Silicon Sealant

[AntmanMike]

How long does Silicon Sealant take to cure so its safe to turn on a PC. I was going to use it on my motherboard and components so they run in a freezer, and i want to know how long to let it cure before putting it in. Its non conductive (i tested using my method that showed my tap water is conductive) and resists water (according to the bottle.

[DodgeViper]

Typically 24 hours to be completely dry. Look on the box and see what it can be applied to before using.

[Colin]

If you want a fast cure, Permatex Blue is ready in two hours. You can also cut Aqua Seal liquid urethane rubber with toluene and it will cure in under an hour. Because of the ease of application and fast cure time, Aqua Seal is my preferred conformal coating. If you are going to coat your motherboard and all your cards, you may want to look into one of the commercial aerosol spray conformal coatings.

[Gravity Man]

It usually takes 24 hours to cure, but it is non conductive, so it should be safe to run your computer with it on (it even gets cooler as it cures (I waterproofed a thermistor using sillicon caulk, and I was curious)).

However, I would recommend a spray on coating if you are going to cover the whole works because it will provide more uniform cover and act as less of a thermal insulator.

[AntmanMike]

Alll the stores around here have a grout silicon. it sprays uneven, but it works. I just dump of excess, and it leaves an even layer. Its non cunductive (i tested)
Is it possible to just place the motherboard in a silicon bath in the fridge, or would it harden..

[Gravity Man]

If by harden, you mean cure- it would probably harden, because the curing process of all the silicone products I know of involves the evaporation of a solvent rather than a chemical raction which would be slowed or prevented by refrigeration.

If by harden you mean freeze- I don't know, but you would have to have a liquid form of silicone. The only one that I can think of off the top of my head is a lubricant that came with my motorcycle helmet. I'm not sure about what else is in it, its conductivity, or its freezing point, and I think it would be kind of spendy because I have only seen it sold in very small quantities. I'll try to find my little bottle of it and test it tomorrow for conductivity/freezing point. If it freezes, I think it would be quite cool (no pun intended) to have a computer encased in a solid block of frozen silicone, if it doesn't, it will still probably work.

One thing to remember, however, is when refrigerating your PC to leave the drives (HD, CD, Floppy, etc.) at room temperature, because mechanical devices and (relatively) extreme temperatures don't mix.

[AntmanMike]

I know. im still making sure i grouted (silicon grouted) all the pins and traces. Silicon seems to have a tendency to attach to ther silicon atoms... makes silicon bubbles, like 5x more than water. Maybe i should use neoprene in the socket, and on all the pins?

[DodgeViper]

Why are you going to this extreme? Place some logic in what your doing. Seems to me you have more to lose than to gain. Most if not all sealants in the drying stages use solvents. Solvents may do more harm than good to your board and processor...

[AntmanMike]

im not going to run it when its wet. Im going to the extreme cuz im an extreme OCER.

[Holst]

BE CAREFULL WITH WHAT SEALENT YOU USE!!!!!

most silicone sealents will contain acetic acid that will eat away the traces on your motherboard. This could kill your board.

Make sure you use sealent that has no acetic acid produced during the curing process.

Check the health and safety guidelines on the tube to be sure.

[DodgeViper]

Good luck extremer the forum will be watching and waiting your outcome. A Vapor Chill Case seems cheap if this entire project does not work.... I value my equipment and know there are other directions that I will use to lower my temps.

[AntmanMike]

I read an article by some guy. He said if you duct the cold air from the Cold plate DIRECTLY to the motherboard (in some kind of case) and then directly out, no condensation will occurm because cold air is dry air. I made a cardboard enclosure for me motherboard. its not airtight, but i beleive it will be able to route cold air in and out, without haveing warm air coming in. It MIGHT work (the in fan is ducted directly to the cold plate, which freezes water almost immediately, so what i am doing is arctic alumina'ing a couple of heatsinks inside the cold plate, so that the cold surface has more surface area to cool the surrounding air. What do you think?

[AntmanMike]

Ok, my semi airproof case fits in the fridge, as do the cables and the PSU. I cant put the PSU external, because cable is not long enough. One problem i tihnk i might have is condensation on the PSU. I HAVE to get it external. Also, the CPU is damaged (damaged last month) can anyone replace a P4 s423 with one?

PLEASE ANSWER THIS QUESTION:

If water gets on a motherboard when its on, is there any chance of hard to me, could something explode, etc, or will the mobo just die? thanks.

[DodgeViper]

Well its not going to explode like a bomb, but it will short out and just may take other hardware with it.

[Gravity Man]

No, I don't think there is a big chance of getting hurt, although you could get shocked if you have condensatiuon on the power supply. Heck, you might not even kill the mobo- if you let it dry off completely, you may be able to save it.

[AntmanMike]

K the two fans on the mobo are running. Basically, cold air goes directly in, and directly out via fans. its in a carboard box thing. That means no warm moist air, and no condensation (cold to warm is dry, warm to cold is wet, warm to cold to warm is wet. If i let the fans run for about 2 hours, all condensation should be removed.

[AntmanMike]

Okkkkk on the coldplate, the ice that is usually on there is slowly melting, and the ice is also a lot looser. Could this mean that the fridge is having trouble coping with the heat, or could the problem be that the warm air going out of the box is melting it...

[Gravity Man]

How many watts is your fridge? If it is lower than the heat output of your entire system, it won't be able to deal with the heat.

[AntmanMike]

It doesnt say any wattage. The pump is 50 watts, and i have a 1200mm fan helping cool the radiator. If i put my finger on the cold plate, it still stucks cuz freezing, just some ice is looser than normal. The CPU heatsink IS fairly close the th coldplate (3 inches) but there is a 20CFM fan on it blowing DOWN. On the back of the box it says something like 153v... all in all the cold plate is stilll freezeing cold on the top side, just not on the bottom side.

Also, the system specs are: asus P4T-E, 2 256mb RDRAM, 2 64mb RDRAM, Hercules Prophet 3 w/ Crystal Orb, Ramsinks arctic ALumina epoxied down. Sound Blaster Live X-Gamer, Ethernet card. 3 fans inside (1 60mm blowing into airtight case, 1 60mm blowing out, 1 890mm blowing warmer air into cold plate to cool it down and remove moisture (mod on coldplate to catch water).

Update: the Heatsink unfroze and was wet. i will epoxy it down.

[Gravity Man]

I'm not sure, but keep us posted

[AntmanMike]

by heatsink i mean a sink i put inside the coldplate to help the surface area for cold air. It lets more air become colder. it dethawed.

[AntmanMike]

Ok, i took the fridge somewhere where i can test its boot up, and i put the DVI cable into it into the GF3's output, and insulated any gaps int he door to fridge sealer with grocery bags. It ran. No temps because the CPU is cracked. It showed the same signs that the system was working that it did when it wasnt in there. It would flash the monitor, than the CPU would turn it off. In about a month i will probably get a new CPU. Tomorrow before 6pm i have to put it back because my father will return, and he hates messing with PCs. He will be extremely ****ed if he sees a PC in a fridge.