For all you watercooling nuts out there - hard data

[Tiger]

I have tried the ethanol and found that it performs identically to the glycol. Have gone back to the glycol purely because of the smell of alcohol that had invaded the whole house and the sincere objections from the rest of the family.

 

[Karsta]

That's good information Tiger! I won't try ethanol then as antimicrobial agent when done with my wc system.

 

[riprock]

I haven't ordered my new mobo and chip yet, but I should have all my water components today.

I'll put them together today or tomorrow, if I get them all, and I plan on running washer fluid which is 30% methanol 70% de-ionized water.

A local convenience store chain had contact info for the co that makes their fluid so I contacted them and they said washer fluid ratios vary by location. Here in Kansas the ratio is generally 30/70. Where it's colder it can be as much as 40/60 or 20/80 where it's warmer.

 

[BrainLifter]

If you goto http://www.csa.com/copperdata and do a search for Copper sulphate

it'll bring up a document called "THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES OF COPPER SULPHATE" (it's like the second doc listed)

Only problem is that the doc must be home delivered (not available online) and I'm not sure but I don't think it will help because it looks like a med doc to me.... but it still might help

 

[Strangelove]

Copper sulphate... conductivity

Has anybody given any thought to the conductivity of copper sulphate?? I mean we use distilled water to minimize corrosion and as a small safeguard should the system leak and spill on to our system. If we were to dissolve copper sulphate into our water, it will conduct electricity, like nothing you have ever seen. (The first batteries were made with a copper and zinc solution aka galvanic cells.) We also have to think of how much salt we dissolve, if our cooling system one day goes banana and starts cooling more than it usually does (cold day?) the salts might start going out of solution and my guess is that that would be baaad!

Just a thought

Dr. Strangelove

 

[Tiger]

Re: Copper sulphate... conductivity

Has anybody given any thought to the conductivity of copper sulphate?? I mean we use distilled water to minimize corrosion and as a small safeguard should the system leak and spill on to our system. If we were to dissolve copper sulphate into our water, it will conduct electricity, like nothing you have ever seen. (The first batteries were made with a copper and zinc solution aka galvanic cells.) We also have to think of how much salt we dissolve, if our cooling system one day goes banana and starts cooling more than it usually does (cold day?) the salts might start going out of solution and my guess is that that would be baaad!

Just a thought

Dr. Strangelove

I think that with the calcs copper sulph is not an option because it will not give much in the way of depressing freezing point.
If the system goes bananas, which is unlikely, the result will be ice. Cannot pump ice through tubes unfortunately.

 

[Tiger]

Have been doing a lot of study on refrigeration and came across stuff on chiller solutions, as they term them "brine", used in air conditioning systems. The two most commonly used are Calcium Chloride where temperatures of not less than -18C are used and Sodium Chloride 23% for temps down to -22C.

 

[quadrophenic]

just out of curiosity i was wondering how hard these different substances are on plastics and pumps and such... any info is appreciated...

 

[Phugbox]

amazing thread, good to know, even though I'm not doing WC I'm still happy having read the three pages

good on you all

 

[ButcherUK]

Have been doing a lot of study on refrigeration and came across stuff on chiller solutions, as they term them "brine", used in air conditioning systems. The two most commonly used are Calcium Chloride where temperatures of not less than -18C are used and Sodium Chloride 23% for temps down to -22C.

Brine would be saltwater. Sodium Chloride is normal salt that you might buy at a store. I wouldn't use this in a water cooling system as it's an excellent electrolyte (high corrosion potential) and is likely to leave residue too.

 

[Kryten]

awesome thread just wish I spoke chemical geek language to understand it, its still nice knowing that should the need arise their are people in the forum with the answers.
great work. 2 thumbs up

 

[Samzik]

but im thinking how ..

how u think to isolate the water wich is in air when u freez the cpu. i had a friend hes idle temrature was -35 not with water though, he used gas called freon but he had problems water condesaiting to cpu and mobo, wich finaly killed hes cpu he got high results though. 600 cel @ 1.2 gig last 200 mhz didnt give any perfomance though.

 

[Tiger]

Re: but im thinking how ..

how u think to isolate the water wich is in air when u freez the cpu. i had a friend hes idle temrature was -35 not with water though, he used gas called freon but he had problems water condesaiting to cpu and mobo, wich finaly killed hes cpu he got high results though. 600 cel @ 1.2 gig last 200 mhz didnt give any perfomance though.

Well the answer lies in really good insulation.

 

[Computer Ninja]

Methanol

This might be a silly question, but where do I find methanol at? Thanks.

 

[voodoochile]

danger Will Robisnon

I noted your chart had 50% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the list. It should be noted that handling and using this is EXTREMELY dangerous. Hydrogen peroxide of that strengh is an extremely good oxidizer. It can ignite when in contact with many organic materials (cotten, human flesh, etc). Some metals are catalists (for example silver) and will cause it to instantly degrade to water, oxygen, and heat. The water will be in the form of hot steam.

FYI, the first rocket powered aircraft in WWII were H202 fueled (usually using 80%+ solutions)...some didn't even combine it with another fuel, just squirted it thru a catalyst screen and had a steam powered rocket.

The stuff you get at your grocery store is about 4%.

For you kids out there reading this and thinking that high concentration H2O2 may be fun stuff to acquire and play with... don't bother...coming from a previous anarchist hooligan, I can tell you the fun factor isnt worth the trouble and risk involved.

 

[Karsta]

And in addition: hydrogen peroxide reacts with copper. It is commonly used for corroding copper. I just used dilute solution in combination with hydrochloric acid to remove oxide layer after soldering water blocks. (Actually not so good idea because it left ugly rusty looking surface with powder "rust" which was hard to get rid of - citric acid works better for that)

 

[reco]

This may be true but if you use a kit from overclockers hideout they have told me over the phone and in the directions that only distilled water can be used alcohol ethelyn glycol (anti freeze) water wetter will eventually damage the punp.

 

[Starfoxer]

i wish i had water cooling

 

[WeaponX]

Just a thought.... Copper(II) Sulfate is poisionous.... get some under your fingernail and goodnight

I think Methanol is the stuff that we like to drink. I wonder how wine or vodka would work...

 

[Tiger]

Just a thought.... Copper(II) Sulfate is poisionous.... get some under your fingernail and goodnight

I think Methanol is the stuff that we like to drink. I wonder how wine or vodka would work...

I think you got your alcohol's mixed ( and not a cocktail either) methanol (as opposed to ethanol which is what you drink) is really dangerous stuff and makes copper sulphate look like a nice old granny. Copper sulphate is not really that poisonous unless you ingest large amounts of it. Methanol on the other hand is a very sneaky one because you don't have to take it. Just inhale it for a while and the route is straight into your blood stream.
I have tried ethanol (higher post) and its not any better than antifreeze and stinks the place out. Not good!