How to insulate the top of a waterblock?

[InsaneO/cer]

Hey guys,

I have been a long time watercooler but now i am thinking of setting up a waterchiller. How would i go about protecting the top of the waterblock from condensation? The block i will be using is a white water.

Also a few more questions.

Do you guys know of any good links on how to insulate the cpu and such?

I am going to go to homedepot and pick this up this weekend.

Maytag
Cameo White 5,200 BTU Air Conditioner
Model M3X05F2A


Is this sufficent enough for a chiller?



Thanks

 

[vonkaar]

5,200 BTU

Um... yeah =p

 

[UnLoadeD]

Check out the Extreme Cooling section, I'm sure you'll find all your answers there.

peace.
unloaded

 

[InsaneO/cer]

Check out the Extreme Cooling section, I'm sure you'll find all your answers there.

peace.
unloaded

I checked it out and it sure did answer a lot of my questions. I still couldnt find how to insulate the top of the block though.

 

[UberBlue]

Lots-O-neoprene rubber, commonly refered to as mouse pads.

 

[9mmCensor]

or closed cell foam.

 

[snowwie]

you would probably have to insulate the tubing too

 

[9mmCensor]

Nope the tubing wont get cold enough, plasitc is a poor conductor of heat.

 

[UberBlue]

Nope the tubing wont get cold enough, plasitc is a poor conductor of heat.

It will eventually get cold enought to develop condensation. Better safe than than sorry.

 

[JFettig]

yeah, the tubing will definately get condensation on it, even with water below ambient to the extent condensation forms. Itll eventually reach an equilibrium.

Some insane phaze change blocks need a LOT of insulation because of the extreme power, its because only one layer eventually gets too cold and starts to frost over.
so you will definately need insulation on everything exposed except the bottom of the block(insulation around the socket)

Jon

 

[Blizzard]

As a person who has used a high powered humidifier to cool my liquid to about -20c I will say that if you go that cold you're probably not going to be able to insulate the block enough to keep from having condensation problems, I never could and it eventually messed up my mb and my video card.

Imo if you want cold and liquid cooling you're probably better off using a peltier, since there will be a lot less things that condensation can form on. Even that will still be tricky most likely, but at least you have much less to worry about.

I tried hand cutting neoprene sheets to make shims for my processor and using vasoline to keep air out and then covering the waterblock with alot of neoprene and then covering the whole area with neoprene and sealing the the block to the mb with neoprene, Condensation still found it's way in eventually.

You may have better luck than me but I'd warn you that it can be extremely hard to get it insulated enough. I finally just gave up on being able to use my dehumidifier and am just using an evaporative cooler now.

 

[Xymurgy]

I've just insulated my equipment the past week. What I did for my WW was cut a peice of neoprene to fit on the top of the WB. It had 3 holes for each barb, and smeared the WB with dialectric grease to make it air tight. I then cut 4 peices to put on the sides. Be sure to insulate the sides, as well. If you have a poly top, you may not get condensation on it, but you will definitely get condensation on the sides of the copper base. Smear the block with dialectric grease & cover it with neoprene.

I haven't had condensation on my lines yet, but I am getting condensation on the barbs. I'm not exactly sure how to insulate the lines to the WW, since the barbs are so close together.