Anyone ever use the Unablock?

Has anyone used the Unablock? I'm building an ubercheap setup and found this block to be cheaper then building one myself. Also does anyone know if those are brass or copper fittings?

I cannot think of who here has one, I know someone does! Senior moment...
They said it does okay.

The fittings are brass, and don't react with copper or aluminum, so battery effect from them is no prob. I'd get an aluminum radiator though, as the waterblock is not anodized to prevent corrosion.
The upside is that an aluminum heatercore should be even cheaper than copper.

Thanks for your input. As price is my very main holdback The slight cut in preformance is ok for me. Aluminum is actualy great for me, I already have a big aluminum core (was an evaporator)
as in this thread.
Hmm, wonder if I could get 90deg barbs on it and use another for my gpu...

that would work, but remember, the unablock has a relativly small surface area, while most gpu's have larger cores that most cpu's. Just make sure the block is big enough to cover the core.

Good Luck

Diggrr said:

The fittings are brass, and don't react with copper or aluminum, so battery effect from them is no prob. I'd get an aluminum radiator though, as the waterblock is not anodized to prevent corrosion.

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Edited by cw823

You've got 4 posts, and you are making fun of a senior? That was very good information for someone who has never heard about anodization, corrosion, etc. There was no need for that comment. Be careful, our mods like to keep things pretty calm around here.

Just a warning!
Scott

ziptieboy said:

You've got 4 posts, and you are making fun of a senior? That was very good information for someone who has never heard about anodization, corrosion, etc. There was no need for that comment. Be careful, our mods like to keep things pretty calm around here.

Just a warning!
Scott

Click to expand...

Edited by cw823

Here is one of my blocks. BRASS barbs caused this in less than a month. BRASS will cause the battery effect.


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Also the post of MINE at procooling: http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=5707

And another: http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6402&highlight=mixing+metals

Be carefull about making assumptions on what one knows. This isn't the only forum on the net.

CustomCooledPC said:

LOL, I forgot more about WC than that guy will ever know!

Here is one of my blocks. BRASS barbs caused this in less than a month. BRASS will cause the battery effect.

Click to expand...

Brass mixed with what? that looks like a copper block to me.

Also, even if you're highly regarded on another forum, you can't come here and insult people just to stroke your ego.

CustomCooledPC, i like how on your website, you recomend a waterpump that is only rated for 2500 hours, thats just over 100 days, or a little more then 3 months, good idea lets all replace our pumps ever 3-6 months because the keep burning out!

So, you put a copper heatercore on a system with an aluminum waterblock, and blame the barbs?
I'd blame the operator.
If your heatercore has brass endtanks, most likely, it's a copper core...Something I told him specifically not to do, and something you said you had in one of your posts at procooling.
Also, windshield washer fluid (which I use also) has little of no anti corrosion additives. On a car, it lives in a plastic tank, is pumped by a plastic pump, through plastic tubes and nozzles...no need to be anti corrosive.

That would certainly qualify you to give me advice.

Now you're welcome to stay and discuss this. Everybody is welcome, and I certainly have no problem with someone because they have an alternative opinion...I can't know it all (and that's not to sound like I could get you in trouble, I can't).
But could we please get back on track to the origional thread?

Oh, and don't let the stars fool you, I was watercooling nearly two years before I found this site.

dagamore said:

CustomCooledPC, i like how on your website, you recomend a waterpump that is only rated for 2500 hours, thats just over 100 days, or a little more then 3 months, good idea lets all replace our pumps ever 3-6 months because the keep burning out!

Click to expand...

If you read that post to completeion, many users have had good results

"'I don't think it will wear out as quickly as the mfg thinks it will. I work as an instrument repair tech at a bio tech company. We have some 12v dc pumps that are rated to last for 1500 hrs. that have been on machines for over 5 years. These machines run almost 24/7/365 and pump some of the nastiest chemicals on the planet. We have more problems with seals going bad in the pump head than the motors burning out. And we just change the seals and reuse the pumps.'"

Wow.. geekfight! J/K

Ok... here is the deal with galvanic corrosion..

Alum with copper = bad (duh)
copper and brass = ok
alum and brass = bad

here are my sources...
Engineers Edge
Corrosion doctors
Experimental Aircraft Association

CustomCooledPC...
I don't remember ever seeing a full brass heater core but that point is mute due to brass being a bad mixture too.

