My new idea...

First I'd like to say thanks to you guys I'm addicted to water cooling. It's my new past time. On to the idea... My specs are in my signature if you need them. And here is the current setup

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=302497

So, anyway, I'm thinking of getting a 5 gallon or so aquarium and using that as my second res. I want to mod the top cover on the tank to shoot the A/C I've ducted into my computer into the tank. Something like this



So, will this idea do anything for the temps? If so, where would the best place to place my hoses? Thanks again for all of your help thus far with my projects!!!!

for futre reference, people with resoiluton at 1280X1024 cant read that little image.

if your looking to just blow cold air on the aquarium, it would help as much as some other things you could do.

1)Run the cold air through the water (bubbler)
2) run the cold air through the rad
3)use the ac to cool off your room....i wish i had ac.

i'd say 2 is your best bet, running AC through yoor radiator woulc allow temps below ambient, so would help your temps as much as they would help your room.

Not to mention it wouldnt exaust as much hot air to your room, as its intake would be below ambient.

I say run the AC through the rad and into the tank and then into the room. tada! Just fixed all the problems

LOL!

of course then if his rad is hot it would heat up the air, which wouldnyt help the res, or the room, much...if any

Hmm interesting idea. I also believe you should run the cold ac air through a radiator intstead, here's why. Let's say you have a tank thats 2' x 1' x 1.5'. The tank will hold 3 cubic feet of water. Blowing cold air over just the surface of the water only exposes 2 square feet of surface water to cooling. Unless your skimming water from the surface of the tank, I don't believe this method will effectively cool that mass of water beyond the 2 square surface feet. Radiators are designed to expose as much coolant as possible to a temperature gradient by dividing the water amongst several thin channels adjacent to which air will pass. Thus as your water passes through the rad, the surafce area exposed to cooling is essentialy a geometric product of the number of channels. So passing cold air through your rad may cool a great deal more water. If you must use a tank you could submerge the air duct in the water to expose more water to cold air like como mentioned. However, their is one glaring caveat. We use water be cause it is an excellent thermal conductor and holds energy well. If you submerge an active air duct in your tank you may be aerating the water, and since the thermal properties of air ar not as desirable as those of water, this mix may have a negative effect on the effeciency of the resultant coolant. I'm not an expert so if someone knows better correct me. This doesent mean you shouldn't experiment we may be wrong

Como said:

LOL!

of course then if his rad is hot it would heat up the air, which wouldnyt help the res, or the room, much...if any

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Not if he sets the AC to 50F

I think just ducting the A/C to the rad would give you the best cooling.

The system will come to equalibrium, all the extra water would do is delay that state for a while, no?

And that would be just for the components with blocks, not the rest of the case.

To efficiently transfer the cool air to the water you would need some sort of rad, and probably a pump to circulate the water as well. The water will give up "Cold" (I know thats technically wrong, but im a rebel) to the surroundings through the surface and the glass, and not into the computer.

Best bet would be to just duct the air into the rad in the first place, no middle man, as they always take a cut

There air should still be cool on the outlet of the rad anyways for room cooling as well.

I couldn't see any pics of your WC setup but if the rad is internal to me it sounds like you got it pretty good right now as is. Good cooling all around.

I might be way off, but at least thats my 2 cents.

Duct the AC into the but use the huge resivoir so that when the AC shuts off you still have cool water for a little while.

hm.

if he sets his ac to 50F, then it could possibly cool the water to the point of condensation...which is bad.

i also say cut out the fishtank alltogether...

If you were to duct the AC to the Fans on the HC as mentioned, wont that cause condensation? I have a AC duct right next to me and ive considered doing somthing along those lines. If I open up the AC Duct my temp drops around 1.5C or so. There was a post there some where where some one actually ducted the ac to his Rad.

well the rad is hotter than the air, but if the air from the ac was so cold that it cooled the water in the rad to below ambiant (room temp) the humidity in the air would start to collect on the rad, the tubing, and maybe the waterblocks. Thats bad.

Archer36 said:

If you were to duct the AC to the Fans on the HC as mentioned, wont that cause condensation? I have a AC duct right next to me and ive considered doing somthing along those lines. If I open up the AC Duct my temp drops around 1.5C or so. There was a post there some where where some one actually ducted the ac to his Rad.

Click to expand...

Condensation may happen depending on the humidity levels in the room buy it you properly insulate the plumbing you should be able to avoid it.

Archer36 said:

If you were to duct the AC to the Fans on the HC as mentioned, wont that cause condensation? I have a AC duct right next to me and ive considered doing somthing along those lines. If I open up the AC Duct my temp drops around 1.5C or so. There was a post there some where where some one actually ducted the ac to his Rad.

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The air inside the case will be cool, dehumidfied air so condesation won't be a worry.

in theorey, but everyone has that moment where something happens.,,,

possibly a sweaty case drooling down the front getting in a cd drive or somehting.
or cooling off the cdrom and when you put a disk condensation forms on the lense.

i just dont thnk its a good idea, but to each his/her own.

Como said:

in theorey, but everyone has that moment where something happens.,,,

possibly a sweaty case drooling down the front getting in a cd drive or somehting.
or cooling off the cdrom and when you put a disk condensation forms on the lense.

i just dont thnk its a good idea, but to each his/her own.

Click to expand...

People have done it before and I've never heard of condesation problems.

cold air through the rad will be way more effective than cold air on the aquarium

dude that would be awesome to have a computer and aquarium hybrid. you could feed bosco the goldfish while gaming ^_^ brilliant idea

Thanks for all of the replies! I kinda thought that idea wouldn't work well, but there is nothing wrong with asking. I kinda already have my A/C ducted into my rad. I'm getting temps around 35C under idle, which is way better than the 60C I was getting before. I'm at 2V if anyone is wondering. I might try that dehumidifier mod....

"dude that would be awesome to have a computer and aquarium hybrid. you could feed bosco the goldfish while gaming ^_^ brilliant idea"

oh yes, i've always wanted a pet dead fish...most fish cant handle fluxuating temps.

and fish poop in my rad...oh yes, i cant wait.

Como said:

"dude that would be awesome to have a computer and aquarium hybrid. you could feed bosco the goldfish while gaming ^_^ brilliant idea"

oh yes, i've always wanted a pet dead fish...most fish cant handle fluxuating temps.

and fish poop in my rad...oh yes, i cant wait.

Click to expand...

I thought about that too. Man, that would get messy!!