Some WC noob questions

I'm considering going to WC for my quad and video. I've been thinking about putting the radiator outside to control heat and fan noise. Some questions:

1. Does anyone put their radiator outside? I live in an area that is cool/cold 8 months of the year. Putting a radiator outside would seem like a great way to get additional cooling. I've though of venting cold air into my PC, but it seems far easier to run two hoses outside than a big fat air duct.

2. Is it possible to have a radiator that cools completely passively? The reason is that I'd rather not have to worry about electric fans outside.

3. If I had an outside radiator, could I cool it with water when it's hot outside? This may sound odd, but if I set up some misters that pointed right at the the radiator it seems like I could get a lot of additional cooling when it was hot outside.

4. As an alternative to #2, could I immerse my radiator in cool water when it's hot out? I have access to irrigation water, and it seems like I would need only a very slow flow rate to keep the water around the radiator cool. (All the runoff would just go back to irrigation.)

For longer tubes i think you'd need a pretty powerful pump,

for the fans, i haven't a clue someone has done it on here, they built it on a wooden enclosure, for the electric fans just use some instalation on the skin wire, and some electrical insulation tape round the connectors on the fan,


i'm no expert at w.c i'm just seggesting

I have done this in the winter months. When it is very cold you will have to protect against condensation.

As far a cooling when it is hot outside, a chiller or the like would work. the irrigation water would work if it is cool enough.

Thanks guys. I've been ignoring the condensation issue. My idea is to somehow control the flow so that the water temp would not go below ambient case temp, but I'm not sure if this is possible. It also assumes that my room and the inside of my case stay a reasonable temp. Hmmm, probably better to plan for some eventual condensation.

And yes, I'm also assuming the irrigation water used to cool the rad will be fairly cool. I can't imagine it getting over 22-23C, even in the summer.

1. Yes it can be done but, as has been mentioned, you're going to run into condensation issues, especially on the waterblocks themselves.

2. Yes you can cool your stuff passively if you have a large enough radiator. There was someone on this forum that used a radiator from an old MG lashed to the side of his case to passively cool his stuff.

3. It seems like that would work, if I'm imagining this right.

4. See above. Keep in mind the bigger your rad and the greater the length of tubes, the more powerful the pump needs to be.


An alternative to no. 1, that I used, was to put the whole computer outside during the winter. I have a second story balcony that I used. I just installed thick soft weather strippin under the window that looks out onto the balcony, then ran my wires into the house. I was also able to leave my optical drive inside too. Of course this method is completely dependant upon the architecture of one's house and the surrounding area but its something to think about.

Something else I did that got around the radiator issue is to use a large fishtank as a radiator. Really any large container of water. I used a 20 gallon tank, a pump and a waterblock to cool a computer a year or 2 ago. The fishtank dissipated the heat very nicely. I'd still be using it but I didn't seal the top of the tank well enough and dust and cat hair got in the tank and then it collected in my waterblock. Yuck.

Great stories, Skeen. Hysterical image of someone lashing a car radiator to their PC case. I also like your solution of putting the entire PC outside. Not practical where I like or with my house, but I like the idea. And I never imagined that a tank by itself would dissipate enough heat.

btw, my idea in #4 is to literally immerse my radiator in separate tank of water that would have it's own flow regulation. Basically to put the rad in a bath of continuously flowing water.

It's clear I need to do more reading. People have been far more innovative than I assumed.

you can immerse your radiator in water, you can also pipe your water throught the earth a bit, basicly use it as a giant heatsink. same idea as the fish tank.

but at the end of the day, if I may give you a simple tip. all of your ideas will be hassles. you will almost assuredly end up regretting the ackward and difficult setup. in some cases it can be a fun novelty on a spare PC. but on your main PC, you might not find it so interesting.

RipD said:

btw, my idea in #4 is to literally immerse my radiator in separate tank of water that would have it's own flow regulation. Basically to put the rad in a bath of continuously flowing water.

Click to expand...

Yeah that would work very well, but ares350's comments about the hassles stirred some memories of why I still don't have setups like this. After awhile some of the more outlandish things became more of a chore than anything.

btw, have you read much about building a bong cooler? Those work well and you just need one little fan.

Yeah, I've read about bong coolers, but I don't like the idea of all that moist air being introduced into my system or my room.

Another, less outlandish idea: do any of you just stick your radiator in front of a window a/c unit? Obviously far less efficient than a phase change system, but it seems cheap and reliable. Plus it already vents the hot air outside. So in the summer I could stick my rad in the cold air flow from the a/c and in the winter it could heat my room.

Some folks have also buried large amounts of copper tubing. The advantage of this is that the soil temperature will stay fairly constant throughout the year. Of course, it's not practicical if you live on the sixth floor of an apartment building and the earth is paved over for five blocks in every direction.

I thought about burying some tubing as well. Wish I had done so before the landscaping was done. I couldn't do a ton, but I could get 30-35' or so a couple of feet deep. I also haven't priced copper recently. Do people set up a separate pump/res system for this, or do they have their water loop extend out into their yard?

Both setups are possible. Earth cooling setups are rare enough that there really is no typical way of going about it.