When I installed an H20 rig in my PC early this year I was going to use a relay to turn on the pump automatically at bootup, but I held back since a few parts were brand new and under warranty and I didn't want to mess with them. Besides, I
never forgot to turn the pump on

- the one time I have forgotten, I soon realised and it was a non-event.
Got up yesterday, hung over after a pretty heavy night and needed to get some network config done for our house. I switched the PC on and left the room to make some brekkie. Got back and it had locked. Weird I thought, so I restarted it again and this time it hung on the bootup screen. Before I had even begun to think about what was up in my semi-drunken state, I heard a loud "BANG!" and a puff of what I thought was smoke got blown out the back of the PC. Anyway... it wasn't smoke, it was
steam. Turns out that the water must have reached boiling point (or fairly close too) and one of the pipes on the CPU block exploded!!!
So the whole inside of the PC was sprayed with water and naturally, I crapped myself ('scuse me...). Anyway, I sealed the pipes...
...removed all the WC gear, disassembled the PC and left everything to dry overnight. This morning when I started it it wouldn't boot, so I assumed the CPU was dead (as you would after the water boiling 'n' all...) and unable to test it here at uni I ordered a replacement. This afternoon it actually showed some signs of life, booting intermittently. I disassembled it again and noticed that many parts were heavily corroded, obviously the result of electrochemical action. After clearing off all the deposition and flushing everything through with isopropyl alcohol the PC now works fine. Amazing.
So... a lucky escape. The moral of the story is that
drink and PCs don't mix, unless you are in the habit of ordering expensive peripherals when ****ed in which case the combination can be most rewarding.
MuFu.
P.S. Some good has come out of it - because I have no replacement 3/8ths pipe here at uni I had to re-arrange the WC stuff and now the layout inside is miles cleaner than it was before, with the radiator fan totally unobstructed. I might also get around to making that relay, finally...