Non conductive liquid for water cooling? Does it exsist?

[devilfire]

If a water cooling system leaked wouldn't it be better if it leaked non conductive liquid so it wouldn't fry anything? Does a non conductive liquid exsist?

[ackbar]

distilled water is nonconductive... but after a while of running through metal, it may become conductive again

[William]

well the answer is in your post! Water itself is nonconductive. But, it will pick up copper or aluminum ions which will allow it to conduct in the course of its opperation. You can counteract this easily, just add a polar molecule such as water wetter to your solution, antifreeze works too. Just be sure to use distilled water, as it is 99.89% H2O(i am guessing, it is somewhere in there, probably better). That is really all you need, nobody has found a more practical liquid than water.

[Spode]

I have had water spew alllll over my puter. I had a puddle of it on the back of my radeon. And it was fine! Just switched off and let it dry with a hair dryer.

[jordan]

couldnt find it, put someopne posted here using pure alcohol- they listed lots of safty measures to be taken, but claimed it was far superior to water and posted all sorts of results....anyone remember reading that post here?

[Hoot]

jordan (Apr 22, 2001 08:29 a.m.):
couldnt find it, put someopne posted here using pure alcohol- they listed lots of safty measures to be taken, but claimed it was far superior to water and posted all sorts of results....anyone remember reading that post here?

That fails the "gut feeling" test. If you saw my gut, you'd understand that it has a strong opinion. ;D
Take a styrofoam cup and put 500ml of water in it. Take another cup and put 500ml of Methanol or Isopropranol in it. Lift them. Which one weighs more?

Hoot

[TT120]

Hoot (Apr 22, 2001 08:39 a.m.):
That fails the "gut feeling" test. If you saw my gut, you'd understand that it has a strong opinion. ;D
Hoot
Hey Hoot, is that the 'natural insulation' you were talking about in a different post? ;D

[Hoot]

Yeah, my "natural insulation" gets around. To back up my gut feeling, I did some quick new searching and found:

Thermal Conductivity (higher is better)
Water=.607 W/m.k
Methanol=.200 W/m.k (the best of the alcohols)
Mercury=8.25 (now we're talkin!)

Hoot

[TT120]

Mercury huh? Hmmmmmm.............All I need is some mercury, a peltier, A frogs tounge and...........wait, no, that was a different recipe. Nevermind.

[xxreyzerxx]

I think i saw somewhere on the site that mineral oil can be used for submersion cooling

[littlerichie]

Hoot (Apr 22, 2001 08:39 a.m.):
jordan (Apr 22, 2001 08:29 a.m.):
couldnt find it, put someopne posted here using pure alcohol- they listed lots of safty measures to be taken, but claimed it was far superior to water and posted all sorts of results....anyone remember reading that post here?

That fails the "gut feeling" test. If you saw my gut, you'd understand that it has a strong opinion. ;D
Take a styrofoam cup and put 500ml of water in it. Take another cup and put 500ml of Methanol or Isopropranol in it. Lift them. Which one weighs more?

Hoot
that would be me and of course.
that is isopropyl not isopropanol alcohol.
simple you use model aircraft fuel pump rated for
petroleum liquids .
second ! you use it in a closed system .
completely sealed off resevoir (plastic) that will not
allow any oxygen mixing with the alcohol.
alcohol is five times more effecient at transferring
heat from one object to another!
answer ! science class project !
p.s. use model airplane fuel line (resistant and
flexible)
with through bulkhead connectors.
david.
any questions email me.
d1993ramboy@aol.ca .ca not .com

[supraway]

There is a liquid for full submersion... saw it used on a Duron 600 @ 1400 or similar experiment. The guys put the whole motherboard, chips, everything into a styrofoam cooler filled with something called... electro... forgot the name. They dumped dry ice into it, and booted it up at 1200. Ran some N2 into the system, and the capacitors on the motherboard burst.

[KeyboardCowboy]

what about wetter water???

[Hoot]

Something like Fluorinert.

Hoot

[Kryogenitor]

Fluorinert is the substance from 3M. Not really a practical solution as its like $500 a gallon. Mineral oil is also a non-conductive liquid. There were some guys from australia who used a few gallons of fluorinert and liquid nitrogen to cool the system, they ran into a few problems with the fluorinert gelling from the extreme temperatures. Alcohol is better in certain circumstances but not a closed system. Go run around and get the heart beat up a bit, then put water in one place and a bit of isopropyl alcohol in another, the alcohol evaporates faster thus appearing to be "cooler" to the skin. Then again ive never set up a water cooling system so i could be full of *****. :)

[andz]

Kryogenitor (Apr 22, 2001 10:12 p.m.):
Fluorinert is the substance from 3M. Not really a practical solution as its like $500 a gallon. Mineral oil is also a non-conductive liquid. There were some guys from australia who used a few gallons of fluorinert and liquid nitrogen to cool the system, they ran into a few problems with the fluorinert gelling from the extreme temperatures. Alcohol is better in certain circumstances but not a closed system. Go run around and get the heart beat up a bit, then put water in one place and a bit of isopropyl alcohol in another, the alcohol evaporates faster thus appearing to be "cooler" to the skin. Then again ive never set up a water cooling system so i could be full of *****. :)

Although everything up here sounds like "common sense" , don't listen. Go on and use the fluorinert, I'll be glad to make a deal with you for the rest of that gallon...he he he

[Megahurtz]

Check out http://www.octools.com for the latest in submersible projects. See 'Expeditions' for more details. Steve 'Supercoolin' Foster gets a nod there as well.

Cheers,

T

[TT120]

If distilled water is non-conductive, then why is condensation such a big hazard? Isn't condensation the same thing as distilled water?

[CarAudioDoctor]

Where have you guys beenTHE NSA has their boards cooled by a non conductive liquid. The boards are submerged in it.

[Kryogenitor]

Tech. specs of Fluorinert. (http://www.3m.com/market/industrial/fluids/fluoprop.html) Pay particular attention to the "Thermal Conductivity" part. Heres a list of other materials with their thermal properties. (http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/tables/thrcn.html)

[Fink]

TT120 (Apr 22, 2001 11:05 p.m.):
If distilled water is non-conductive, then why is condensation such a big hazard? Isn't condensation the same thing as distilled water?

The water is not the problem, it is the dirt on the condensed surface. The dirt dissolves in the microscopic water particles - instant conductor.

[Hoot]

Being primarily educated in air cooling, I assumed that the higher the thermal conductivity of a fluid, the better it would perform, as a medium, in a closed, water cooled system. That is why I thought that water, @ .607 W/m*k would do better than Alcohol, @ .200 W/m*k. Can someone enlighten me as to where the trapping, in this assumption, lies?
TIA

Hoot

[oc jason]

yes-i work on military aircraft, we have a non-conductive diode liquid that we use to test GPS's and Radcoms-Navigation computers for EA6B prowlers-email me-they have be kept cold-email me and maybe i can get ya couple quarts-its cold and non-conductive gaureenteed. I put $225,000 peices of military gear in it and it works great.

[devilfire]

heh, i started a pretty cool post! lol. i'm learning lots, thanks guys :)