What can I do with this fridge?

I have an extra fridge here. It's a half size unit, so it's still kinda big. Now I only have air cooling here, but I do have an intake fan directly over the CPU. Is there some way to pipe cold air from the firdge into my case. It'd have to be some other way than leaving the door open. lol Any ideas? I was gonna wait for winter to do something like this, but if I have a ready supply of chilled air, why wait?

posted this on my thread too, but pasted here too so other people could critique:

"But I had an idea. Basically you'd need to use cloth or something to make an adapters from a very thin long opening to a fan sized opening.

Ah, you might need to make two actually."

edit:

Actually something less porous than cloth would be better.

Let me elaborate:

Open the door slightly and seal the top and bottom. then seal the side opening with the cloth or plastic adapters.

edit:

But I don't think it would work.

Not enough contact area for new air to cool.

And there's very little heat capacity in that volume of air.

You could make an opening through the door by drilling (This is done for kegerators and fridge watercooling), but you are forgetting something before you even get to that point.

How many times per a minute is the complete volume of air inside the computer case refreshed... Nevermind, let me put it this way - If you have a case fan that pushes 30 cubic feet of air per a minute, how long would it take this fan to suck out all of the air inside of the refridgerator?

The air going into the refridgerator wouldn't have enough time to get cold before it would be sucked back out. If you had an old air conditioner laying around that would work though.

No AC lyin around. I'm not really looking to cool the whole case, just throw direct cold air over the CPU. I'll have an infinite supply of cold air in another month here, but I just thought it would be cool to use the fridge.

brennan77 said:

No AC lyin around. I'm not really looking to cool the whole case, just throw direct cold air over the CPU. I'll have an infinite supply of cold air in another month here, but I just thought it would be cool to use the fridge.

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Ya, you'll have to wait for winter to roll around. Regardless of what you are trying to cool, you will have a minimum airflow onto the CPU of lets say 20 CFM... Even that is far too much flow for the refridgerator to keep enough air cold.

"What can I do with this fridge?"


Or....now here is an origanal idea....plug it in and keep nice cold drinks by your computer.

NcBaller1985 said:

"What can I do with this fridge?"


Or....now here is an origanal idea....plug it in and keep nice cold drinks by your computer.

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LOL! That's plan B.

or put the comp in the fridge - its been done and works!

slater3333uk said:

or put the comp in the fridge - its been done and works!

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If there isn't a chance of condensation, I'd do it for a while. Got any links to something like that. I think the fridge might be big enough for it.

if you put your entire computer in the fridge, maybe you could put your hard disks outside the fridge using long IDE cables.

that way you avoid the condensation problem.

Condensation will not be a problem, unless the fridge is opened and the computer and components inside are considerably cold - condensation only forms on subambient surfaces.

The ambient air inside the refridgerator could only be the same temperature or colder than the computer and components so there will be no condensation. If someone were to open the fridge and let warm/hot air get to the computer for more than a few seconds it would start to form condensation - this would be a problem NOT just for the HDD's, but for the entire system and everywhere an electrical circuit could be shorted from the condensation.

Cut some holes for wires to run through. and put your puter in the fridge?....

IMOG said:

condensation only forms on subambient surfaces

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I'm not so sure about that. I think it has more to do with temperature and humidity than object temp and ambient temp.

squeakygeek said:

I'm not so sure about that. I think it has more to do with temperature and humidity than object temp and ambient temp.

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Sorry, I was trying to keep it brief, but we are both right. Condensation has a lot to do with temp and humidity, but condensation will only form on a subambient surface. (Ambient in the fridge example is the air inside of the fridge, surface temp is computer and components)

Think about it like this maybe. Water is in a gaseous form before it condenses, and the gas state is a heightened energy level. In order for it to drop to the liquid state, the gas loses energy because the liquid state is a lower energy level than the gas state.

Now, if the gas is in contact with a surface that is warmer than it (surface energy > gas energy), which way will the energy (heat) travel? The gas cannot give the surface any heat energy, because the gas and the surface will progress towards an equilibrium temperature. This means that the surface will cool down while the gas heats up; surface energy down, gas energy up, gas stays a gas and cannot drop to a liquid state (lower energy level) because it gains more energy. There will be no condensation regardless of humidity, so this means temperature of the gas and the surface is the deciding factor - ambient temp and surface temp.

Only a colder surface than the gas can absorb energy from the gas, and thus make the gas drop to a lower energy level - the liquid state.

Originally posted by IMOG

Condensation:
Condensation depends on surface temperature, air temperature, humidity, and air pressure. Air pressure is negligible if your region is relatively close to 1ATM.

This chart shows the surface temperatures (in black) that condensation will begin to form at:

Chart is by and from Bladerunner of these forums.

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That was a reference of myself ...So maybe thats null & void, so here is an outside reference, it's from a page about clouds and condensation. It's simple yet informational:

Originally written at http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/Flagstaff/science/flatcloud.htm

Various factors influence the exact point at which condensation can occur, such as the air pressure at a given altitude, the moisture content of the air, and the air temperature. In most cases, air temperature is the most important factor.

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Then reason condensation forms is pretty simple.

The air can only hold so much water vapor. Hotter the air, the more water vapor can be held. When the air is cooled by a evaporator [the cold part of a fridge or A/C] the adjacent air is cooled and no longer can hold the vapor condensing it on the cold surface.

With a computer in a fridge, the vapor would condensate on the evaporator to frost. It cools all the air in the whole fridge which in turn cools the computer. The problem is if you want to change a CD or anything else, the only way you can do it is turn the frigde off untill it warms up otherwise you risk condensation.

After that, the fridge won't be very effective. It's desinged to cool a small space and the materials inside of it usually doesn't produce heat. In other words, the fridge only has to cool things once. A computer produces a large amount of continuous heat that needs to be removed.

I've seen the fridge Idea fail many times. It usually results in a destroyed computer.

brennan77 said:

If there isn't a chance of condensation, I'd do it for a while. Got any links to something like that. I think the fridge might be big enough for it.

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http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=197769

Near the end of that thread, I put up some pics of my computer running in the fridge. (Same comp. that's in my sig.) I keep it in there. Works great!

Well if you want complete case cooling you colud seal off your case throughly except for the top fan. Then install a duct from the fan through the fridge into the inside. Then you will need a return line so install another duct that brings air into the side of the case with a 120mm fan or the likes there of. I will post a picture soon.

Thank You,
Daniel

The continuous circuit of flowing air probably wouldnt work either since the air would not llikely cool down fast enough to be useful.

The easiest way to use your fridge, put a radiator and fan in it, then pump cold water to your water block. You'll NEED to put insulation on all the lines, and set the waterblock up like a pelt device.

steve