could i make a rad out of....

An AC condensor?

I'm planning on making a custom bezel out of fibreglass for my case, and want to incorporate a rad for a WC setup in the front, with shrouded fans. i want it to be the height of 3 92mm fans, and should work pretty good i would think.

To save money (im a poor child, and dont have all that much money) I'd like to make the rad out of a cut down AC condensor i have. i have 6 full size wall mount type ones to play with, and one from a drinking fountain too.

the one from the drinking fountain is 30 cm by 20 cm. it has like 1/4 inch tubing and i would want to split the hose going in and run like 2 parallel passes. would this be too much of a strain on flow? this is going ot be my first dabble in WCing and im not too sure how well it will do. There will be a bit of cuttin down to do, i figure i should be able to heat the copper endpipes, pull off the loop pieces, heat the fins to break their solder loose, pull them off till i get the size needed, cut the pipes down, and sweat the loop pieces back on. then for the length, ill hopefully be able to fit it without problems, but if i have to cut it down i can use tin snips or similar to cut the fins and that last piece of tubing or 2 will fall right off... of course after takin off the pipes in the end....

one concern.. would there need to be something in place to keep the fins from coming unevenly spaced from too many getting hot at once? could this be prevented by stickin lil washers between the fins and holdin them that way.

i almost forgot to mention the other condensors, but they appear to be aluminum tubing and id liek to stay away form them. they're huge, definately need cut down. but the advantage of one of these, they are 3/8 inch tubing. the fins are a little more widely spaced on them. I jsut dont want to have to use a bunch of anti-corrosion stuff to mak it agree with a copper block.


this is probably a different discussion in itself.... but couldnt you create a completely closed loop, as in no res or T lines? couldnt you throw everything in a tub of the water and run it all underwater with the loop opened, then stop and start it to get every last bubble out, then close it up and then you have a completely closed loop. would submerging the block and stuff be bad for it, as in corrosion on the outside? it would be dried like imediately after bein taken out and all, then the usual leak testing. if this could be done i would prefer that, as containing it all in my case seems liek it will be a bit of a task. (5 3 1/2 drives, 3 5 1/4s fillin most of the bays, and then the mobo and all)

so back to the main question... would either of these make a decently working rad for me to use? im looking for decent cooling, nothing thats insanely awesome or anything, with as little cost as possible (free + work in this case)

You could probably make a rad out of them yes, but for all the work, I would have to suggest going to your local autoparts store and just spend $20 to get a heater core. Far easier to mod (really you just need to cut the tubes).

As far as a closed loop, yes that is exactly how you would fill a closed loop, it's easiest to do with a submergable pump, but can also be done with an inline pump, just more of a PITA.

will i be able to find a 3x92mm heatercore for $20 or under? and arent there pmps that work with both inline and submerged? or if you couldnt submerge the pump, couldnt you just pour water into it to get it primed and then let it cycle and all...

and i dont at all consider the work involved as a cost. and "local" autoparts store is a 20 min drive, and have to convince someone to give me a ride there, and its a bit of a pain. so if i can get comparable results for free, why not? its gonna keep me entertained for a while doing it, which is a plus. and with doing it this way, if i mess it up i can just grab another and try again. not much of a loss with free stuff.

added pic of pile of ACs. dont make fun of the tail lights on my home, or the fact that there is scrap piled up behind it....

Well, if you don't mind the modding I don't see why it wouldn't work. In fact, if space isn't that big of an issue. You could use the condensor the size it is, and shroud it and simply use two larger 120mm fans for even quieter, operation. You have allot of front surface area and that doesn't look like its too deep, So I'm guessing two 120mm fans on a shroud would be plenty of air.

why not just use one of those air conditioners and try to build a phase change system instead? assuming the compressors work..

i want it to all fit in the case, or i would go with phase change. it has to fit completely inside of the antec case, well after the fibreglass front and all. If i had room to fir the compressor i have (which is relatively small, too) i would build a lil block and go direct die. but after all of the stuff in the case.. .i have no room. maybe if i could find one of the taller varients that has the 6 5 1/4 bays and all i could, but just not with this case.

ill try to get some pics of the stuff i have as in compressor and room in my case and stuff. im not sure how this little ocmpressor i have would take the heat load tho. and i believe ti would require a change kit for the oil and refridgerant, as the drinking fountains the small condensors and compressors are coming from are quite old, like 10 years +.

If i were to use these like i want i'd have to trim it down either way to get it to fit where i want it. im gonan try to run and find the size specs on the case real quick, as im at work right now and cant measure it.

case is 8 inches wide, or about 20 cm. so i might be able to fit the full condensor in there, but would either have to widen out in the front a bit or maybe dent in the pipes a little, or shave off like a half inch from one side. andthen that would probably be glassing right to the condenser's sides.

damn you man... now you have me considering a dd phase change... haha....

it would be quite a leap from crappy air to phase, and would it even be worth it fro a s754 cpu. maybe with some Vmods and better ram id get more speed, cant afford a 939 cpu right now, although i have the option for both, have an asrock combo board.

one more edit / addition. i could go up to taking the bottommost 5 1/4 bay if i have to, and just forget about havin a floppy. that could give me more surface area / fans. but there wouldnt be enough room for 3 120 mm fans so it might jsut be with 3 92s... or i could go with 2 120s with shroud to keep the airflow evenly distributed... soo many options now.

BTW, these will be cooling the hard drives on the other side of the rad, so i might switch it to pullin ir in te back and pushin out front, whichever way works best, plus i want the fans closest to the front of case, and if i recall correctly fans pullign air through the rad works better?

i think for now it would be best to not get as complicated as phase, get happy with water for now, especially since it seems like my board cpu and ram doesnt have all that much more potential, i just want the even cooler temps and to be the cooool guy with water cooling and a sweet looking case mod.

four4875 do not use those condensers with 1/4th tubing. That is far too restrictive for flow and I do not believe they are as efficient as a heatercore. I would get a car heatercore the best one out there is a fedco 2-302 which fits 2 120mm fans and should work just fine in your case along the top or bottom with a shroud of course.

im modding the rad into the front of my case, so it will be in with 3 92mm or maybe 2 120mm fans, goin through as intake or maybe exaust, if i switch everytihng around.

i was intending to run the 1/4 in parallel via a splitter to give like twice the flowrate.... that still wouldnt be enough?

0.098 sq in is the area of the circle made by the tube end of the 1/4s, combined
0.114 sq in is the area of a 3/8 so would that .016 sq in make that much of a diff? or should i be comparin circumfrences on the tubing? wouldnt the area of cross section be more logical tho, as to how much water can fit inside the tubing.

four4875: its not just that the reducers add restriction and all in all its a mess. I would got with a 2x120mm heatercore (such as the 1970 Pontiac Bonneville heatercore sticky on how to mod those is up in the sticky section). Also those fins look like aluminum to me so that would also hurt heat transfer even further. Also those fins look like they are spaced far apart.

ill look at a heatercore, my main concern is the cost, trying to spend as little as possible on the rad right now, as it will probably be a little while after i do the bezel mod that i wil lactully impliment the water cooling.

the fedco 2-302 can be had for under $20 at most autozones.

Radiators like that are very restrictive. If you have a very powerful pump like an Iwaki RD30 then you'd be see very good performance more than likely (especially since it would be able to dissipate the heat the pump puts out easily), but that is a very expensive pump & you'd be better served by something like an MCP655 & a Bonneville Heatercore along with a Swiftech Storm, one of Cathar's G4s (if you can get one off the forums or whatnot), or a G5 or one of the other good blocks that are out there.