Which is the best fitting and/or coupling for PC watercooling? I`m asking from a preformance and safety point of view, we all hate leaks and I feel they are most likely to accour at the interfaces between block and tube so I wanna pick your brains about it. Another important factor is availability of diffrent tube sizes for your fittings as well the existence of 90 and perhaps 45 degree bends and other things fitting-connected (pun not intended). And please motivate your answers, it makes it more informative. So please have pity on a poor WC-knowledge-defficient nerd such as myself.
They are all pretty good. My personal preferance is for the plug and cool type (with the o-ring inside) just because there so damn easy and as long as you cut the tubes sraight and route them so there is little torque (advisable with any connection really) theres no chance of them leaking.
i found i could never get the tubing on plug and cool exactly straight, causing air to leak in, so i changed to barbs
i like barbs simply because they are more versatile than push fittings. I can replace the sizes of the barbs to fit almost any size tubing unlike push fittings on a water block. Plus i feal more secure with barbs than push fittings
Plug and cool. They're just so easy to use and if you've done it properly they won't leak and are very strong. I'm talking abou the AC ones though, I don't know about Swiftech ones etc. Apparently plug and cool fittings are strong enough that you can lift a rad full of water with them. I've not tried it yet though
Zalman type compression fittings all the way. When properly tightened, you will not get the hose off without tearing it. Otherwise, barbs are my choice (and worm gear clamps just to be sure ).
I happen to like both Plug & Cool and compression. Plug and Cool are very easy to use, but the tubing is often hard and very un-bendy. With compressions, Tygon and other soft stuff can be used with little chance of leaking. Granted 99% of Plug & Cool leaking is due to the tube not being pushed in all the way. I HATE barbs! I've lifted a Cuplex EVO bolted onto a motherboard with tubing attached by Plug & Cools. It wasn't full of water at the time though. To get the tubing out of the fitting I had to use needlenose pliers to hold the rim down enough so I could wedge it out. Strong they are
A compression fitting is a leak waiting to happen . Barbs w/ a good clamp is the only way to go . 2 YRS NO LEAKS !!!!
Totally agree. Compression may look better to some people but I'm never using barbs again (at least not in my own computer). Never had P&C leak and I've just used a razor blade to cut the tubing so it's not perfectly straight. The trick is to make sure it goes in ALL the way, it kinda has two "levels" of being in, the "feels all the way in but is just hitting the o-ring and needs more force" and "all the way in" levels. They are very strong when in correctly as Puggy mentioned... I'd be more worried about bending the tube on my rad than the tubing pulling out (and I've acutally done the former, never the latter).
I made that mistake the first time I used them. I went round and checked all of them and thought, great, they're all in. Started filling it with water, poured in about 400ml and then looked down into my case. Water was leaking from nearly all of them. Oh well, nothing was broken after I let it dry out and I made sure they were in correctly when I tried again. Not had any leaks since, it's been nearly a year now.
Hmmm... I`ve heard lots of talk about the strength of Plug`n Cool, but really. Do you wanna get into a contest of comparing "tensile" or clamp strength? If a Plug`Cool can lift a radiator full of water, how much can a barb with a good worm-drive clip lift? The barb-fittings seems to be winning, but I haven`t been able to find any 90 degree barbfittings, not to mention 45 degree ones. Do they exist? Sure I´ve seen "banjo" barb-fittings but they restrict like you wouldn`t belive. Don`just state what you use, but please consider availability and diffrent types of fitting accesories.
Well if you are going for a 1/2 system then plug and cool isn't an option so barbs would probably be the best. For anything smaller I would use plug and cool. What kind of system have you got/getting. IF it's a high flow system then I doubt you will find any 90 degree fittings that won't completely kill the flow.
They do make some 90 degree elbows that won't kill flow, but truth be told, if you're running high flow what are you doing routing 90 degree bends?
If you like and love barbs, what does my prefering compressions and push fits matter? So how is it a 'leak waiting to happen'? I've been using a combination of both compression and push fits (Plug & Cool) for over a year now with zero problems. If the same applies to you and barbs, I'm happy for ya
I've been able to make smooth tube and zip tie watertight, which means that a lot of this is just personal choice. Since I run all 1/2", I use barbs, but I have used swifty push fits, Koolance compression (very handy btw) all kinds of stuff. It's all good if you do it like the instructions say to...
Umm, what the hell are you doing with your case that needs you to lift ANYTHING by the tubing? My point was if you put it in right it will NOT come out until you push the release thing which takes more than just getting bumped into. Barbs are really the only option for 1/2" and most 3/8", but P&C and compressions are best for the small-bore stuff. Not only because they look better, but a barb will put far more restriction using the same tubing. Note that a 1/2" barb is NOT 1/2" ID nor is any other barb. Plug and cool, on the other hand, is 6mm ID and is meant for 6mm ID tubing, meaning no loss of flow rate from the fittings.
I only posted this to get info for my upcoming project, which is gonna be a 3/8 based loop. Currently I am using custom waterblocks, pneumatik-barb fittings and copper tubes instead of hoses. It´s been my experience, that 90 degree bends generally aren`t to bad on flow rates, besides using a Ehiem 1046 pump, I´ve got redundancy when it comes to flow. I´ve always gotten the advide to not use 90 degree bends, and if it is avoidable I agree that you shouldn`t. But if thechoice is 90-bend or hose-kink, go with the flow i.e. bends.
Very true. This is why I have 3/8" ID tubing over 1/2" barbs. That way the ID stays the same throughout.