Soo..... to be safe if I use that block I'll remove the brass barbs and use plastic ones. I don't think that'll provide any problems.

My rad is all alum, those blocks are alum (removing the barbs) and I'm not sure if there is any contact with any metal inside my pump. I'm all set! (I think)


(p.s. - I wana use a picture... )

ws6fire said:

Wow.. geekfight! J/K

Ok... here is the deal with galvanic corrosion..

Alum with copper = bad (duh)
copper and brass = ok
alum and brass = bad

here are my sources...
Engineers Edge
Corrosion doctors
Experimental Aircraft Association

CustomCooledPC...
I don't remember ever seeing a full brass heater core but that point is mute due to brass being a bad mixture too.

Soo..... to be safe if I use that block I'll remove the brass barbs and use plastic ones. I don't think that'll provide any problems.

My rad is all alum, those blocks are alum (removing the barbs) and I'm not sure if there is any contact with any metal inside my pump. I'm all set! (I think)


(p.s. - I wana use a picture... )

Click to expand...

Very good! If you buy the block ask if they will put plastic barbs on it. Why they don't use them anyway I am not sure because it is a economy block and plastic barbs are less expensive. Also I have a couple ALL brass heater cores. The popular Chevett core is ALL brass. Well plus some solder...

LOL at the rest of the people in this thread. Ignorance is bliss eh?

Brass mixed with what? that looks like a copper block to me.

Also, even if you're highly regarded on another forum, you can't come here and insult people just to stroke your ego.

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It is an ALUMINUM block with BRASS barbs! Click the link before you start going off how smart you are. Also if your refering to the pics I posted, they are in fact of an ALUMINUM block. Aluminum is silver colored, copper is not. Just FYI.

So, you put a copper heatercore on a system with an aluminum waterblock, and blame the barbs?
I'd blame the operator.
If your heatercore has brass endtanks, most likely, it's a copper core...Something I told him specifically not to do, and something you said you had in one of your posts at procooling.
Also, windshield washer fluid (which I use also) has little of no anti corrosion additives. On a car, it lives in a plastic tank, is pumped by a plastic pump, through plastic tubes and nozzles...no need to be anti corrosive.

That would certainly qualify you to give me advice.

Now you're welcome to stay and discuss this. Everybody is welcome, and I certainly have no problem with someone because they have an alternative opinion...I can't know it all (and that's not to sound like I could get you in trouble, I can't).
But could we please get back on track to the origional thread?

Oh, and don't let the stars fool you, I was watercooling nearly two years before I found this site.

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Dude, heatercores are BRASS. Some might have copper fins, but the inards are all BRASS. Non the less it is irrelevant. Whats Brass mostly composed of? Thats right, Copper. The zinc added to Copper to make brass forms a semi protective layers but not nearly good enough to not cause corrosion.

CustomCooledPC, i like how on your website, you recomend a waterpump that is only rated for 2500 hours, thats just over 100 days, or a little more then 3 months, good idea lets all replace our pumps ever 3-6 months because the keep burning out!

Click to expand...

LOL again! I didn't recommend that pump. BigBen2k did. But don't let trivial things like screen names make any difference in your attemp to discredit me. Also in regaurds to that pump:
http://forums.procooling.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6650


Come on guys! This site is supposed to have the most knowlegable people on the net yet this garbage gets spammed around here like it's candy and ate up and passed on to the next forum.

Tanks of a heater core are brass, but not the active cooling area, which is copper. Usually, the pipes that go to the core are also copper.

Copper is a soft metal with very good thermal conductivity. Brass is a very sturdy metal with substantially less thermal conductivity. Tanks (structural support) = brass, cooling area = copper.

You can verify in under two minutes with a propate torch, as the tanks are VERY easy to remove, often removed by accident while modding, but a real pain to put back on.

Besides being harder to work with, brass isn't that much better than Aluminum regarding thermal conductivity, it's a LOT more expensive and heavier than Aluminum, and did I mention it's much harder to work with than Aluminum or Copper? Brass is great for things that shouldn't change form, though (barbs, fittings, tanks, etc.).

wormwood said:

Tanks of a heater core are brass, but not the active cooling area, which is copper. Usually, the pipes that go to the core are also copper.

Copper is a soft metal with very good thermal conductivity. Brass is a very sturdy metal with substantially less thermal conductivity. Tanks (structural support) = brass, cooling area = copper.

