Custom Liquid Cooling

[erosennin]

Yeaahhhh, I wouldn't do that... lol... it might end up building up inside your pump.
The best coolant to use is 100% or 99.6% as close as you can get, Ethanol. I.e. Methylated Spirits. It won't conduct and it wont freeze until -114°C and it won't boil until 78°C, but under pressure the boiling point will be raised.

 

[rjvh]

Well I am not building this so much for over clocking. The purpose of this project is to kill fan noise, prolong the lifetime of my hardware, and stop the computer from heating up my room (If I leave it running for a few hours, the room temps increase by 4-6 Celsius).

at first the cooling system that you made looks nice
personaly i would not realy worrie on the hoses that you used as long there is no mechanical stress in the system
that means also that with temparatures of -10 the cooling fluid still have to be fluid, vodka is nice to use doesn't freez up if your pump stops running and keeps everything inside your cooling system clean

the only thing is that plastic hose (doesn't mater which plastic) don't realy conduct the heat/cold that good
you could use better copper tubing or aluminium, your local aircon technichian deffinetly has some scrap lenkts that you can use also a good one is Stainless steel (but hard to bend in the shape you want)

still i am suprised that your room is heating up that quick How big is your room (cubic meters)????

and your computer works with a CRT monitor or not ?

i doubt that prolong the life time of the hardware is one of the main reason

if you don't change annything the computer and hardware is still running after 10 years (i live in the tropics and the computers here does) at that time you're using already a long time something diffrent

Still than nice system

Robert-Jan

 

[Hero999]

I forgot to mention that I am using my second fridge that is downstairs in my laundry. I will be running the cold water upstairs via 1/2" PVC pipes (basically drill wholes right through the ceiling .

How are you going to keep the pipes cool?

 

[Bob Scott]

I am building a custom liquid cooling system for my pc. My radiators are mounted inside a freezer (that’s -10 degrees Celsius). I am concerned about the vinyl tubing that turned rock solid under this temperature. Is it acceptable for the tubing to be in such a cold environment?

Plastic can get very brittle and shatter in cold. Have you ever tried to use a vinyl extension cord at -20?

Monitor the condensation on the outside of your tubes carefully, especially in the summertime. You don't want the innards of the computer to get moist. Excess humidity may not be a problem for you in the dryness of winter, seeing as how you already use a drum type humidifier to try and compensate.

If your cooling system is split between elevations (upstairs/downstairs) keep in mind that the coolant pressure in the system will be higher at the lower elevation-downstairs. If the coolant has the specific gravity of water, a 10 foot change in elevation will cause the liquid pressure at the lower point of the system to be about 5 psi.

Add a coolant reservoir at the highest point. Centrifugal coolant pumps generally have a hard time if any air in pipes accumulates at the top.

Did you discover that guck in your humidifier while investigating the possibility of running the hoses through the air ducts? Man, throw that humidifier away. I bought one just like that when I lived in Winnipeg. We were getting sick quite often until I discovered that bacteria and mould infested gelatinous slime in the humidifier.

Looks like your stove was recently raised. I did the same thing too, with the 4 inch board nailed at the bottom. It was too low to be kid proof. And that Jana box? I haven't seen the Jana brand for years. I thought they were out of business.

EDIT: Oh, I just remembered - in case of leaks, Propylene gycol is not toxic. Ethylene glycol tastes sweet but is poisonous to pets. Major liver damage.

Regards, Bob

 

[killivolt]

Actually the mold can Mutate your DNA and Cells become Inefficient during reproduction. There by compromising your immune system response and it's all down hill after that..................... Trust me I know.

Like a domino effect then age progressive decease's now take a whack at you and boom your buggered up.

God, quit handling that sh.....t* makes my skin crawl.

 

[Frosty_47]

Wow u mean that yellow goo in my humidifier isn't a birthday cake left over by previous tenants ? Would have been nice to know, before I used this as a spread fro my peanut butter sandwich. This makes me wonder bout my cat that went missing a few days ago after I fed some of this humidifier stuff to it. Come to think about it, there is a strong smell coming from underneath the fridge...

I forgot to mention that I am going to implement a 5 gallon tank into the system. The tank will sit in the bottom of the fridge. Water entering it will precool before heading off to the radiators. I can eliminate any air in the system by adding more coolant to the tank as the pump circulates it from downstairs. I have to be careful as not to turn off the pump while the plug is out, otherwise the pressure from the top will cause water to spill out of the tank.

