WC: Tubing, quick fit connectors, valves, etc

Kenjutsu · Post by **Kenjutsu** » 18 Jan 2008, 23:33

A while back, I was looking for good quality 10mm OD tube. I contacted Arthur from Synapsys to see if he could help (still a big void left when he stepped down from the WC scene).

He put me onto Festo. Under Pneumatic and electric fittings you will find the available tubing and connectors. The PUN-H series of tubing is most suitable for water as a medium.

More info can be found at:

Plastic tubing (metric) 543Kb(pdf)

Festo has several branches throughout South Africa.

I ordered some tubing which should arrive on Monday/Tuesday. I ordered the 10mm OD (PUN-H-10,15, NT) at approx. R30 / meter. This tubing has an ID of 7 mm, and the recommended ID for 10 mm OD quit fit connectors are 8 mm.

You can also contact Festo and ask for their Festo Products 2007/2008 Digital catalog on DVD. It contains tons of info, as well as the ability to view the products with a 2D/3D CAD viewer (provided on the DVD).

DAE_JA_VOO · Post by **DAE_JA_VOO** » 19 Jan 2008, 02:05

R30/meter?! That tubing better be frikken incredible.

Dust · Post by **Dust** » 19 Jan 2008, 03:48

Dae, if you know Festo products, then you'd know it is THE best.

Many huge industrial companies (including where I work) use Festo products on just about everything! Hydraulic, pnuematic the works.

Just a simple quick clip mechanism on a pipe can withstand amazing pressure in air or liquid.

DAE_JA_VOO · Post by **DAE_JA_VOO** » 19 Jan 2008, 08:35

Wow, okay cool then

Still though, i think you can import Tygon tubing for cheaper than that

Kenjutsu · Post by **Kenjutsu** » 19 Jan 2008, 09:07

When I bought my WC stuff from Synapsys in 2006, WaterChill 10mm OD Tube worked out about R94 (excl. shipping) per meter. Performance-PCs do not have true metric sized tubing.

I once bought some generic 10 mm OD PVC tube at about R10 per meter. The problem was that the wall was too flimsy and the push fittings were not able to bite properly and seal, causing a leak.

DAE_JA_VOO · Post by **DAE_JA_VOO** » 19 Jan 2008, 09:10

The tubing you get from P-PCs is perfect

Kenjutsu · Post by **Kenjutsu** » 19 Jan 2008, 09:24

But which size would fit the 10 mm OD / 8 mm ID fittings? Converting from imperial to metric does not yield exact matches

DAE_JA_VOO · Post by **DAE_JA_VOO** » 19 Jan 2008, 11:16

Oh, no no, what i meant was that if you do ALL your shopping from there, you won't have problems. If you're buying fittings here and tubing there and blocks somewhere else, you're bound to run into problems.

RobThePyro · Post by **RobThePyro** » 19 Jan 2008, 16:09

gosh i wish i knew of this place before... they look awsome!

Kenjutsu · Post by **Kenjutsu** » 20 Jan 2008, 10:40

DAE_JA_VOO wrote:Oh, no no, what i meant was that if you do ALL your shopping from there, you won't have problems.

Very true. With Arthur, I told him what my PC setup was, and he made a recommendation, and gave me a quote. When I received the goods from him, it was simply a case of installing and connecting everything.

Kenjutsu · Post by **Kenjutsu** » 20 Jan 2008, 10:42

RobThePyro wrote:gosh i wish i knew of this place before... they look awsome!

They are!

They were very interested to hear that their products are used to cool PCs. They are also very helpful, and provided me with tons of advise.

viceroy · Post by **viceroy** » 20 Jan 2008, 11:49

I'm still very happy with the tubing I bought from Builders Warehouse.

Walls are nice and thick, fits perfectly over my barbs.

And costs a LOT less than R30 per meter.

Dust · Post by **Dust** » 20 Jan 2008, 18:11

Yes it fit" on you barbs, but Festo products have the best quick connectors.

I don't know WC, so, tell me, what hols the pipe on the barb?

viceroy · Post by **viceroy** » 20 Jan 2008, 21:57

Dust wrote:Yes it fit" on you barbs, but Festo products have the best quick connectors.

I don't know WC, so, tell me, what hols the pipe on the barb?

Exactly, like you say, you know very little about water cooling

If I wanted to, I could use nothing to hold the tubing securely onto the barbs, and there are no leaks.

However, since anything could happen, and accidents happen, there is nothing better than a worm clamp for making sure the tubing doesn't come off until I want it to.

So tell you what, if you ever decide to watercool your pc, and don't wish to ask the advice of us who've actually got loads of experience in WC (including but not limited to Mike, Ettienne, Rob, Byron, etc) you can go blow your budget on R30/m tubing and expensive connectors, and we'll use what we know works and have enough of a budget for decent blocks, rads, res's and pumps.

Kenjutsu · Post by **Kenjutsu** » 21 Jan 2008, 11:39

viceroy wrote:If I wanted to, I could use nothing to hold the tubing securely onto the barbs, and there are no leaks.

From my (limited) experience, tube wall thickness is not such a big issue when the tube goes over a barb (as compared with a quick fit type connector). I experienced only two leaks: once when my res cracked, and with quick fit connectors.

viceroy wrote:ask the advice of us who've actually got loads of experience in WC (including but not limited to Mike, Ettienne, Rob, Byron, etc)

That is good advice for anyone new to WC. In my setup, everything is 10 mm OD (except for the 2 Koolance HD-50-L06 Hard Drive Coolers) with quick fit connectors. In hindsight, what I would have done before contacting Arthur for a quote, would be to find out:

which tubing size is the easiest to get hold of, and works the best
which is better/cheaper to use, barbs or quick fit

Some of the people mentioned by Viceroy helped me a lot with my WC questions, so always ask questions before leaping into WC. There is a lot of experts on this forum.

viceroy · Post by **viceroy** » 21 Jan 2008, 11:48

Well at the time that Arthur was still dealing, he seemed to push the Koolance kits quite a bit, since they're pretty easy to setup. Heck, Even I started out with a Koolance Exos Al.

Tubing thickness, isn't too much of a factor when fitting on barbs, but it IS A HUGE factor when trying to route tubing around your case. Thin tube kinks easily and a kink can mean death for a WC system.

Quick fits are nice, but even so, they do leak tiny amounts when connecting or removing.

Barbs are more pemanent, but loads safer in my view.

What I did when looking for local tubing was to take a small sample of tubing I needed, as well as a connector, and go to various pet shops and Builders Warehouses to see what they have.

I did find some tubing from a local petshop but I found better stuff at Builders Warehouse. They now tend to stock everything from the cheap rubbish all the way through to the really nice thick walled stuff.

Cheap too.

If however you want the real deal, order enough Tygon tubing in the size you need from Performance PCs.

DAE_JA_VOO · Post by **DAE_JA_VOO** » 21 Jan 2008, 11:50