Extreme Rigs Soft Tube Test – Take 2 – Final Update

Update 2

Saturday 7th May 2016.

It’s been 3 months since the test commenced and nearly 2 months since we brought you the 1st update on the Take 2 Soft Tube Test. The 2 month interval is longer than we had intended, but here we are now so let’s see what has changed in those two months.

Despite the (top-secret) location of the Test Rig undergoing major renovations (new ceilings) during the 2 month period, the test rig never missed a beat, having continued to run both loops pumps flat-out around the clock.

The seasons have turned and the average temperature has become milder, resulting in much lower coolant temperatures in the loops. Even with the fans at the lowest speed (700 RPM) coolant is ranging between 17° C and 23° C. During summer the temps were consistently in the low to high 30’s. We suspect the lowest temps  will slow down the degradation of both tubes. I intend to monitor the coolant temps more closely in the following week to see if it is a viable option to turn the fans off completely, however I suspect the heat from the pumps will cause the coolant temp to rise too much to be able to leave the fans off. Perhaps the best option is to leave it running over the cooler months with the lower coolant temperature to see how both tubes react under these cooler conditions anyway.  We’ll keep you updated as we find out more.

During the time since the last update the Mayhems Ultra Clear loop required topping up once while the Adv. LRT was nowhere near needing a re-fill. By the time of this update the Mayhems loop was almost in need of another top up.

Just to refresh – the Mayhems Ultra Clear loop is at the front and Primochill Advanced LRT is at the back.
This tells us that the Mayhems tube is more permeable than the Adv. LRT. The capillary action of fluid through the tube is likely to be influenced a lot more by surrounding temperatures as well as the coolant temperature.

The other major noticeable difference is the dye color has faded significantly in both loops. At the start of the test the coolant was an intense and vibrant magenta shade of pink as seen in the following picture.
Now the coolant appears faded in comparison and look more like musk pink.
I only thought to get out the surplus / top-up coolant for a comparison photo after the coolant was drained for this update.

The coolant seems more vibrant when not in the tubes, but still has lost much of its color since commencing 3 months ago.
Given that both loop’s coolant is has remained a similar shade it has us wondering is the dye absorption rate of both tubes is quite high and nearly the same or is it another factor that has caused the coolant to fade so much. Where else is the dye going / adhering to or is it just simply the dye fading quicker than anticipated. The test rig is not situated in direct sunlight and no  UV lighting was set up for this Take 2 version of the test as we did in the original.

Looking at the tubes while still on the test rig, any difference is not easily noticeable.
When looking more closely the yellow tinged walls of the Adv. LRT is somewhat noticeable while the blue tinged Ultra Clear is not really visible at all. Knowing this, if you look back at the image above the subtle difference can be seen.
While I was not able to capture a picture that effectively showed any difference in clarity, The Adv. LRT definitely has better clarity at this point in the test, despite having the tainted color. It is probably more to do with the fact that Ultra Clear is more blurry or hazy, which it was with the new samples also.

Let’s chop some tube from the rig and take a closer look. We’ll begin by looking at each tube’s cut out sections individually before moving on to the comparisons.

Mayhems Ultra Clear

Primochill Adv. LRT

A quick reminder that if both tube types are pictured together Mayhems Ultra Clear is always on the left and Primochill Advanced LRT is on the right.

This update’s cut out tube sections side by side.

In the side by side length ways photo the Ultra Clear tube looks to have absorbed less dye than the Adv. LRT which is now blushing pink.

The cross-section shot shows that both tubes are indeed absorbing the dye, with the Adv LRT perhaps appearing to be absorbing more.

So both tubes are definitely staining (from the NON Stain Dye which we were warned would stain badly). Let’s compare this update’s sample to the last update sections and why not put a new piece of tube in for a short time-line.

Firstly the Mayhems Ultra Clear.

Primochill Advanced LRT.

In both of the above photos the rate of absorption looks to be the similar for both tubes with the staining level being similar at each stage.

In the following 2 photos we only have a New Tube sample and a 2nd Update sample, which gives a comparison between new and 3 months of continuous circulation.

Mayhems Ultra Clear.

Primochill Adv. LRT
and how about both tube types with a side by side new to 3 month comparison.

From this update so far we conclude that dye absorption rate appears similar with the Mayhems Ultra Clear perhaps staining slightly less than the Adv. LRT. The color shade of each differs which is due to the blue and yellow tinges each had when new. Primochill Adv. LRT remains the tube with better clarity as the Ultra Clear has a slight haziness.

Let’s now take a closer look at the cut out sections.

When looking at the inner wall the thickness of dye affected section appears very similar on both tubes.

Mayhems Ultra Clear

Primochill Adv. LRT

Next we wiped the inner wall of a short section to see if any residue was present.
Ultra Clear had no noticeable residue while the Adv. LRT did have some trace amounts.  I should really have used a black background, so apologies for the photos.
We have to admit we were expecting to have seen more residue on the Adv. LRT by now. Perhaps the coolant has been running too cool after all and the monitoring of fan speed/coolant temp in the following week could see some acceleration in this department with the next update.

After 3 months neither tube has really outperformed the other. The first signs of a plasticizers may have appeared on the Adv. LRT having wiped a small amount of residue from it’s inner wall, yet it still has better clarity that the Ultra Clear. Both are absorbing dye and staining but appear different shades of pink due to their base color.

If we were forced to choose one tube over the other right now we would probably choose the Mayhems Ultra Clear simply based on the fact that no residue was on the inner wall and therefore at the very least, appears to be the slower of the two tube types to leech plasticizer. Maybe we will find that the Ultra Clear won’t leech at all, remembering that Mayhems claim their tubing “utilises new ’Polymer Additives’ that do not leach plasticizers into the system”

Time will tell.

Both loops on the test rig have been bled again, it is back in-situ and as already mentioned we’ll work on attempting to raise the coolant temps by trying to better control the fan speed which may involve the fan being turned off at times OR switching to fans which have a lower minimum working rotation speed. We’ll keep you posted.

On behalf of the ER team, I hope you enjoyed reading this update.
As always we encourage you to post your thoughts about the test in comments section below.
Until next time,
fast_fate