Liquid cooling project

[fang_x]

alright so i got a liquid cooling kit, and generally everything supposed to fit inside your case.

But then I had an idea, here in Canada, its the middle of winter and we got some pretty cold temperatures outside, why not borrow a little of that cold?

If i were to get long enough tubes, and a radiator with a fan and some antifreeze radiator coolant for a car (it might work?) and were to run the tubing out my window and place the radiator and fan in sub zero temperatures, while having the tubing come down the window and into my case to my cpu

thus effectively making my cpu drop in temperature while its cold out, and when its warm the fan will do its job just as if it was inside the case..

i would probably need about 1.5 meters of tubing each way so 3m in total, would the pump be able to push it?

has this been done before? does it sound like a good idea or utter failure?

my major concerns would be ice buildup inside the tubes, or a tube bursting due to ice build up. We have radiator coolant here that basically never freezes, would this be an effective coolant for a computer? or should I try to find something else to fill my tubes with?

what do you guys recommend?

Im still newb with the liquid cooling scene..

 

[ganzey]

i have heard of people doing this before, and it sounds like a good idea. i dont know anything about pumps, but if you do use car antifreeze, it will NOT freeze, that stuff is good till about -80c. but im not sure if it is a good idea to use car automotive antifreeze in a computer.

 

[Jet]

You'll have to watch it--make sure your CPU temperatures don't get sub-ambient, or you'll start having to worry about condensation. What pump do you have, etc?

 

[fang_x]

You'll have to watch it--make sure your CPU temperatures don't get sub-ambient, or you'll start having to worry about condensation. What pump do you have, etc?

don't really have a pump yet, I purchased a domino a.l.c and was impressed with it, so I am now wanting to upgrade, im planning to buy the parts, trying to get a list down and then head out to my local store / online retailers for the parts. I should have said "What parts do you recommend"


What does liquid coolant for a cpu usually consist of? water? or some other chemicals?

as for regulating the temperatures, the weathers pretty unpredictable, but I guess I could just pull in the radiator from outdoors and place it inside if things get too cold. Once the summer time comes the outdoor is even hotter then inside so i will definitely build it so it can be put in the window and removed when necessary.

 

[The Chad]

I know little about watercooling and I don't know how to explian this so I drew a picture:

 

[funkysnair]

if its going to be subzero temps outside im sure you will come across condensation somewhere along the tubing or inside the case!

what temps is it outside?

 

[bomberboysk]

1. Condensation is one issue as funkysnair suggested, especially if its going to be a decent length of tubing because it will provide plenty of surface area for condensation.

2. length of tubing is another because for most pumps if your running a high restriction radiator and waterblock, plus tubing you will lose alot of flow, especially on something like a d5 which isnt that great for head pressure.

3. For most pumps that would work well such as an iwaki, its almost required to run hardlines for fear of bursting tubing.

4. Antifreeze is well, antifreeze, it keep the liquid from freezing but also is not very good when it comes to thermal conductivity and capacity.

 

[Jet]

If you're interested in getting a cheap waterblock for your CPU, I have the DangerDen MC-TDX I'll sell you for $30 shipped--never been used.