Window Res - Failed

I was planning to write here about my amazing new water cooling reservoir I had made from an old double glazing window....... it didn't go to plan.

I am in no way a hardcore modder, I just like to tinker with things, it keeps me occupied. I had done my research and planned a water cooled rig but that had been side-lined.

When I was clearing my garage I found a small (about 1 ft sq) double glazed window that was still intact, I got thinking that this could make a cool window reservoir for a case. So I ordered myself some tubing, a couple of fittings and a pump to get started.

First I drilled the rubber between the two pieces of glass at the top as a fill point. I filled the window and left for a couple of days to make sure there was no leaks. This all went well.

Next was to get the water to the pump, I made a hole close to the bottom on the side. The tubing I got had an OD of 10mm but when measured with calipers it was slightly smaller, so I drilled an 8mm hole and filed it slightly, then folded the tubing and pushed it through.

This was always going to be my main issue - creating a water tight seal for the tubing, however this slightly smaller hole and tubing squeezed in seemed to work quite well, I filled the window again and allowed the water to flow out of the exit tubing. No leaks, I obviously would not have trusted this around my PC components but it was looking good.

Then I came across another major issue, in-between the pieces of glass there is aluminium strip then a layer of desiccant, basically millions of small balls for moisture absorption, then the rubber seal. The problem was the desiccant constantly got into the water I had between the glass. I flushed the window several times but they continuously made their way in. There was no way I was connecting my pump to this, I had only just got it and didn’t want to damage it.

So I had planned to do something I hadn’t seen done before, and as usual there is a reason I hadn’t seen it done!

If anyone has an suggestions on how I could seal up the hole made between the pieces of glass it would be appreciated, I’m out of ideas :S

I now have it in my head that I want to make some sort of custom/ non-standard reservoir. So it may just be a case of on to the next idea / thing I seen laying around

Well there was likely also some gas inbetween those panes of glass.. so even if you seal it.. its not going to function well as a double pane window anymore.. especially after you also removed the desiccants as well! So sealing it just use some clear caulk, but I wouldn't go installing it as a home window anymore.

Yea, it was an old widow as replaced a while ago. I had planned to mount it on the outside of a large case.

Yea im thinking some sort of caulk or glue, i will have to try filling the inside of the seal, where the desiccant is stored, then some more around the tubing leaving the window.

Trying to make it look decent is going to be another challenge!

Thanks

so instead of using a window why don't you get 2 big pieces of plexy cut the edges down and use those as your spacers in between the 2 sheets (2 for support in the middle because I imagine its going to be big) and around the edges, seal it up.

drill 2 holes on opposite coners on the same side (presumably the side facing in) for your fittings, top hole the inlet, bottom hole the outlet.
to me it sounds like less work than trying to convert an old window