Bong questions...

Hey guys,
I am going to build a bong to go along with my watercooling system. So far I have gotten a Danger Den Maze 2 block and Danner Mag Drive 7 pump (700gph). I am pretty sure I am going to use a bong because of the superior cooling properties over any radiator out there. I just have a few questions though. I am going to run all this on a thunderbird 1.4 oc/ed as much as I can.

1. Would it be dangerous to add DyeLite to my bong because of the evaporative properties?

2. Are there any ways to cut down on the loss of water from the system?

3. I am going to build a bong and reservoir, how often should I expect to fill this?

4. Any recommendations for my bong? Thank you very much.

I'm somewhat a newbie to bong cooling as well but I'll answer you to the best of my knowledge:

1. Currently still I'm looking for suitable (ie. neutral pH, zero chlorine) biocides to add to my WC's water. Swimming pool water additives seem to be a good candidate as many of them are mild to the skin and wouldn't evaporate easily. However, generally, it's wise to look for something which does not leave the water easily, otherwise you'll be breathing the toxic stuff in. Mild pH and an absence of chlorine is a must if you don't want your aluminium waterblock to corrode (aluminium WILL corrode at 4<pH<9 and will high chlorine concentration).

2. Yes, try to place scotchbrites as baffles to capture microscopic sprays of water (it is not evaporated water) before they leave your bong. Most of the water lost from your bong will be that from minute water droplets blown away rather than that from evaporation (typically a few percent, at most, of the flow rate) if precautionary measures are not taken to counter this.

3. Not very sure on this. Depends largely on your bong. I had posted a question similar to this one awhile ago and there weren't many replies. It could be as serious as Colin's, at 1.2L per hour or perhaps as low as 0.2L per hour (estimated) like mine. Currently, I haven't had an opportunity to test out my WC setup on any comp. yet (maybe because I don't have a Tbird or Duron...) but I've measured that the water loss rate hangs around 0.1L per hour at test runs irrespective of whether I have 1 80mm fan blowing in or two. I estimate it'll double or more when fully in use. Pump's a 400gph but outputs less than 200gph due to head losses in the line.

4. Recommendations for a bong? Maybe you need to have some basic reading of the subject at Cooling Tower Doctor. Er, well, not exactly basic reading but I think you can get some fundamentals on the function of a evaporative cooling tower (a.k.a. "bong").

put a lid on the tank, keep the system watertight,. That way you dont loose too much water.

I unfortuanately have no Water cooling experience, Im just using common sense which I am not very good at either

Well there is no way he should put a lid on the bong to make it nice and tight, because the purpose of the bong is to let the hot water evaporate while the cold water falls down to the reservoir. The best thing to do is either take the time to fill it every now and then ( thus adding cold water to the system and making it cooler ) or get a lid with small holes in it. That way it should limit the water loss. To tell you the truth putting the lid on a "bong" is kind of working against the whole concept of it. Oh and one more thing, if you want you can put a fan somewhere near the water. I don't know the type of bong setup you are making so I cant tell you where to put it, but if you make a tower is would be nice to put a fan somewhere to circulate the air flow.

Remember, Joop, nowhere is it written that your bong should take the form of a tower. Even in industrial applications, not all cooling 'towers' take the form of a tower. The key requirement is that the water should be made to have as much of it's surface area exposed to the airflow. In a tower, this accomplished by dripping the water from a height and due to the longer distance travelled, a lot of droplets get exposed to air. Alternatively, if you are short of space and do not want a 3' or 4' tower, you can drip MORE of the water (use extra showerheads, etc). My bong is doing just that, being built from a 13.5" wide, 19.5" long, 1" tall rectangular plastic box/tank with a lid. The water only drips/sprays down a height of 8" as the water level is 4". Fans are there to help blow out the moist air so that the water in your bong can evaporate better, as well as to cool your water convection (heat carried away by moving air, just like in a HSF). I used a 3 or 4' coil of common garden hose perforated with about 200 slits (glued to the bottom of the lid) to spray/drip out the water.

Remember, Joop, nowhere is it written that your bong should take the form of a tower. Even in industrial applications, not all cooling 'towers' take the form of a tower. The key requirement is that the water should be made to have as much of it's surface area exposed to the airflow. In a tower, this accomplished by dripping the water from a height and due to the longer distance travelled, a lot of droplets get exposed to air. Alternatively, if you are short of space and do not want a 3' or 4' tower, you can drip MORE of the water (use extra showerheads, etc). My bong is doing just that, being built from a 13.5" wide, 19.5" long, 1" tall rectangular plastic box/tank with a lid. The water only drips/sprays down a height of 8" as the water level is 4". Fans are there to help blow out the moist air so that the water in your bong can evaporate better, as well as to cool your water convection (heat carried away by moving air, just like in a HSF). I used a 3 or 4' coil of common garden hose perforated with about 200 slits (glued to the bottom of the lid) to spray/drip out the water.