Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Part IX

Build Log:

• Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Introduction
• Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Part I
• Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Part II
• Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Part III
• Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Part IV
• Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Part V
• Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Part VI
• Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Part VII
• Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Part VIII
• Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Part IX
• Follow-up on AquaTuning
• Defending AlphaCool and the risks of water cooling
• Kyle’s catastrophic failure

Absinthe:

• Water cooling build in my wife’s computer – Part IX
• Project Absinthe
• Project Absinthe – Part II
• Project Absinthe – Part III
• Project Absinthe – Part IV
• Project Absinthe – Part V
• Project Absinthe – Part VI
• Project Absinthe – Part VII
• Project Absinthe – Part VIII
• Project Absinthe – Part IX
• Project Absinthe – Part X
• Project Absinthe – Part XI
• Project Absinthe – Part XII
• Project Absinthe – Part XIII
• Project Absinthe – Part XIV
• Project Absinthe – Part XV: It’s alive!
• Project Absinthe – Intermission and future plans
• Project Absinthe – Part XVI
• Absinthe – Part XVII
• Absinthe – Part XVIII
• Absinthe – Part XIX: Valentine’s Day
• Absinthe – Part XX
• Distilling another batch of Absinthe
• Distilling Absinthe – Part II
• Distilling Absinthe — Part III
• Another glass of absinthe
• Another glass of absinthe — II
• Adjusting the recipe
• Absinthe to Amethyst

For just $6, I was able to overnight a $160 power supply. Pretty sweet deal, courtesy of Amazon Prime. Anyway. I ordered the RM1000 power supply to go in my wife’s computer, and overnighted it courtesy of the great rate Amazon gave me. Plus as putting the new power supply into her machine would be a bit of work, having it on Saturday would give me plenty of opportunity to get the upgrade done while my wife’s at work.

Update from AlphaCool/Aquatuning

The night before ordering the power supply, I got an e-mail from Westfälische Provinzial Versicherung AG, the liability insurance company for AquaTuning:

Guten Tag, sehr geehrter Herr Ballard,

wir melden uns als Haftpflichtversicherer von der Aquatuning GmbH.

Eine Haftung unseres Kunden ist nicht ersichtlich.

Das Auslassgewinde hat einen Riss. Für die Inbetriebnahme des Kühlers wurden von Ihnen Bitspoweranschlüsse verwendet. Diese sind jedoch nicht normgerecht und hätten nicht verwendet werden dürfen.

Bitte haben Sie Verständnis, dass wir Ihr Ansprüche daher nicht anerkennen können.

Thankfully Google Translate and Bing Translator were able to make some sense of this.

Apparently what they said is the outlet thread on the CPU water block had a crack in it. They alleged that I was using Bitspower fittings on the CPU block, and called these fittings “non-standard” (I’ll get to that in a little bit). And because they believed I was using “non-standard” Bitspower fittings, they’re basically rejecting my claim for liability with regard to the CPU water block and the damage that resulted.

Now the thread having a crack on it would lead to what I felt caused the block to ultimately rupture: water leaking into the block’s lid, and eventually building up enough pressure that it leaked out. But I didn’t use Bitspower fittings on the CPU block in any way – pictures in earlier iterations of this build log will demonstrate such as none of the pictures show Bitspower fittings being used. I used only Swiftech and AlphaCool fittings on the CPU block, and specifically an AlphaCool 45-degree single-rotary 1/2″x3/4″ compression fitting on the outlet.

I sent this as the response to the insurance company:

You will have to pardon me as I do not speak German. Please provide the previous in English so I am sure of what you are attempting to say, and any future communications with me should also be in English.

An attempt to translate through Bing and Google’s translation services provides the implication that I was using Bitspower fittings on the water block sent in for evaluation. This statement is not correct. I was using an AlphaCool fitting on the outlet of the CPU block, as pictures and statements I have provided to [redacted] note. At no time did I attempt to use a Bitspower fitting of any kind on the CPU block.

As such, please re-evaluate the claim based on the previous. If you desire, I can forward to you the mentioned pictures.

I somehow doubt they’ll do that. But I can hope. This e-mail was sent shortly before 2am CDT. The next morning I decided that I should also contact AquaTuning’s support contact again:

I received an e-mail yesterday from Westfälische Provinzial Versicherung AG. From what I could get from the e-mail — it was in German, so I needed to use Google Translate to get some idea of what was being said — they are claiming that I used Bitspower fittings on the CPU block I sent in for evaluation, and that this resulted in the outlet thread becoming cracked. As you are aware from what I’ve sent you, I did not use Bitspower fittings on the CPU block.

Do you have any additional details from the investigation regarding the CPU block? I’m very curious as to how they concluded I used fittings I’ve never owned.

Now this isn’t entirely accurate. I did use Bitspower fittings in the water loop – 3x40mm extension fittings as other pictures show – but did not use any on any of the water blocks, and most certainly did not on the CPU water block, as the insurance company originally alleged. The support contact replied back saying he’d “chase this” for me.

“Non-standard” Bitspower fittings

So before getting much further, let’s get to the idea that Bitspower fittings are “not standard”. Virtually all water blocks in a computer water cooling loop are threaded for G1/4″. The technical name for this is 1/4″-19 BSPP. According to Wikipedia, the BSPP standard for G1/4″ states the thread calls for 19 threads per inch at a 1.337mm pitch, with the outer (“thread major”) diameter being up to 13.157mm, or approximately 0.52″, and the inner (“thread minor”) diameter being 11.445mm, or .45″. Any fitting or block advertised as being G1/4″ should fit this standard, to a reasonable degree of tolerance.

But if you take calipers to the fittings that you find on the shelf, you will likely not find a fitting with a “thread major” diameter of 13mm, let alone above it, but at minimum the fitting should have a “thread major” diameter of at least 12.7mm, or 1/2″. The Bitspower fittings I have are approaching 12.8mm, while the 45-degree single-rotary AlphaCool fitting that was on the water block has a “thread major” diameter of 12.9mm.

Now if AlphaCool is going to advertise their water blocks as being threaded for G1/4″, virtually anyone is going to presume that it will accept any G1/4″ fitting. So to say that Bitspower fittings should not be used is just hogwash, and I think they’re just trying to make stuff up in order to avoid the liability that comes with acknowledging the water block’s failure, and the documentation distributed with the block says nothing about the kind of fittings to be used with it.

Project Absinthe

I am about ready to start building out a new water cooling loop in my wife’s computer. The video card from EVGA should be here on Monday, and the new power supply will be here on Saturday. I’ll be installing the new power supply right away as well, including installing cables knowing that not just one, but two new graphics cards will be going into it.

Once the graphics cards have been thoroughly exercised is when I’ll build out the loop. I think a week of my wife’s gaming plus a few long runs of Unigine Valley should do the trick.

And the green lighting my wife selected when she picked out her 750D has inspired me to name this next iteration Project Absinthe, and any future articles on the build will be under that title, starting with the new power supply, while any updates regarding AquaTuning and EVGA will probably still be under the current series.