Here r some pics of the tank:

**broken link removed**
The plug you see screws into that whole (Yes I will put some teflon tape around it)

**broken link removed**

**broken link removed**
Just a shot of plumbing on the side of the fridge

 

[Frosty_47]

Yeaahhhh, I wouldn't do that... lol... it might end up building up inside your pump.
The best coolant to use is 100% or 99.6% as close as you can get, Ethanol. I.e. Methylated Spirits. It won't conduct and it wont freeze until -114°C and it won't boil until 78°C, but under pressure the boiling point will be raised.

Thanks for the suggestion. Do you know where I can obtain it ?

 

[Frosty_47]

at first the cooling system that you made looks nice
personaly i would not realy worrie on the hoses that you used as long there is no mechanical stress in the system
that means also that with temparatures of -10 the cooling fluid still have to be fluid, vodka is nice to use doesn't freez up if your pump stops running and keeps everything inside your cooling system clean

the only thing is that plastic hose (doesn't mater which plastic) don't realy conduct the heat/cold that good
you could use better copper tubing or aluminium, your local aircon technichian deffinetly has some scrap lenkts that you can use also a good one is Stainless steel (but hard to bend in the shape you want)

still i am suprised that your room is heating up that quick How big is your room (cubic meters)????

and your computer works with a CRT monitor or not ?

i doubt that prolong the life time of the hardware is one of the main reason

if you don't change annything the computer and hardware is still running after 10 years (i live in the tropics and the computers here does) at that time you're using already a long time something diffrent

Still than nice system

Robert-Jan

Well I lied about a room. The place I am in is more of a closet where Santa keeps his midgets

The room is 9 x 15 feet with 8 foot ceiling. I have a 22" LCD monitor that produces very little heat. Perhaps the heating up of the room has to due with the steam released by my body during competitive game play (especially when I am not doing 2 well ).

Oh, and I see no reason for using metal tubing inside a freezer as it will not add much of a performance boost (two triple 120mm fan radiators are enough I think). Besides, I am trying to avoid mixing different metal to prevent corrosion.

 

[Frosty_47]

How are you going to keep the pipes cool?

What for? The pipes are PVC; there is no need to keep them cool. If there is any condensation forming on the outside, I will wrap some insulation around them.

 

[Frosty_47]

Plastic can get very brittle and shatter in cold. Have you ever tried to use a vinyl extension cord at -20?

Monitor the condensation on the outside of your tubes carefully, especially in the summertime. You don't want the innards of the computer to get moist. Excess humidity may not be a problem for you in the dryness of winter, seeing as how you already use a drum type humidifier to try and compensate.

If your cooling system is split between elevations (upstairs/downstairs) keep in mind that the coolant pressure in the system will be higher at the lower elevation-downstairs. If the coolant has the specific gravity of water, a 10 foot change in elevation will cause the liquid pressure at the lower point of the system to be about 5 psi.

Add a coolant reservoir at the highest point. Centrifugal coolant pumps generally have a hard time if any air in pipes accumulates at the top.

Did you discover that guck in your humidifier while investigating the possibility of running the hoses through the air ducts? Man, throw that humidifier away. I bought one just like that when I lived in Winnipeg. We were getting sick quite often until I discovered that bacteria and mould infested gelatinous slime in the humidifier.

Looks like your stove was recently raised. I did the same thing too, with the 4 inch board nailed at the bottom. It was too low to be kid proof. And that Jana box? I haven't seen the Jana brand for years. I thought they were out of business.

EDIT: Oh, I just remembered - in case of leaks, Propylene gycol is not toxic. Ethylene glycol tastes sweet but is poisonous to pets. Major liver damage.

Regards, Bob

What do u mean by "Looks like your stove was recently raised. I did the same thing too, with the 4 inch board nailed at the bottom" ?

 

[Frosty_47]

Actually the mold can Mutate your DNA and Cells become Inefficient during reproduction. There by compromising your immune system response and it's all down hill after that..................... Trust me I know.

Like a domino effect then age progressive decease's now take a whack at you and boom your buggered up.

God, quit handling that sh.....t* makes my skin crawl.

Eh who knows maybe I will mutate into some midget who solves crimes related to ceramic craft stores and tracks down calendar theft.

