Question regarding Corsair XL5 Clear coolant

[adrian5683]

Hi all, I filled my brand new loop with the XL5 Clear coolant and it's foamy white and bubbly. I assume there's some sort of reaction with something inside my loop? I'm using all Corsair components and acrylic tubing. Prior to using the coolant I flushed the radiators with distilled water until there was only clear water coming out. I also ran the system with distilled water only for 36 hours and then flushed it. Should I keep flushing over and over, then try again? Also, I'm assuming the coolant is now contaminated and I should use another bottle of it? Thanks in advance.

Edited March 8, 2021 by adrian5683

[MADRGB]

Hi all, I filled my brand new loop with the XL5 Clear coolant and it's foamy white and bubbly. I assume there's some sort of reaction with something inside my loop? I'm using all Corsair components and acrylic tubing. Prior to using the coolant I flushed the radiators with distilled water until there was only clear water coming out. I also ran the system with distilled water only for 36 hours and then flushed it. Should I keep flushing over and over, then try again? Also, I'm assuming the coolant is now contaminated and I should use another bottle of it? Thanks in advance.

Bubbly on first fill is to be expected, within reasonable limits, until the system have been running for some time.

Foamy doesnt sound good. Can you take a pic and share?

[adrian5683]

Thanks for the quick reply, pic attached to OP.

[c-attack]

I don't like foamy either. There are some premix coolants that will foam up a bit on fill, especially when you blast it through the blocks and pump at 100% in a low restriction loop. However, this should be like shaking the soda bottle and it should calm down in a relatively short amount of time. Rather than keeping the pump speed high to push bubbles out, keep it low and see if 'the foam' disappears.

 

I imagine the telltale marker is in the reservoir and that is hard to take. My instant reaction would be drain and put distilled back in, drain and distilled, every 24 hours for a few days to make sure everything was out. However, that might be a bit rash and you may want to see if it settles first. As for the coolant itself, if there is any left in the bottle you can try pouring some into a glass and give it a little swirl.

[adrian5683]

So I should run it for a bit and see if it settles? The system isn't even up yet, I'm running the pumps connected to the PSU with a jumper. Wondering if I should just set it up and run it for a day, instead of draining and rinsing with distilled.

 

EDIT: Does topping both reservoirs have anything to do with it? The flow starts from the bottom pump, through the GPU and into the upper pump. I noticed the top reservoir only got about 3/4 full while the bottom was almost full.

Edited March 9, 2021 by adrian5683

[c-attack]

If you are running two XD3 pump/res in series with I am guessing gpu, cpu, and two radiators, you could fairly easily foam things up on fill. That’s a lot head pressure at max for appears to be a medium size case and with low vertical fluid rise height.

 

If you don’t have a way to control pump speed while it’s on the jumper (highly likely), turn it off for the night and see if it settles. I would also loosen the top fill port caps on the XD3s so air can escape.

[MADRGB]

I don't like foamy either. There are some premix coolants that will foam up a bit on fill, especially when you blast it through the blocks and pump at 100% in a low restriction loop. However, this should be like shaking the soda bottle and it should calm down in a relatively short amount of time. Rather than keeping the pump speed high to push bubbles out, keep it low and see if 'the foam' disappears.

 

I imagine the telltale marker is in the reservoir and that is hard to take. My instant reaction would be drain and put distilled back in, drain and distilled, every 24 hours for a few days to make sure everything was out. However, that might be a bit rash and you may want to see if it settles first. As for the coolant itself, if there is any left in the bottle you can try pouring some into a glass and give it a little swirl.

 

I agree. Only thing is, with the flushing he already did prior to using the coolant it should be gone. So Im wondering if there is a source of contamination somewhere that he will just repeat? If you get my drift?

Also, though hard to tell from a picture, that foam doesnt look like something generated by pressure but by some agent in the system?

Edited March 9, 2021 by MADRGB

[MADRGB]

Thanks for the quick reply, pic attached to OP.

Brand/maker of the tubing?

[adrian5683]

I'm using Corsair tubing. After topping both reservoirs and letting it sit overnight it looks like the problem went away. I'm going to set it up and see how it behaves at different pump speeds.