-
Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!
24-7 and Bong Coolers?
- Thread starter Colin
- Start date
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2000
I have been giving some thought on a way to do this. So far I am thinking along the lines of using a valve that is opened and closed by a solinoid, these are used in lawn irrigation systems. At a hardware store get a replacement switch for a sump pump. This switch consists of a wire with a rubber float on the end and inside is a metal ball and 2 contacts. This would fit in a 5 gal bucket and make a good resivour.
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2000
I was ( i suck) in the procces of setting up my water cooling rig with a tower... however since my plans for a waterblock changed... i just odered one from danger den yesterday...... have to wait for a while.
I was thinking to catch the fog stuff that comes out, and let the watre from it collect in another container.... this contnier would reach the same temp as the air around it after time.... now this container, when it gets too full will drain into my resovoir.... Yes i know i will lose some of the effect with a tower(as it cools water below abiant), so i may only be 2 or 3 degrees under ambiant temps and not 4 or 5 degrees C.
This should let me run 24/7, i hope.
I was thinking to catch the fog stuff that comes out, and let the watre from it collect in another container.... this contnier would reach the same temp as the air around it after time.... now this container, when it gets too full will drain into my resovoir.... Yes i know i will lose some of the effect with a tower(as it cools water below abiant), so i may only be 2 or 3 degrees under ambiant temps and not 4 or 5 degrees C.
This should let me run 24/7, i hope.
- Thread Starter
- #5
I took the brute force solution. Found a six gallon Igloo cooler at Costco yesterday. It's fine for straight water cooling but the dual pelt setup I have been playing with uses a quart every 45 minutes.
Photopoint cropped the pic but you can get the idea:
[img="[URL]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1551335&a=11768501&p=49871580[/URL]"]
Photopoint cropped the pic but you can get the idea:
[img="[URL]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1551335&a=11768501&p=49871580[/URL]"]
WOW...some of the things people come up with. Very interesting and ingenious setup. Whats the very first component on top of the cooler(the black thing) a fan or blower? Btw, I know very little about water cooling but find it very fascinating, so excuse me for being so naive. 
Also...Im assuming those are independent switches or possibly rheostats on the front of your case for various fans on/in your case? If so, do you suggest an alternate power supply for the fans to run off of or is the motherboard not bothered with say 5 or so fans running off of it? Or lets say you have a 400 watt power supply, when will there come a point when you need to think about using an alternative power source for a vast array of fans running directly off of your system?
Like I said before, Im fairly new at this stuff so forgive me for all the questions.
Like I said before, Im fairly new at this stuff so forgive me for all the questions.
- Thread Starter
- #10
You can check out the fan bus here: http://forums.overclockers.ws/forums/UltraBoard.cgi?action=Read&BID=20&TID=789&SID=90650
A good 400 watt PSU should have no problems with the fans. I use the 530 watt Enermax 651. Never hurts to have some power reserve.
A good 400 watt PSU should have no problems with the fans. I use the 530 watt Enermax 651. Never hurts to have some power reserve.
- Thread Starter
- #11
Sorry I must have missed this. The cooling tower is for a dual 172 watt pelt experiment. I was using a 700 Duron at a bit over a gig for this. The experiment is on hold while I wait for new pelts. Look back about a week and you will find a thread on this. My current 1333 Bird seems to be dying. It did 1575 mHz when I got it a month ago. I had to drop another 10 mHz yesterday to 1450. I suppose I will pick up a fresh Bird in a coupl of weeks at the computer show.
Besides having a fast and quiet machine, there is a huge fun factor in building cooling systems.
- Joined
- Jan 25, 2001
- Location
- St. Louis(USA)
Nice set up. I have been thinking about building a water cooling system. I also wondered if anyone actually ran the cooling towers 24/7. How much did all this total out to be after you were done.
- Thread Starter
- #14
I have about $80 in the tower and another $20 in valves and couplers to aid in making the cooling tower practical .
I use the same Danner 700 that I have used with the Cooling Cube.
Here's a shot of the valves and couplers:
[img="[URL]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1551335&a=11768501&p=49952567[/URL]"]
I use the same Danner 700 that I have used with the Cooling Cube.
Here's a shot of the valves and couplers:
[img="[URL]http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1551335&a=11768501&p=49952567[/URL]"]
You don't have to worry about head for pumps if the pump is at or above the top of the cooling tower. In some cases that might not be possible, but not in all. In theory, if the tower was tall enough, the water would condense on the sides(if it was made of aluminum dryer duct, or something else metal). Was the water vapor rose through the air it would give off energy, and hopefully be able to condense out onto the sides of the tube. One thing I would suggest, if you have a very high pressure pump, is having the showerhead portion at the bottom of the tube, and shooting the water up. This allows the water to ravel through the air twice, once up, and once down.
- Thread Starter
- #16
A centrifugal pump works best at the lowest water level. Placing one at the top would be a bear to keep it primed. Head does matter. I have had my tower so tall that the pump could not handle the height. To tune the system for maximum performance, you need to balance the tower height with optimum flow for the best cooling. Start tall and then get out the saw and keep cutting until your temps go up. By then you should have found the sweet spot. You may need another section of pipe.
As for a high pressure pump and the showerhead at the bottom of the tube, some waterblocks may not like the pressure. Perhaps this would work with a Swiftech but my experiments with an 1800 GPH pump and the Maze 2.2 lead me to believe this would be a problem. I my tests, the idle temp was the same as with a700 GPH pump but the load temps were 15C higher. Microscopic bubbles in the waterblock from the high pressure was the only explanation we could come up with. A diesel mechanic and computer wiz clued me into the bubble problem.
As for a high pressure pump and the showerhead at the bottom of the tube, some waterblocks may not like the pressure. Perhaps this would work with a Swiftech but my experiments with an 1800 GPH pump and the Maze 2.2 lead me to believe this would be a problem. I my tests, the idle temp was the same as with a700 GPH pump but the load temps were 15C higher. Microscopic bubbles in the waterblock from the high pressure was the only explanation we could come up with. A diesel mechanic and computer wiz clued me into the bubble problem.
high pressure doesn't necessarily mean high flow rate. You can get reasonable flow-rate pumps that are capable of high pressures. Basically it means that the pump will MAINTAIN it's flow-rate even if it has to push the water through very small spaces(the tiny holes on a showerhead, for example). I know spraying up from the bottom is the way industrial cooling towers work, so I'm sure it would work better if your pump can handle the pressure.
- Thread Starter
- #18
I suspect a pump like this http://www.petwarehouse.com/webstor...d646e37256f11dc887256721008213fe?OpenDocument is what would be required for a showerhead pointed up.
Similar threads