 

[killivolt]

No, just devolve to a eyrie goo and then begin consuming all life forms that come into your path.

Yuk !

(The Blob)

 

[yngndrw]

Frosty: A lot of people using Water Chillers in the overclocking world use Tygon R-3603 with no problem.

I might point out that, depending on the heatload that you're applying, your freezer probably won't be able to handle any decent overclock. This is because freezers are designed to keep a low(ish) temperature in an enviroment which has almost no heatload. (Except the losses through the insulation and the warm air when you open the freezer door.) What hardware are you using this on ?

What kind of waterblocks are you using ? Most of the chiller guys use all-copper blocks to stop the acrylic and rubber cracking.

I hope you're going to use Armaflex to insulate the piping runs. Remember to keep the pipes short, as long pipes add to the heat load. You'll also want to keep an air-tight seal around your CPU socket to stop condensation. Again this can be done with Armaflex sheeting.

Finally I'd suggest you get some hose clamps on the joints:
**broken link removed**

Good luck.

 

[erosennin]

You can get ethanol at hardware stores... so I don't think you should have any problems. The shelf name is "Methylated Spirits", just check the bottle to see what percentage it is.

 

[killivolt]

flame on
flame off
"The Flamer" ? does this stuff burn ?

kv .............. Don't get any leaks !!!!!

 

[Frosty_47]

Frosty: A lot of people using Water Chillers in the overclocking world use Tygon R-3603 with no problem.

I might point out that, depending on the heatload that you're applying, your freezer probably won't be able to handle any decent overclock. This is because freezers are designed to keep a low(ish) temperature in an enviroment which has almost no heatload. (Except the losses through the insulation and the warm air when you open the freezer door.) What hardware are you using this on ?

What kind of waterblocks are you using ? Most of the chiller guys use all-copper blocks to stop the acrylic and rubber cracking.

I hope you're going to use Armaflex to insulate the piping runs. Remember to keep the pipes short, as long pipes add to the heat load. You'll also want to keep an air-tight seal around your CPU socket to stop condensation. Again this can be done with Armaflex sheeting.

Finally I'd suggest you get some hose clamps on the joints:
**broken link removed**

Good luck.

Thanks mom

I am using very high quality Swiftech blocks. I have very high quality insulating materials to prevent condensation/heat gain. My old fridge for this project is powered by a very powerful compressor that uses an older Freon (that's no longer used due to environmental damages). The fridge section (not freezer) turns all the food into blocks of ice if I put the thermostat setting half-way. If I increase the thermostat setting to full, than I will probably have a cryogenics lab inside that old fridge. As for hose clamps, well DUH! The plastic hose clamps supplied with the blocks are a joke so I threw them out after a good laugh. I am using stainless steel hose clamps for this project.

Here are some pictures of my blocks:

**broken link removed**

**broken link removed**
and thats the northbridge block


Oh and here r my system specs:

CPU: AMD XP 2500+ Mobile (Oce'd to 2.3Ghz)
GPU: ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512mb AGP edition
RAM: Samsung PC3200 2x1024mb CAS: 2.5-3-3
PSU: Corsair VX 550W

 

[yngndrw]

I can't tell if that's a thankful reply or a sarcastic reply.

Regardless of having "High Quality Waterblocks", Delrin is a plastic and will expand at a different rate to Copper. Swiftech also use rubber to seal, which doesn't like the cold and the more exotic liquids that chillers need. I don't question that Swiftech are high quality, I use them myself. (Storm Rev2.)

I'm only trying to help.

 

[Frosty_47]

I can't tell if that's a thankful reply or a sarcastic reply.

I'm only trying to help.

Well it's a little bit of both

I appreciate your reply to my topic (thanks!). I sometimes I take my sarcasm 2 far (my apologies). The sad part about sarcasm, is it's like The United States laws: badly written and randomly enforced (hope that didn’t offend any 1 )

 

[erosennin]

I have a quick question... Is that pump in the tank going to be able to handle pumping the fluid through that piping all the way up a story??

 

[blueroomelectronics]

I think this much work for a few MHz is much ado about nothing. As much as I enjoy tweaking I've never been bitten by the watercooling bug. I suppose it was fun in the early Pentium days as a MHz meant something. Now your videocard does much of the work and CPU speed is less important.
And using the wrong coolant will eat your aluminum stuff.
**broken link removed**