - for instance the temperature of both air and water, the humidity of the air, and the size of the surface exposed....
warmer coolant molecules escape to cooler air which then dispersed by intake fans. or sucked out exhaust fan.
However that doesn't explain half of teaspoon/day coolant lost, so you can rule out possible joints leakage issue, normally joint leaks are sipping liquid which won't be at half of teaspoon/24 hours.
I remember reading article about radiator's micro tube crack, finally He got full replacement after a week even if the rad had been used for a year, apparently the crack was not cause by screw puncture.
 
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