Dehumidifying a Freezer or Refrigerator

[SilkenRogue]

Let's say I decided to drill holes and make windows in either a mid sized refrigerator or freezer and stuff a bunch of computer equipment in there.

The instant assumption is that the moisture in the air will condense on the warm equipment and everything is fried... shazbot.

But what if I could add some kind of dehumidifying equipment to draw the moisture out of the air inside the freezer? Could this be effective in protecting the equipment? What would I use?

Does anybody know of anybody who has done something similar, and where I could find some links or information on it?

My vision is a watercooled peltier rig set up inside the freezer(which I just received free of charge). Not exactly portable, but I suspect it would make a fine overclocker.

 

[surlyjoe]

actually it wouldnt condnsate unless you opened it and warm air rushed in ,, this is just an extreme server space , they are about 50f. there are quite a few writeups on these, one called the coputerator comes to mind but I cant find the link , also many people duct AC into thier cases , it olny condensates on the outside of the case if at all

 

[LimeyGreg]

Cold air does not cause condensate on warm objects, cold objects cause condensation when they contact warm moisture laden air - so, initially placing your computer into the freezer will not cause condensation. Opening the freezer and allowing warm air in is another matter.

If you put windows into the sides of a freezer you'll get condensation or frost on the outside, unless of course they are double glazed and have a vacuum between the panes of glass.

People have put their mobo's into freezers etc, but they have to have the peripherals outside on extended cables. Build a hermetically sealed case for your mobo but have cables for the CD and floppy drives coming out of it and a heat pipe from the cpu extending through the case. Now purge the inside of the case with nitrogen (dry gas). Put that case inside the freezer passing the cd and floppy ribbons out of the freezer to the drives. Either power them externally or pass a power cable out too.

Okay, there you have it, a hermetically sealed mobo that shouldn't have problems with condensation, inside a freezer. A side benefit is that it should be really quiet.

 

[beker]

http://www.pcrivals.com/projects/computerator/index.shtml

Theres the computerator, in all its glory, lucky for me I have the exact fridge from the college days, I might try it. what these guys came up with is pretty unbelevable. -17 degree; inane

 

[Rob Cork]

Just to clarify the point on condensation, it will only occur on surfaces that are cooler than the water droplets in the air (which will be the same as the air temp obviously). Just mentioned this because 'warm air' could be misleading - if the air temp is 5C and a surface is at 2C you will still get condensation, though that's pretty cold air. As long as you ensure that all the air inside the fridge is cooler than the computer (shouldn't be too hard as the comp generates heat) you ought to be fine - the idea of a hermetically sealed chamber is the best, as there will be no danger of warm air getting into the system.