• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Propane Cooling?!?!

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

dimmreaper

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2000
Location
home
The other day at work I was removing a set of bronze valve guides from a set of 18degree aluminum "bowtie" heads (the same cylinder heads used on many Chevy Winston Cup cars.). I have a special way of removing valve guides. I have a short piece of hose, with a fitting on one end for attaching it to a tank of propane, and a piece of brake line on the other end. I invert the tank (so liquid propane exits the tank rather than gaseous propane), stick the brake line in the valve guide, and open the valve. When the propane evaporates from a liquid to a gas, it instantly cools the valve guide to some -125F, and it shrinks and falls out of the head. It occurred to me that the propane fridge in my RV works the same way, but it burns the propane off afterward. Someone needs to give this a shot on there CPU! :D
 
oops, I dropped a candle next to my computer and now I'm dead.:eek: I don't think propane is a good idea. And it conducts electricity. BAAAAAAD idea!
 
Actually, any compressed gas would do. When you increase the amount of pressure on a gas, its tempuature increases. Then as long as it stays compressed, the temp will drom back down to room temp. When you finally release the gas, it expands and cools down dramaticly. So if you could compress some air, CO2, Hydrogen (LOL!), whatever, whenever you decompress it, it will cool down greatly.

JigPu
 
Hey, your fridge only uses the propane to heat up ammonia in the system. The chemical reaction of the ammonia in the system is what keeps the fridge cool. Propane has been used in automotive systems as an R-12 replacement.(highly illegal too) Propane is considered a refrigerant just like R-12 and R-22.
 
There are quite a few gasses that will cool as freon does. Not as efficient but they will work. They are also not flammable. Most gasses will cool upon expansion to a point. I don't want to get into the theory of how an AC unit works. The point here is that using propane is EXTREMLY dangerous.
 
Last edited:
JigPu said:
Actually, any compressed gas would do. When you increase the amount of pressure on a gas, its tempuature increases. Then as long as it stays compressed, the temp will drom back down to room temp. When you finally release the gas, it expands and cools down dramaticly. So if you could compress some air, CO2, Hydrogen (LOL!), whatever, whenever you decompress it, it will cool down greatly.

JigPu

CO2 is poisonous and could cause convulsions and death if breathed in high enuf concentrations. Don't try this inside.

As for Hydrogen, Well if you thought propane was flamible you are in for an even bigger bang for your buck.

Compressed air is a good idea. When I was in the Navy some of the electronics for the Ageis Radar systems were cooled with compressed air. Air was compressed to 3000PSI then cooled to room temp, thenrun through a dehydrator, Then blown directly onto the components to be cooled. This would probibly be way to expensine to run on a home system scale. Thats your tax dollars at work.
 
Me just kidding about the CO2, Hydrogen and such.... I just had to put hydrogen in cuz its even better at the "spark+propane=BOOM!" equation. Even though it would work.

About the compressed air though. All the air compressors I've heard are REALLY loud at times. Mabey compressed air isn't such a good alternitive to a delta (Unless you put the compressor outside or something).


If only I could get some compressed radioactive gas on my CPU.... (note: this is also a joke idea.... radiation is not your friend.... 'cept when running a nuke power plant for your PCs :D )
JigPu
 
LOL! Yes, CO2 is not a perfectly safe gas either, but I think I'd take my chances with it over propane. :)

Besides, none of these are really practical for the layperson. I could just see somebody's kid playing around with a canister of compressed gas *boom*. These tanks can take off like a rocket if dropped or tipped over. So none of them are truly "safe" to have around the house.


Staz said:


CO2 is poisonous and could cause convulsions and death if breathed in high enuf concentrations. Don't try this inside.

As for Hydrogen, Well if you thought propane was flamible you are in for an even bigger bang for your buck.

Compressed air is a good idea. When I was in the Navy some of the electronics for the Ageis Radar systems were cooled with compressed air. Air was compressed to 3000PSI then cooled to room temp, thenrun through a dehydrator, Then blown directly onto the components to be cooled. This would probibly be way to expensine to run on a home system scale. Thats your tax dollars at work.
 
first get one of those portable fridges that look like coolers, rip out the pelt T. E. C. unit with the heatsinks attached, then cut a hole in your case and attache the unit. with a copper aircooled heatsink this works realy well. with a good fan you can get your case to 5C:D . keep in mind I'm not talking about one of your tiny pelts that you use on your cpu's. NO NO!! this pelt is about the size of a video card !!:p And you should see the heatsinks!!! HUGE!!!
 
Back