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Car rad for WC setup?

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Sam__

Sam__

Member
​
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
Location
UK
Why dont more people use car rads for their WCing setups???.....
It seems quite logical to me if you can get a car rad for half the price of a 3x120mm off the shelf rad and its like twice the size whats the point in spending more money?
Fair enuf if you want all your sruf inside the case but if the rads gunna be ouside you can strap it to the side of your case.
It cant be that hard to convert the fittings either.

All opinions and views are welcome
 
Sam__ said:
Why dont more people use car rads for their WCing setups???.....
It seems quite logical to me if you can get a car rad for half the price of a 3x120mm off the shelf rad and its like twice the size whats the point in spending more money?
Fair enuf if you want all your sruf inside the case but if the rads gunna be ouside you can strap it to the side of your case.
It cant be that hard to convert the fittings either.

All opinions and views are welcome
Click to expand...
The only problem I forsee is: Isn't the tubing used to connect those like 2" ID?

Why wouldn't people use them? Space :cool:

Putting the rad on the side of my case would be immpossible for me as all my wiring goes behind the motherboard, it may work for others but I'm giving you an example where it would not. :bday:



EDIT: But I tell you what! That would look REALLY cool if you could strap that to the side of your case!
 
im a complete noob to WC...thats why i created teh thread rel...to see what people said.

When/if i get a WCing setup i will definiately try and get a beastly rad off a car working with it.

the tubing would be the main problem as you stated....how easy is it to get 2" to 1/2" converters?
 
You'd probably have to mod a the size tube you need onto it.... like with a heatercore.
 
I use a Copper cored truck radiator hanging down in the basement.
I have the inlet/outlet modded to 1" threaded female copper fittings.
Through 1" tubing, my water is pumped upstairs to my computer.
It splits to 3 parallel loops, CPU, NB, and a Ford heatercore.
The heatercore has a blower on it recirculating the case air, keeping the rest of the system ~55F (summer temps) and avoiding condensation with that cool water.

The problem with just converting a car rad to little sizes like 1/2" ID is that the rad is designed for much higher flow rates. The normal little pumps and tube sizes would make water just crawl through it, and you'd never see what the rad is really capable of.
For the most useful performance, you want a big pump (I use a Quiet One 3000 with 1" outlets) and big tubing. Then you can run parallel loops at the computer without noticeable loss there either.

If you're gonna use a little pump like a D5 etc.., then stick to a small rad. They fit hand and glove.
 
Diggrr said:
I use a Copper cored truck radiator hanging down in the basement.
I have the inlet/outlet modded to 1" threaded female copper fittings.
Through 1" tubing, my water is pumped upstairs to my computer.
It splits to 3 parallel loops, CPU, NB, and a Ford heatercore.
The heatercore has a blower on it recirculating the case air, keeping the rest of the system ~55F (summer temps) and avoiding condensation with that cool water.

The problem with just converting a car rad to little sizes like 1/2" ID is that the rad is designed for much higher flow rates. The normal little pumps and tube sizes would make water just crawl through it, and you'd never see what the rad is really capable of.
For the most useful performance, you want a big pump (I use a Quiet One 3000 with 1" outlets) and big tubing. Then you can run parallel loops at the computer without noticeable loss there either.

If you're gonna use a little pump like a D5 etc.., then stick to a small rad. They fit hand and glove.
Click to expand...

I think we need pics Diggrr :D
 
Sam, I think the main reason more people don't use car rads is that they're huge. They're also mostly aluminum these days, and many are too restrictive for the fans we use. But there are some out there that would make good PC rads if you don't mind that your rad is as big as the rest of your computer.

Diggrr said:
It splits to 3 parallel loops, CPU, NB, and a Ford heatercore.
The heatercore has a blower on it recirculating the case air, keeping the rest of the system ~55F (summer temps) and avoiding condensation with that cool water.
Click to expand...
Now that's an interesting idea. How exactly does it prevent condensation? Are you using it to warm the coolant or reduce the humidity of the air... or what?
 
Sam__ said:
what kind of restristions does it add?
Click to expand...
Basically radiators have lots of bends which add restriction. bigger radiators usually have more bends, so more restriction. And by restriction I mean restricting the coolants ability to flow. In a car this is ok since the pump is usually the car engine, but not good for the smaller electric pumps usually found in WC setups.
 
Otter said:
Now that's an interesting idea. How exactly does it prevent condensation? Are you using it to warm the coolant or reduce the humidity of the air... or what?
Click to expand...

It's a sealed case I made of foam panels and fiberglass.
If you bring case air temp within a few degrees of the water temp, you'll never get condensation, no matter what your water temp is. The only weak point is the IO plate on the mobo tray, but I've never seen it form there.
The CD's and psu stay at room temp to prevent exhausting the cooled air or drive speed problems.

@ freakdiablo, the rad is built exactly like a black ice, but on a much larger scale, and with less restriction than theirs because of the size.

Pelikan and I came up with the same idea at the same time he as building his ground loop cooling....I guess ages ago in forum time. :)

http://home.wmis.net/~jberg/RadRad1.JPG
http://home.wmis.net/~jberg/RadRad2.JPG
http://home.wmis.net/~jberg/FurtherFront.jpg
 
Last edited:
freakdiablo said:
Basically radiators have lots of bends which add restriction. bigger radiators usually have more bends, so more restriction. And by restriction I mean restricting the coolants ability to flow. In a car this is ok since the pump is usually the car engine, but not good for the smaller electric pumps usually found in WC setups.
Click to expand...

ok...so a pretty powerful pump is needed then....what kind of spec?
 
Sam__ said:
ok...so a pretty powerful pump is needed then....what kind of spec?
Click to expand...


If you're going with a reg. car rad, you'll have to minimize the fittings to fit 1/2", then I suggest something along the lines of an Iwaki MD series pump. They run on household current (110-120v AC) Depending on how much footage of tubing the waterflow needs to travel, you'll have to calculate that upon your needs.

http://www.iwakiamerica.com/nav/cm.aspx?cmid=34
 
Nebulous said:
If you're going with a reg. car rad, you'll have to minimize the fittings to fit 1/2", then I suggest something along the lines of an Iwaki MD series pump. They run on household current (110-120v AC) Depending on how much footage of tubing the waterflow needs to travel, you'll have to calculate that upon your needs.

http://www.iwakiamerica.com/nav/cm.aspx?cmid=34
Click to expand...

nice...a proper hardcore pump then.
 
This is a thread I was following last year - it might interest you :)
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=429836

upright.jpg


IMO - you really don't need a hardcore pump. A good pump like the MCP355+top or the MCP655 should do fine. Compared to what we run our water through most of the time a car rad is like a storm drain - lots of room for flow. Sure the water will move through it rather slowly because of the size but that's not a problem as long as it's moving 1-1.5 GPM. That car rad probably holds close to a gallon of water so it would take 40-60 sec for water to run through it - but who cares if you're replacing it with water that has been IN the rad for 40-60 sec bleeding off heat?


However, I do think a car rad is waaay overkill for a single rig. Dual heater cores are just as good, a lot cheaper, and are easier to work with. On the other hand the pic above does have a certain amount of WOW! to it ... :D
 
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