Pelt Chiller Core and Condensation Issues

Hey all. I was lucky enough to get one of the pelt water chillers Bender was offering. It can take 210 watts down to ambient when at full power. At this point, I'm wondering how I should control the beast. The power requirement for the chiller core is already taken care of. But, I don't know how I should go about with the temp moderation.

The temp can be controlled several ways: voltage control, relay, etc.
The chiller has a built-in RTD probe I'd like to use, but its not required. I'd like there to be some way for me to set the temp by using a thermostat of some sort, but I don't know how to go about and do that. One idea I had was to get the temperature control from a refrigerator and have it operate a relay to either turn on or turn off the chiller without turning off its psu, but I haven't had much luck.

Right now, my main reason for wanting to control the temperature is for the whole condensation thing. I have a swiftech waterblock on my proc (P4 2.4C) and one on my Radeon 9800. The chiller core and its psu will also be mounted inside my Xaser II case.

What other options do I have to prevent condensation damage, other than sealing the mobo with a conformal spray/dielectric grease?


-edit-
The reason I ask this is because I'm not going down to extreme temperatures... yet. Not in this case, and not with this setup, at least. So, I don't really need the type of insulation described on Phase-Change.com.

I sealed up my case, ran the cold water through a heatercore and recirculated the case air through it. No more condensation and no insulation.
Pics

Hmm.. But, sealing the case like that, wouldn't it cause the components to bake, because of the lack of airflow? Plus, I actually found something that will likely benefit most other extreme OCers. At least, those who don't run their cooling system down at -50C. hehehe

Anyway, my neighbor happens to be one of the co-owners of a large-scale air conditioning company, so I'm going to talk to him about where to get a tube that would work. Basically, I know that there's such a thing as an insulated hose. After all, how else do the air conditioners in our cars work and keep the air cold, when we have a HUGE heat source right there (The engine)?

The way I see it, I get the right hose with the right inner diameter, and all I have to worry about is some VERY mild and easy to handle condensation around the proc, and some around the vid card.

The heatercore inside my case isn't used to cool the water. It is used to cool the air inside the case. I have a 120mm fan on the heatercore that recirculates the air. My water is cooled outside.
If you insulate, the tubing is the easy part. Insulating the socket and blocks is what takes some time.

pelikan said:

The heatercore inside my case isn't used to cool the water. It is used to cool the air inside the case.

Click to expand...

Ahh. Good idea then. I've located several nice conformal sprays I can use on the mobo.
I wonder if I'd even need to worry about condensation... See, because condensation forms when the moisture in the air is forced out of it my a drop in temperature on a surface. If the only air source that enters my case is warmed by the chiller core, do you think the uninsulated areas in my case will even get cold enough to cool down the air to ambient and below? I wonder about this...

The greater the temperature difference, the more condensation. So warmer air is actually worse.
I only had condensation on my blocks. The copper on top and on the side of the blocks stays at the cold water temperature. So that's where condensation would form. I never got any condensation on my tubing because the plastic acted as insulation. Here's a chart compiled by Bladerunner:

Nice chart, pelikan. Now, if I only knew how to read it.. *lol*

I got the right type of hose. Its actually just insulated heater hose. It seperates temperatures by a layer of glass fiber.

Now, as for the waterblocks, I was thinking that I could get some sort of rubber sealent and cover them in it. Kind of like a balloon, but with only three openings. One at the bottom where it makes contact with the chip, and two at the top/side for the liquid inlet/outlet. Then I can get some conformal spray for the back of the mobo and vid card, and I can just smear a bunch of dielectric grease all over the other sensitive areas that won't be exposed. If it would work, I might be able to go to below ambient and not have to worry about the innards of my case looking bad.

Sounds like an interesting way to insulate.

To read the chart you have to know your room temperature and humidity. If you don't have a humidity sensor you can probably find out the humidity in your city at any given time online.

So you find your room temp on the left of the chart in red, then your humidity at the top in blue. Those numbers will corrospond to a number in black in the middle of the chart which tells you at what temperature the chilled parts in your case will have condensation forming on them.

For example, your room temp is 20C, humidity that day is 50%, so you will have condensation if your water is 9.3C or colder.