condensation

[elementrice]

i am a newbie at this whole water cooling thing obviously, i was wondering about condensation in this whole water cooling process. isn't there a probability that my comp will short cause of water dripping and stuff?

[RainMaQer]

Welcome to the forums....

Condensation in a watercooling setup almost never happens unless a peltier is added. A certain temp BELOW ambient must be reached first and even a really effective watercooling rig doesn't get to that point. You do however have to worry about leaks... as I just fried my GF3 due to a water leak... then found out that distilled water is FAR less conductive and my vid card might still be with me:(

[Hoot]

Closed loop water cooling will only, at best, cool the water block to room temperature. If the water block is the same temperature as the air in your room, you do not have to worry about condensation.

If you chill the water below the temperature of the air in your room, or if you use the water cooling to cool a peltier device mounted on your CPU, then there is a risk of condensation. Also, in theory, an evaporation assisted cooling system, commonly referred to as a "Bong" cooler, can chill the water a degree or two below room temperature and theoretically some condensation could occur due to that and the fact that a "Bong" cooler releases a lot of humidity into the room air. The higher the humidity and/or the lower the temperature of the water block and/or CPU, the greater the likelihood and degree of condensation.

In practice, if the water block and/or CPU are only a degree or two below the room temperature, the chances of condensation occurring are fairly low.

Hoot

[juliendogg]

here's another condensation question. suppose you were using a peltier or say phase change cooling what could you cover your block with to prevent condensation?

[Wicked Klown]

go to www.swiftnets.com/socketsealing.htm

[ButcherUK]

Originally posted by RainMaQer
Welcome to the forums....

Condensation in a watercooling setup almost never happens unless a peltier is added. A certain temp BELOW ambient must be reached first and even a really effective watercooling rig doesn't get to that point. You do however have to worry about leaks... as I just fried my GF3 due to a water leak... then found out that distilled water is FAR less conductive and my vid card might still be with me:(

Any water that's been in your cooling system will have blown that card to bits, sorry but it's gone :(

[RainMaQer]

Originally posted by ButcherUK


Any water that's been in your cooling system will have blown that card to bits, sorry but it's gone :(


Ahh... I was told by a few people that if I had used distilled water it might not have fried... didn't see how... but hey... it's my dream:D But luckily gainward has recieved it and is sending a new one this week:D

[Wicked Klown]

I used distilled water and fried two video cards and two MoBo`s. Condensation only comes in one form and it`s not distilled.

[Hoot]

Out of fairness to water cooling, I must mention that not all setups leak.

Hoot

[RainMaQer]

Originally posted by Hoot
Out of fairness to water cooling, I must mention that not all setups leak.

Hoot

Heck... only reason mine did was a tube not on the fitting all the way... human error... nothing else:)

[Silver]

Originally posted by RainMaQer



Ahh... I was told by a few people that if I had used distilled water it might not have fried... didn't see how... but hey... it's my dream:D But luckily gainward has recieved it and is sending a new one this week:D

I have had water drip onto my video card twice and both times have been able to save it. I shut down the computer as soon as visual anomolies (sp) started showing up and did not turn it on again to all signs of water were gone. Wiping, hair drier, etc. I use tap water in my water cooling system and no longer use 1/2 vinyl hose in the case. The card may or may not be dead but I would sure give it a go.

The card (Pro) finally died when I oced the ram really high and after testing it I went to check on the kids and forgot about it for a couple of hours. Testvram says put it in the garbage.

[Greedy Guido]

Originally posted by Hoot
Also, in theory, an evaporation assisted cooling system, commonly referred to as a "Bong" cooler, can chill the water a degree or two below room temperature and theoretically some condensation could occur due to that and the fact that a "Bong" cooler releases a lot of humidity into the room air. The higher the humidity and/or the lower the temperature of the water block and/or CPU, the greater the likelihood and degree of condensation.

Hoot

The lowest a cooling tower (bong) can cool to is the wet bulb temp (saturation point). It is only below this temp that condensation will occur. A radiator or cooling tower will not cause condensation within a water cooling system unless used with a peltier or other active cooling devices.

[Tiger]

Originally posted by Klownin79
Condensation only comes in one form and it`s not distilled.
This is probably not what you meant to say but is in fact exactly what distilled means. The distillation process involves heating to produce a vapour and then cooling of the vapour to produce a condensate. So condensation is the cooling of water vapour present in the atmosphere to form distilled water which is 100% pure. The problem is that the surface it lands on or forms on is not pure and the water quickly dissolves any salts present on the surface to make electrolytes that will conduct any current present.

[ButcherUK]

Distilled water is fine, but anything that's hit a waterblock will have picked up Cu / Al ions from the block and therefore is conductive. Even condensation dripping off a plastic object will blow a vid card - it'll ionise off the traces on the board and blow it to bits.

[UserName]

It will also ionize fron the air too

[ButcherUK]

How quickly will water ionise off the air? It'll ionise off copper very quickly but air would be much slower I'd think.

[UserName]

and prolly faster off the plastic than the air i would gess too.

Unless you had ionized air.

Just ment to add for posterity sake.

[Silver]

Check the card out guy. I have not lied. Twice the card got water on it and acted wierd. Shut it down, cleaned it up and all was well. It was a pro card and ran 4500 3dmark2001 at 32. I am not the only one as others have had the same experience. This is not of course to say that it won't fry the card. On that I am in agreement, but if you turned it off soon enough then it may have lived. Finally killed my card when I pushed it really hard then the wife called me to take care of the kids. Left the card like this for about 3 hours. When I came back and started using the computer all was well for about ten minutes when it started to act strange. Oh nooo, forgot the ram....shut down...reset it with all kinds of video oddities. Ran testvram on it and after clocking down to nothing it came up and told me "put it in the garbage". Kind of cute. Excuse to get a gf3. For now the mx2 pci is a real bummer. the pci card is a god send though when you flash the wrong bios to your agp. You can get a good bios flashed back to the agp card with a pci card.

[RainMaQer]

Silver,

It was dead... there was actually burn marks on it. I cleaned it up and let it dry for a couple days... tried it in my comp and my cousins gateway. Nothing. I sent it to Gainward and they've recieved it and are sending a new on Monday or Tuesday... should be here this week sometime:D

[Silver]

Burn marks are a bad sign.....yes, a very bad sign. I am somewhat fortunate here in that the tap water seems to be fairly low in mineral content. No calcium or iron deposits around sinks, tubs or toilets. Still change out the water in the bong monthly. Easy enough to do, siphones 5gallon bucket in 2 or three minutes.
I have gotten very fast at recognizing and shutting down the computer when the first strange character shows up. Assumption is always water.