You can verify in under two minutes with a propate torch, as the tanks are VERY easy to remove, often removed by accident while modding, but a real pain to put back on.

Besides being harder to work with, brass isn't that much better than Aluminum regarding thermal conductivity, it's a LOT more expensive and heavier than Aluminum, and did I mention it's much harder to work with than Aluminum or Copper? Brass is great for things that shouldn't change form, though (barbs, fittings, tanks, etc.).

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Well I am not going to disagree with you just yet. I have a couple cores at home I use that apear to be all brass including the areas the fins are soldered to. Once I get home I will cut one up and find out. I have some older cores that have real copper fins, but appears to be brass tubes they are soldered to after sand blasting.

Kind of irrelevant being the tanks are brass though, but would be good to know non the less.

jaydee, theres multiple alloys of aluminum, some must corode differently than others, I have had some blocks corode like a motha, Currently I have a peice of anodized aluminum, regular aluminum, and copper in a jar of water, The most of discoloration is on the copper, almost 0 on the aluminum, Its been in there cince 4-22-03

Just because something goes terribly wrong with you doesnt mean it wont for others....

I thought I remember you saying you were never gonna come back to these forums.. and just becuase you couldnt use a msn address.......


Jon

JFettig said:

jaydee, theres multiple alloys of aluminum, some must corode differently than others, I have had some blocks corode like a motha, Currently I have a peice of anodized aluminum, regular aluminum, and copper in a jar of water, The most of discoloration is on the copper, almost 0 on the aluminum, Its been in there cince 4-22-03

Just because something goes terribly wrong with you doesnt mean it wont for others....

I thought I remember you saying you were never gonna come back to these forums.. and just becuase you couldnt use a msn address.......


Jon

Click to expand...

6061-T6 was what that block I posted is made of. And it doesn't matter what grade it is, only a matter of time is the difference, and that block isn't anodized. And yes, I wasn't going to post again, but when I see a forum such as this with people with several 1,000 posts that still don't understand the basics and then claim brass and aluminum do not react I have to jump in and inform the author of this thread it does react with brass and it could lead to system failure in the future. Something YOU should be doing aswell.

Also heater core wise I done a little digging and this one spacific core maker uses brass for the channels and the tanks:
http://www.4s.com/fourseasons/heater_cores.html

The components for our copper brass heater cores are all manufactured in house. The distribution and return tanks are stamped and formed from a brass strip by progressive dies. The holes for the nozzles are then punched in the appropriate configuration. The nozzles are cut, end formed, and bent into the correct shape from raw brass tube stock. The water channels and air fins are manufactured using an automated process. The channel is stamped and formed from a brass ribbon and the air fin is roll formed from a copper ribbon. The two are then inserted together automatically and deposited into a chute for core assembly. The fin and channel are marked with the distribution and return tanks using universal framing fixtures. Both faces of the core bodies and all corners are then run through an automated flux and solder dipping process.

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I assume the others do the same as it sure looks like yellow brass when I sandblasted the cores I got at home.

Also Jon if you want to accuratly reproduce the corrosion effect in a PC then you might consider applying a heat source and get some water flowing. Which accelerates the corrosion more accuratly in theory. Putting something in a jar at room temp with no movement isn't going to prove much. Get the water moving and it will start to mix the corrosion from metals together which more represents a PC.

Now this is pure theory on my part BTW. Something to consider though.

More heatercore info:
http://innovations.copper.org/2000/03/cuprobraze.html

Automotive radiators have undergone numerous technological changes over the past 100 years, although none of these changes are more obvious than the metals from which the radiator is constructed. In the copper/brass radiator, the radiator's fins are made from nearly pure copper and the tubes and header tanks are made from brass. In an aluminum radiator, all components are made from an aluminum alloy.

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JFettig said:

jaydee, theres multiple alloys of aluminum, some must corode differently than others, I have had some blocks corode like a motha, Currently I have a peice of anodized aluminum, regular aluminum, and copper in a jar of water, The most of discoloration is on the copper, almost 0 on the aluminum, Its been in there cince 4-22-03

Click to expand...

Are the copper and aluminum pieces touching?

If not, I'd suggest doing an additional test. Cut a hole in a piece of aluminum slightly smaller than a piece of copper. Then hammer the copper into the piece of aluminum to get a good electrical contact between the copper and the aluminum. Put that in tap water and see what happens.