so my eco water cooler decided to blow up...

[Sweeney47]

Hey guys, was hoping id never have to make a post like this...

Was just snoozing before getting up for work and suddenly there was this crack/bang followed by the sound of running water... Seems my water cooler has blown. Now my gf has been round over the weekend and my pc hasnt been on for 2 days so I dont get how this can happen...

Needless to say it has leaked over most of the components in my machine and ill have to return it after having it a year and a half... Not happy! Im just glad I was here when it haplened...

So is this just a component fault or what?

Thanks,

Sweeney47

 

[Wozza63]

it was common in the first eco models although the new ones seem fine, you wont be able to get a refund and you will have to pay for the repairs (unless you paid for better warranty) lets just hope its just the cooler that was damaged

dont turn it on before you say anything to PCS

 

[Sweeney47]

No, i dont want a refund, i want it repaired lol. I have the 3 year warranty but only first year c&r so ill have to pay for the courier...

I opened the side panel to have a quick look and there is fluid on the graphics card and power supply from what I can tell...

Got to go to work so will have to contact pcs later...

 

[tom_gr7]

Give pcs a call as soon as you can, they will tell you exactly what you need to do,

personally i'd disconnect the power and turn off the psu, then clean up the liquid, however, speak to pcs first as in this case they will know better than me.

 

[Sweeney47]

Yeah, its all unplugged etc, ive had to go to work unfortunately so cant do anything until I get home...

I've also tried to sort an RMA but I'm getting the following error:

"This system is out of warranty. It was dispatched on and had a 1 year warranty. We are still more than happy to discuss any problems you may have, and if you would like to discuss the possibility of returning your system to us, please do not hesitate to contact us on 0844 499 4000.

Unfortunately though, because of the way our warranty system works, you cannot request an RMA online once your warranty has expired."

When my build says:

"3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, Lifetime Tech Support) (£5)"...

 

[paul1224]

The Silver warranty is only for 3 years for labour (the current one is anyway not sure about what it was when you made your order) so I would assume you would have to ring them up for a RMA and then send them whatever is needed at your own cost for postage and parts.

 

[Al.Neri]

hearing about these liquid coolers failing is getting me a bit worried. what chances would there be for a customer ordering a replacement mechanical cooler?

how easy are they to replace personally, and would it void the warranty to do so?

 

[Sweeney47]

The way PCS' warranty works you can replace things as you wish BUT if a fault is caused by you doing so then your warranty is void. If however you change it and it works fine then your warranty remains.

As for the 1 year parts, 3 year labour warranty, I've gone through my first invoice etc and at no point did it say this was the case. Whereas my workplace has bought multiple laptops from PCS (based on my recommendation no less) and their invoices clearly state 1 year parts 3 years labour...

My older PC which is now 5 years old is watercooled system and still works fine, this seems to me like low quality products have been used ESPECIALLY as mine broke whilst it wasn't turned on and had been turned off for around 32 hours... My machine is not overclocked in any way, never has been, never will (I don't even know how to overclock things - mainly because I've never needed to know).

As I'm at work, I've emailed PCS, you can get away with the odd sneaky email and forum post, not so much phone calls!

 

[Rakk]

As for the 1 year parts, 3 year labour warranty, I've gone through my first invoice etc and at no point did it say this was the case. Whereas my workplace has bought multiple laptops from PCS (based on my recommendation no less) and their invoices clearly state 1 year parts 3 years labour...

The reason why the silver warranty is so cheap is because all the parts come with a manufacturers warranty anyway, and the fiver you're paying for the warranty basically is getting the return and collect sorted out so that if something does need to be done you don't have to pay for the courier
Gold and Platinum warranties cover parts for an extended time over the standard manufacturers warranty, which are why they are quite a bit more in cost, since PCS will not be able to claim the standard manufacturers warranty for the bits.

I suspect the invoice you had on yours was just using old shortened wording on the invoice, whereas now its been updated so that on the invoice it is more clear as to what the warranty means.

Mine says exactly the same as yours Sweeney47, but I do vaguely remember when ordering that it was 1 year for parts only.

 

[Sweeney47]

Then by definition it isnt a 3 year warranty if its not covered for 3 years...

Fact is I was led to believe I was paying for a 3 year warranty, I was given a product which was meant to be a sealed, maintenance free cooling system which has now (without aggrevation - PC had been off for 32 hours) covered my hardware in liquid and rendered my PC unusable...

