Dying extension valve in Eisbaer420

[Rusorthodox]

Hello Everyone.
My unpleasnt experience with Eisbaer420, purchased June 2021, maybe for knowledge how to base.
On July 2024 my CPU began throttle because of 100 degrees overheating. Beforethat I've heard some rumors that these models of liquid cooling systems dies right after warranty is out) Since old Corsair LCS still doing its work fo more than 11 years on my old system, it was hard to beleive.
So, I disassembled my eisbaer to find out, where the secret warranty clock is ticking)
Nothing critical, some dark-red flakes in the fluid, much of them in radiator, some in resevour.
What was found that the pipe with that unnecessary extention valve which was untouched all the way long became fluid impassable completely. So, be warned. Nothing was a reason for that, probably fluid or rubber in the valve lifetime of 3 years.
Now I reassembled the remains with Barrow fittings, pipes and fluid and hope for good.
None of photos of the case could be placed here, because they are "too big" for the support forum.
Total disapointment.

 

[Eddy]

The images may be a maximum of 2MB in size. You can easily reduce the size with Paint or another tool so that you can upload them here. This is common practice in almost every forum.
Pictures would still be helpful. I don't quite understand what you've done now. Basically it just sounds like dirty water to me. Cleaning is annoying, but not a problem with the Eisbaer.

 

[Rusorthodox]

The images may be a maximum of 2MB in size. You can easily reduce the size with Paint or another tool so that you can upload them here. This is common practice in almost every forum.
Pictures would still be helpful. I don't quite understand what you've done now. Basically it just sounds like dirty water to me. Cleaning is annoying, but not a problem with the Eisbaer.

How it looked like.

I agree that the most possible reason is that the initially prefilled Alphacool fluid decayed in 3 years. Since it is maintenance-free liquid cooling system it is disgusting. You can see the problematic "quick-release fastener" in the center which stopped the flow. By the way, it also could be that its rubber inner decayed, not the fluid (you will see the colour of the flakes)

This is how the 3-years old factory prefilled Alphacool fluid looked like.

Some big flakes in resevour...

This is how the back and the most important side of the cooling platform looks like in 3 years. Unestetic but still the problem is not here.
So, the flakes killed your fastener, or it made the flakes by itself - not clear.

This is how it looks like after some investmens and my hand labor attempts. Barrow fluid, Bykski fitters. The CPU temperature is on motherboard indicator which you can see, it's 29. All is functional, clean and the CPU is cold.
Thanks for your time. Hope some engeneers from Aphacools will read the post and make conclusions and imrovements. 3 years of Alpacool Eisbaer 420 vs 11 years of Corsair, 0-1.

 

[Eddy]

Thanks for the pictures. That is interesting. Red flakes are completely new to me and we have been selling the AIO for almost 10 years. I have no idea off the top of my head where this could have come from. I could have understood threads caused by plasticizers or white particles, but I've never seen red ones. And I've been with the company for 9 years.
Thanks again for the pictures, I'll have to pass them on internally. That is very helpful.

I wish you lots of fun with your system.