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Crazy Cooling

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Thwei

Member
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
Location
New York
I have a somewhat crazy cooling idea for my computer, and before going out and spending all my cash I want to run it past you guys to see what you think.

I live in a very cold area of the globe during the winter months. Temperature doesn't stray much from freezing day and night. Now, my plan is to run a 4" PVC pipe from my window, across my room, and directly into the side of my case. In theory this should be a cheap and effective cold air intake. Measured all out, the pipe will be running about 10 feet and have 7 right angled joints. To provide the airflow I was planning 4-8 120mm fans with at least 120 CFM each. Position them all strategically along the pipe, and hook them into my PSU. Now I know how weak case fans are, but i'm thinking 4-8 in an air tight pipe will provide enough pressure to bring the cold inside. Coul someone think this through, maybe someone with a little more knowledge of case fans, and let me know if you think it will work or fail miserably? I appreciate the responses. Thanks.

Oh, my first idea was to use a radon fan, but I don't want to spend $150 on this project. So that idea is out.
 
you might wanna check to see if there's a minimum operating temp for them cpu fans first.. e.g. if you have ones with the vapo bearings they might freeze ... etc...

and also you might also wanna worry about condensation too...

though for a cheap good fan that'll last ya get a bathroom vent fan, (the small ones at home depot) ... and then duct the cold air to just the cpu heatsink and not the entire computer... and out the psu... if i were you i dun wanna get frost on my board....


and also you might wanna find a way to plug the hole when you're not using the computer otherwise you might lose heat through the insulation with a hole in it (could bring up ur heating costs)
 
I was thinking of insulating the entire outside of the pipe, so little heat loss there, and my computer is usually on 24/7 so that doesn't pose too much of a problem. I'm running this through my window too, so there is always the option of detaching the pipe and closing the window. This condensation bit has got me thinking, though. Cold winter air usually isn't moist, but the air inside tends to be. Especially when cold air is hitting a warm/hot heatsink, you would expect water. Maybe if my case was sealed air tight everywhere but one intake and one exhaust it would keep moisture levels down. But, that causes more stress than benefit.

Well, for now I think i'll hold off and just buy some fans. Cut some new holes in my case and get some better air flow in there. If anyone has any ideas on the moisture problem please share. :)

Oh, thanks for the welcome! :p
 
is there the possibility of simply running the entire computer outside? e.g. mount it outside the window and then instead of running a pipe in, run a smaller pipe with the cords in?

condensation *only* happens when there's a difference in the temperature,... so if the whole thing always stays cold then you're fine... etc..

and for the mounting you've seen the $9.95 air conditioner shelf mounts from home depot that supposedly holds 200lbs right?
 
Hmm, good idea, crazy enough I like it. Maybe just run the motherboard and cards outside, then have the drives inside. Would need some pretty long IDE and power wires, though. Know any place that sells them?
 
1: welcome to the forums
2: damn, cool idea, but a lot of potential problems indeed
3: if your going to pull it of, woah, would be great!

and, srry, i dont know of a shop that sells cables of that length > : )
 
Hi Thwei. I had a similar idea the other day and recieved a few replies about it. Read here what Restorer had to say about condensation. I think it shouldn't be a problem to push cold air into your computer.
 
you don't want long hdd cables because the longer they are, the easier it is for data to be corrupted/ not transfered right. The longest i have seen are 36inches, and the max recommended is like 24inches.
 
I'm doing the same thing in anticipation of the cold weather. From what I understand, you basically don't want warm air from outside hitting the cooler components. I believe you'd have a problem if the CPU were directly cooled without the rest of the case as the motherboard and such would be creating warm air all around the chilled CPU area. I'm going to pipe in the air just to the case and no further inside. All other intake fans are going to be disabled.
 
I love all the responses, many interesting ideas to use. The condensation bit does make sense. Checking out all the links posted, I'm thinking the dryer hose idea would be much easier than PVC pipe, maybe cheaper too. I think i'll still hold off on this project for a little while and rethink it all, though. Don't want to spend alot of money when I could be spending little.

Again, thanks for all the responses, and thanks for all the welcomes! :)
 
Thwei, welcome to my world, the cold world that is!!!.

I have an idea like this, and since i live in SD where it gets colder than anything, like 0 farenheit consistently almost, i figure we are in the same mess

From the responses i recieved, condensation w/n be a problem if the entire case interior is cold, then condensation will only form on the exterior of the case, if any.

sonds like a good idea to me, and dryer ducting is good, so have fun
 
You would NOT get condensation on your computer's components as they create heat. You MIGHT get some condensation on some parts of the case and the duct itself (but I doubt it.).

Also, make sure you put some kind of screen over the opening of the duct. You don't want bugs crawling around inside of your computer.
 
I agree, you don't want to have computer bugs.. ;-)

and why would you increase the lengths of your IDE cables? keep your HDs inside your case..all that you'll need is a long cable cord, mouse/keyboard, sound, video, modem, and anything else you have..

IDE is not a strong enough signal to have long lengths..keep them short like mine..(unfortunately too short!)

And of course...Welcome to the posts.. :p
 
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