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Dry Ice

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Falaut

New Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2004
Hi...
I'm planning to build a custom liquid cooling system for my computer. I have been considering many things over the last couple of days and from all the ideas I've had this one seems to be decent but I need some feed back. Basically instead of a radiator and fan setup I'll use the regular pump+waterblocks+hoses+reservoir way, and in place of the rad I'd like to do this....

-buy a small cooler and drill holes on the sides
-construct a copper coil made out of copper tubing and mount it into the cooler with one end coming out of one hole and the other out of the other hole
-place dry ice into the cooler,be it either straight dry ice or a combination of ice and dry ice (toxicity reasons)
-close the cooler ^__^
-then when everythings assembled run coolant (alcohol or car coolant) through this contraption using it in place of a rad to keep the liquid cold as a witches teet!(preferbly car coolant as I've heard alcohol can eat through a pumps seals and such)
btw the pump i'm using is a 350gph pump...

my main question is if this method is going to cool the coolant too much to the point where its too thick for the pump to handle or will clog in the copper piping.

and other suggestions or commen ts would be apprieciated...

Thanks
:)
 
This should be in extreme cooling, not cooling and water cooling. Duplicate thread deleted.
 
However, it is a good idea. I would like to know this too. Would it break the waterblock or anything by cooling it too much?
 
what cooler do you mean to use? you couldnt just use a few hoses going threw a box of ice, woudlnt be in there long enough to do any cooling. i really doubt it would mess with the block though once it hits the block itll get warm almost instantly, and if your worried aboute the pump, just put the pump before the box in the circuit so its pumping warm cpu water.
 
Not a bad idea, I have used this in a pinch, and it works quite well.
Instead of using copper tubing you could use aluminum (half the cost) and make the coil longer, more heat transfere. In either case try not to use alcohols of any sort. They are hard on pump seals and methanol or ethanol can etch many metals, copper,aluminum and even stainless steel. The best pick for coolant down to -40F to -50F is ethylene glycol. If you are thinking about the viscosity of the coolant, follow the mixing chart on the coolant label and us only as much ethylene glycol to get the temp range that is really needed. This will keep your coolant viscosity low. Good luck.
 
Its to cold for the coolant. Even if you get coolant that will work it will be very expensive/dangerous and probley wont transfer heat that well. The dry ice wont last long either.

Than you have to worry about block insulation and your pump. Good luck insulating for -60C liquid :p After -40C or so plastic pumps get brittle and crack easily. Same with tubing.
 
It wont just pop off. Especially with alot of DI in there. With alot of DI in there and it all sealed up the whole thing will explode. See you in the ER ;)
 
Well, at -50C or whatever dry ice is, it'll freeze just about anything you put in there.

As well, you'd run out of dry ice very fast using that method.

Assuming, you got it to pump, you'd have to elave the cap off, and your roomw ould be filling up with Co2.

It won't work in short.
 
Have a one way valve so that the pressure of the carbon dioxide can escape, it wont hurt you, just vent it out so you can also have O2 to breathe. Its a good idea, but the main issue i see isnt the temps its the ability to keep the dry ice in there, it will not last long. Sure if you are gonna do a temp benchmark then it would last long enough but the heat comming in would speed up the process. Id say go with liquid nitrogen for a "top fuel drag race" scenario.
 
ManicHaze said:
Have a one way valve so that the pressure of the carbon dioxide can escape, it wont hurt you, just vent it out so you can also have O2 to breathe. Its a good idea, but the main issue i see isnt the temps its the ability to keep the dry ice in there, it will not last long. Sure if you are gonna do a temp benchmark then it would last long enough but the heat comming in would speed up the process. Id say go with liquid nitrogen for a "top fuel drag race" scenario.

What exactly is the purpose of the one way valve? And how will this approach allow less CO2 out of the box than leaving the lid off? And what is the connection between liquid nitrogen and "top fuel drag" racing?
 
haha, i well the one way valve would keep the pressure in the box from getting out of hand thus allowing you to keep the lid on and insulating the container as much as possible fromt he warm outside air. ANd th eliquid nitrogen reference to drag racing is with liquid nitrogen you can make your computer go really fast but only for a short time. like in a top fuel drag race.
 
ManicHaze said:
haha, i well the one way valve would keep the pressure in the box from getting out of hand thus allowing you to keep the lid on and insulating the container as much as possible fromt he warm outside air. ANd th eliquid nitrogen reference to drag racing is with liquid nitrogen you can make your computer go really fast but only for a short time. like in a top fuel drag race.

I see. I don't think a valve would be advantageous over a small hole, though.
 
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