I expect a system like this to work for years before maybe going faulty, I dont expect them to randomly explode and break my PC after only 18 months and I'm not one of these people that leaves their PC on all day, it's on briefly in the mornings before work, then again in the evenings until bed. I want it fixed but what im now being told is that although I bought a "3 year warranty" I will in fact have to replace the components myself, I just dont get charged for the time it takes PCS to fix it... Now considering the cooler is at the top, that's likely to be damage to my mobo, graphics card, psu and maybe even the hard drive... so replacing all that more or less means buying a brand new PC...

A 3 year warranty shouldnt lead to me having to buy a new PC after 18months because the hardware put into my PC to begin with was a faulty time bomb just waiting to break... It was bought as a sealed water cooling system, for it to leak now (even though the PC was not in use) must show that it wasnt sealed properly and therefore was faulty at the time of purchase, it just took 18 months to show the effects...

 

[Stappa]

I'm sure that the silver gives u 3 years labour on your pc repairs,but most if not all the internal componants comes with 2-3 years warranties as standard(my RMA'd SSD came with 3years etc),so u should be ok

 

[Sweeney47]

Well it's been 2 days now and no response to my email, seems PCS has lost their personal touch which I loved so much back in 2010 when I bought my PC...

 

[Rakk]

Well it's been 2 days now and no response to my email, seems PCS has lost their personal touch which I loved so much back in 2010 when I bought my PC...

It generally takes about 2-3 days to get emails answered when PCS are busy (which I believe they are at the moment). As ever you will get a much quicker response using the phone lines.

 

[Sweeney47]

I can't call them at work and they don't have phone support outside work hours, therefore, I have no choice but to rely on their email support... At least until Friday where I finish work slightly earlier...

I do struggle to believe it takes 2-3 days to respond to an email... what if they respond to my email and ask for more information or something, will it then take an additional 3 days? so practically a week to get 2 emails for support?

Back when I bought my PC, they had a huge presence on the forums and helped you really quickly. Based on this post and one I posted back in the summer (about my cooler not seeming to perform well because of high temperatures) which had next to no response either, they've lost that element.

 

[Wozza63]

PCS are currently very busy, they got loads of orders after christmas and some are still waiting

From personal experience, once you have received the email once, you will be put to the top of the pile each time, i was practically Instant messaging the guy at one point

 

[tom_gr7]

@sweeney, you can call on a Saturday morning,

i totally get that ya frustrated and angry, unfortunately the fastest way is to get a response via phone, I normally request RMA's via the website, Have you tried this?

 

[Sweeney47]

I tried but I can't because I apparently only have a 1 year warranty, despite at time of ordering it stated it was a 3 year warranty and completely neglected to inform me that this 3 year warranty was for labour and parts were only covered for a year...

Which I feel slightly deceived about and I reckon many others have been caught out by this which is why they now specifically state on the warranty section the parts/labour coverage...

If something is sealed correctly it shouldnt start leaking 18 months later, like my alienware which im using now which is now about 5 years old, sealed water cooling system no leaking because it's not a faulty component... The point im trying to make here is although it has leaked outside of the warranty period, in order for it to have leaked it must have been faulty from the beginning... I've only ever opened my side panel once and that was for a little dusting (using canned air). I have never touched the pipes and my PC hasn't moved since it was bought. It was switched off for 32 hours before this happened and was still switched off when it happens so it's not because I put it under excessive load...

Having looked into this since it happened to me it appears to be something that does happen with this make of water cooler so this is clearly a manufacturing fault and from what I've been reading now im screwed just because it finally broke outside warranty (even though I was led to believe I had 18 months left)...

 

[Wozza63]

i was not caught out by it, if they all say 3 years and are different prices, surely you would have looked into what the differences may be

 

[Sweeney47]

Yeah the difference was the collect and return period on them back when I first ordered... That was the only information you were readily given...

That's all that was talked about when PCS talked about warranties back when I ordered my PC, at no point did they mention the warranty on parts adjusted upwards too...

You cannot take your experience from May 11 onwards and apply that to July 10... If I were new and ordering a PC now I could easily say, "well you're clearly an idiot because the warranty clearly says 1 year parts 3 years labour"... See what I mean?

 

[tom_gr7]

The point im trying to make here is although it has leaked outside of the warranty period, in order for it to have leaked it must have been faulty from the beginning.

It wont have been faulty when installed in the first place, I don't understand how you think it could have been. If it was faulty at the beginning it would have burst when you first got it.