Building your First evaporative cooling tower!

[Pro*Banshee]

Sorry about the pics guys, this sticky kind of dropped off the face of the earth, or so I thought. I fixed the URL's, and added an additives section

 

[Ven0m]

Sorry about the pics guys, this sticky kind of dropped off the face of the earth, or so I thought. I fixed the URL's, and added an additives section

Great

 

[JerkasaurusRex]

Nice additives section. I am sure it will be very handy to the new "bongers" so they dont get into the same mess i get into.

 

[DarkDraco]

im planning on building this exact bong. was wondering if it would do good in cooling down pelt cooled cpu and 2x SLI cards.

 

[pwnt by pat]

Should be able to. Only way to find out is to do it. It's possible to figure out the exact heat load based on humidity, gpm, particle density, etc. but it's not worth the time. If it's not performing enough, increase the airflow, lower the room temperature, make the tube taller, or get a more powerful pump... in that order.

 

[Mustanley]

Thought I'd throw in a link to the bong I built. It performed very well and I implemented an auto filler to relieve me of having to add water everyday.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=211290

 

[ScarabDrowner]

did you have any problems with condensation from the water being cooled to below ambient?

 

[Mustanley]

I didn't have any condensation problems

 

[Pro*Banshee]

I didnt have any at all, but since my air conditioner is running all the time, I wouldnt notice it anyways

 

[jcw122]

this is very interesting stuff, I knew bong cooling existed, but have never researched it like this before, very cool!

 

[Wwing49]

Well I was just thinking about this idea, If you hooked up a mister instead of a shower wouldnt it be loads better? Smaller water, more surface area, etc. It might just hit the walls and become big drops again, but i just had the idea so I thought id post

 

[pwnt by pat]

At the top of the bong is some kind of spreading object. Usually, it's a showerhead, which are primarily used because they force the water into droplets small enough to create a lot of surface area but large enough not to be forced out of the bong. A golden rule of cooling is the greater the surface area, the greater the efficiency. Misters, such as those in grocery stores, can be used but they have such a high restriction that the extra dispersion of water would be negated by the backpressure on the pump. They can also create too fine a spray and an unnecessary amount of water will evaporate or spray out the top requiring more filling.

 

[Wwing49]

ty

 

[JerkasaurusRex]

Will any waterblock work for bong cooling? Could i use a TDX or a Storm or something like that or do i need a block like a maze4 or the swifty 5002 which cover the entire CPU?

 

[pwnt by pat]

Any waterblock will work. All a Evap cooling system is, is a standard watercooling loop except the radiator is replaced by the bong. You'll have to be the judge as to which block you choose based on total height of the system, power of the pump, and total resistance of the loop.

 

[JerkasaurusRex]

Whats better for big bongs (7ft) and a D4/D5 pump?

 

[Ven0m]

Obvious problem with bong is that you have pressure loss.
In normal radiator, water going down sucks water going up, so there's no "height difference" in loop. But with bong you ahve to add bong height to pressure drop.

 

[JerkasaurusRex]

But what if your loop goes bong -> pump -> block -> bong? Wouldnt the pressure drop not matter as much since when the water is gettign to the block its at full pressure?

 

[pwnt by pat]

As long as the inlet of the pump is unrestricted and the bong is at the end, it shouldn't matter what order the loop is in (like normal watercooling). So manditory: pump first, bong last.. anything between is gravy

As to what will work, I've seen a hydor l30 push up a 6' bong through a RBX without any problems.

What Venom is saying about pressure is that... well... It looks like it's just a statement . What I think he's trying to say is that Because you add the bong's height as resistnace, you need to subtract the height of the bong from the head of the pump. Then decide which pump to use based on "left over" head. So a pump with 13' head on a 7' bong would be the equilivant of running the same "normal" loop with a 7' head pump. I hope that makes sense...

 

[JerkasaurusRex]

Great explanation. Clears things up for me perfectly.