As with many things in life, It depends.
There is nothing too magic about coolant for custom cooling loops, and it is often external factors that will decide how long coolant can run without breaking down.
As a rule of thumb, clear coolant will last longer than coloured coolants as it has less “stuff” in it. By stuff we mean colour pigments, or glittery additives. Some general recommendations would be to simply just chance the coolant every 12 months, but as an old Georgian guy once said, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
So how do I know if it is broke?
Great question – any of these symptoms is a sign that you might want to check if you either have a clog, or if your coolant has started to deteriorate:
- Higher temperatures than normal
- Reduced flow rates
- Odd particles or residue in your reservoir or water blocks
- Your coolant has lost its colour
Now, it's not uncommon to have systems running for years and years with clear coolant without issues, but sometimes others see issues after just a few months. If you use parts solely from the Hydro X Series lineup as well as Hydro X Series XL coolant you can generally assume that you are not going to have any issues as all components are tested with each other.
Where people typically go wrong is when they start reading homebrew advice from sketchy sources on the internet, and mixes odd brands and materials. So, should you stumble upon posts from xX-sUpEr;GaMeR-Xx who tells to just flush your radiators with a mixture of salt water and acid it is probably best to steer clear.
An easy way to see if you have debris in your loop is to look at the micro fins in your water blocks. This is typically where debris and residue will build up and cause a clog should issues arise.
So what do I do if my components are clogged?
The best course of action would be to take your water blocks apart and clean them, but we also understand that not everyone is comfortable about this. Our recommendations would be to take the parts out of your system, and flush them in the reverse order of what your loop orientation was in the system.
This will ensure that most debris caught in the micro fins are flushed out “backwards”. If you for example just flush your CPU block through the “inlet” port, you will just force the debris further into the micro fins. When flushing you should do so with distilled / pure water, as tap water contains contaminants such as minerals and bacteria.
If you are using distilled / pure water, it is not crucial that you get every drop out of the components before assembling your loop again as our coolant consists of 89% pure water, and a few % either way is not going to cause havoc.
It is! But do not worry. The chances of this happening can be dramatically reduced by just doing a bit of preparation. When purchasing a custom cooling loop you should make sure that your components are clean. Hydro X Series radiators come pre-flushed, but if you buy second hand, or from other brands it can be a good idea to flush them before installing.
If you buy a new kit, and use the proper coolant chances are that you will never have to worry about this at all, even if you run your PC for the next 2-5 years.
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