Rust red radiator out of the box?

[Strangewayes]

Hi AlphaCool. I just unpacked my new xt 45 HPE 360 rad, rinsed it out and mounted it to the case.

Then I noticed something odd. When looking at the din stack from different angles, they are either black or rust red.

AFAIK it should be a all copper.

Is it a problem? Or just a super shitty paint job that should have been caught in QC?

Attached is 4 images. Both sides of the rad. View angle top and bottom.

Regards
Strangewayes

 

[Zetrol]

I could see this on my EK radiators at some angles as well, especially on the thicker one (45mm). If I would guess the reason behind it's probably connected to the efficiency of the radiator, more paint = less effective. But at the same time, hard to tell exactly how bad it is just looking at the pictures..

 

[Strangewayes]

I hope its purely a cosmetic issue tbh. As long as it's not a quality/reliability issue, I don't mind the fins being copper coloured. In fact, I am of the function over form mind set, so I'd love a raw copper look, to emphasise what the material is. I'm too old to care about paint and rgb

 

[Eddy]

This is not rust. We do not paint the fins completely or only lightly. The more paint on them, the worse the heat transfer. This is the solution for all our radiators. This is the bare copper that shows through.

 

[Strangewayes]

Thank you Eddy!

That is exactly what I hoped was the case. That is also why I kept installing the system and it's ready for testing tonight