Condensation

[Autopsy/CCL]

Hi all...

I have an annoying problem with condensation...

My waterblock has a surface temp. of -21 degrees celcius...

It's a new system i made with a giant radiator, a freezer, and 1/2" hoses... The head is made of an old S7 heatsink encapsuled in plastic.

The system does not leak, but the condensation...

It even drips from the hoses!!!

Can't put it in my cabinet... The mobo will drown, and i haven't even attached my peltier!!!

Any ideas?

 

[Garfield]

What exactly causes this condensation? The low temp?

 

[Yodums]

What exactly causes this condensation? The low temp?

The air outside of the block is warm, where inside its cold. When the two air mix condensation creates, in other words it precipitates..

 

[Wicked Klown]

You could wrap the tubing with the foam they use for plumbing.

 

[Garfield]

You could wrap the tubing with the foam they use for plumbing.

But wouldn't this just stop the condensation on the tube, not the hardware?

 

[Cluster]

You could wrap the tubing with the foam they use for plumbing.

Closed Cell Foam

 

[Autopsy/CCL]

Thanxx for the answers/ideas...

I might try the foam method... But the hoses are allready 1/2 inch thick... And that's the INNER diameter!!!
The outer diameter is apx. an inch (or nearly 3 cm.) with the foaming it will be thick as telephone poles!!! But if it suits my needs...
By the way... Had to use pure Glucol for the test... The water simply froze...
Wonder if the pelt will do any difference...

Will post back as soon as the mod is done...

Could try to lower the case temp...???

By the way...

It's An Athlon XP 1600 [email protected] 1.85V
Asus A7V266-E 256 Megs of DDR
G2-MX400
2X 40GB Maxtors

 

[Silver]

And welcome to the forums.

 

[Garfield]

Why would the water freeze? Wouldn't you still be getting condensation on your hardware?

 

[rossd]

You can but cheap pipe insulation from Home depot that does a fairly good job on super-low temperatures. You may want to use two layers.

Of course, you'll end up with pretty big pipes.

High-density neoprene foam is probably the most compact alternative, but more expensive.

Regards,
rossd.

 

[Autopsy/CCL]

Problem solved!!!

Hi all...

The foam solution seemed to work...

I ended up with apx. 2 inch hoses, but... It worked!!!

Now i had to deal with the condensation on the CPU/head, and came up with this...

I read about someone who fixed the problem by using neoprene on the cpu/head, but i didn't have the materials at hand at the time.

Later this week i was isolating a broken window in my house, and discovered something interresting...

If the surface wasn't clean (It was in my workshop in the basement, and i accidentally spilled some oil on the window) the silicon paste just fell off after smearing it on.

Hmmm... Nice...

I took an old broken duron i got from a friend, smeared it with a
thin layer of oil, and put a large amount of silicon isolation on it...

after a few hours it dried up, and i could peel of the silicon in one piece... An exact 'inverse copy' of the cpu!!! I then took a sharp knife, cut the edges and die, and i had a perfect cpu condensation isolator!!!

Excuse me for my english... I'm danish!!!

The price :

Silicon grease: 15 DKr. (Apx 2 US$)
2 beers... (I needed cooling too!!!)

As soon as the sys is up'n runnin' at 100% i'll post an article at our website...

Stay tuned, and thanks for all the good advices...

 

[soil]

High-density neoprene foam is probably the most compact alternative, but more expensive.

I just got a couple of pieces, it feels like a mouse pad...can I use mouse pad instead?

 

[JoeCrappa]

yeah actually mouse pad is what some people use since it works so well and is really cheap.

 

[racecar12]

This is what you need. It is adhesive backed closed cell foam designed to wrap a/c lines.

Might have to c&p link

 

[cjlax5]

Why would the water freeze?

cause its in the freezer, water freezes at -21 Degrees C, which is about what his temps are.

btw, i really dont think u need a pelt for that, it is plenty cool how it is.

 

[JoeCrappa]

This is what you need. It is adhesive backed closed cell foam designed to wrap a/c lines.

Might have to c&p link

this is what i used to insulate my mobo and waterblock. it works very well and is REALLY easy to work with. i also put a layer of it on the back side of my geforce3 ti500 to prevent any drops from destroying my precious video card....

 

[soil]

This is what you need. It is adhesive backed closed cell foam designed to wrap a/c lines.

Might have to c&p link

looks like those garage door/window insulation tape?

 

[JoeCrappa]

yeah something like that. in general it's called insulation tape. NueBieN called it "Rubatex Tape" but thats probably just by brand. i got mine at Home Depot and it was called plain old "insulation tape"

 

[Garfield]

So what does the water go through then? A real freezer?

 

[JoeCrappa]

well mine goes through the freezer. i put my heatercore w/ fan it the freezer with my reservoir in there too. it works well. i get 19C idle 23C load.