READ!!! People who use water cooling

[vintron]

Hi,

I have been thinking about this for some time and did several small experiments and the end results show that this may work. The idea in this post is for experimentation purposes only, buy people who use "closed-reservoir" water cooling systems for their computers. It is really really cheap and the cooling efficiency is far better than when using water.

The change is easy. Instead of water, use "Isopropyl Alchohol", available at most pharmacies for $3/litre, usually at a concentration of 91%.

Isopropyl Alchohol available from pharmacies is nothing but a mixture of pure Isopropyl Alchohol with 9% water. This is a clear liquid and has all the properties of regular alchohol, excep that if you drink this one, you're dead!!!. Since it has the properties of alchohol, it absorbs heat very quickly and can also be cooled down very quickly. The only catch in this plan is that u need to have a closed, airtight reservoir. This is because this thing evaporates really fast. Also remember that it is highly inflammable. That doesn't mean that the heat of the cpu would cause a fire; just make sure that you don't get it near direct sparks or red hot heat.

Please post your experience here

Thanks

[desmocat]

Another caution, alcohol burns with a near colorless or colorless flame, so if you smell somethin' burning and see stuff melting in your case, break out the halon! http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[vintron]

let's keep it on top for some time

[Konan555]

I was under the impression that Alchol was not as good becuase it's SHC was far lower than that of water.

The 'Coolness' of alchol aginst your skin is just caused by it's fast rate of evapouration.

[thekingofpain]

I played with water for awhile, distilled, pure changed often seemed to be the best solution, people use all kinds of "additives" water wetter, anti-freeze, anti-bacterial concoctions etc...

[zskillz]

SHC??
what's that??
-Z

[unrealman]

he prolly meant sph(specific heat) witch is how much it takes to heat up a certain amount of a liquid. the alchohol wouldn't be good because of this BUT if you could move the alchohol fast enough it may work but water would probably still be better. anything with a higher sph will be harder to heat witch would make it a better thing to use. that is why you use water in cars because it has a high specific heat and can retain more heat per cubic cm of water. and the coolness does come from the fast evaporative(can't find any other word) propertes of the alchohol. i would rather stick with water in the watercooling because of the high sph. anyhting with a higher sph would maby be better to use. i can't come up with any off my head right now. oh and one more thing. adding antifreeze i don't think raises the sph(tell me if i'm wrong) but it'z only used to higher the boiling point and lowering the freezing point of the water in the system(and i don't think you''ll need to do either of those http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif ) **this was all just my 2 centz from a 15 year old sophomore hehe http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

[Barney]

Anti-freeze only lowers your SPH (that's why you don't want anti-freeze in your car in the summer).It's only used because the water can't freeze when anti-freeze is added (you don't want the water to freeze).

So adding anti-freeze in a watercooler would only make sense if your computer is outside in -10 degrees Celcius (you don't want to do that).

Ronald

[vintron]

somebody hit me on the head.... oh wait that's me.

Thanks for pointing out the specific heat point. That absolutely true. I take back my suggestion. Now, i too think water is the best for this.....

Unless, someone would workout a way to use the super cool evaporative property of isopropyl alcohol for cooling, instead of taking smaller amount of heat by just running water throught the heatsink. But this will probably be much more expensive.... because u may have to use an external cooler to cool down the alcohol vapors. Another alternative is to use a small compressor.

C'mon people.... use your tools and brains...

[Mark@TheZone]

The limiting factor is actually the thermal conductivity of the fluid,not the specific heat.This is why liquid sodium is used for some nuclear reactors.Low specific heat can be directly compensated for by increasing the flow rate,but ultimately for a fixed surface area and fluid thickness, the limiting factor for cooling is the thermal conductivity.Only mercury or a sodium-potassium alloy are liquid metals at room temperature.Mercury amalgamates with aluminum to form a solid lump,so watch that.Sodium-potassium alloy reacts with both oxygen amd moisture so hermetic sealing would be required.Possible,but not 1-2-3. Mark@TheZone.

[ThiemeMD]

Another purpose of antifreeze is to prevent corrosion and rust. So that's why it is often recommended to use approx. 10%/90% antifreeze/water solution in a water cooling setup. I personally couldn't stand the smell for any length of time, so I'm using an additive called Purple Ice. Similar to WaterWetter I think. It also claims to improve the thermal conductivity properties of water. Been running the same mixture for about 3 months now, so far-so good. No corrosion, none of that slimey alge-like growth in the resivor, and no odor.
Check it out here:
http://www.jegs.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=26469&prmenbr=76&path=76%202219%202220#top

ThiemeMD

[unrealman]

has anyone ever been so obcessed with their computer that they used their own blood in their watercooling setup???? now THATZ a real computer nerd http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif