Liquid cooling - What type of Liquid

[Han Solo]

Im thinking of makeing a water rig for my p3-600 (cA0 currently at 864 @1.8v 45degrees full load)
Just was wondering what type of liquid your all using. i would like to use something none conductive but still a good coolant...any help would be apreciated

 

[Fink]

I think that just about everyone is using water or water/antifreeze or some mixture thereof. It is tough to beat the heat carrying capacity of water.

 

[buffhr]

The best mixture is 85% water and 15 % antifreez and if you want you can ad to that 3% of redline watere wetter to ¸help corrosion a little more and help the water flow better

 

[Weird_Dave]

buffhr (Dec 21, 2000 06:44 p.m.):
The best mixture is 85% water and 15 % antifreez and if you want you can ad to that 3% of redline watere wetter to ¸help corrosion a little more and help the water flow better

What is water wetter and where can I get some? Thanks.

 

[dimmreaper]

Weird_Dave (Dec 23, 2000 05:08 a.m.):What is water wetter and where can I get some? Thanks.

It's used in high performance automotive cooling aplications (i.e. Nascar, Dragracing). It reduces water's surface tension which results in eliminating air bubbles traped in the water. It is available at most automotive stores.

 

[dimmreaper]

I'm using 10% anti-freeze, 20% alcohol, 70% water. It works great for me . . . . . . .

 

[Han Solo]

Jeff Evans (Dec 23, 2000 09:27 a.m.):
I'm using 10% anti-freeze, 20% alcohol, 70% water. It works great for me . . . . . . .

Does haveing 20% Alcohol make it non conductive?

 

[OddOne]

Misc. musings on watercooling...

1. Always assume the water will conduct. The only nonconductive form of water is laboratory-pure, deionized water, and the salts from your skin are enough to cause a drop in resistance. There's more than enough stuff on the surface of your motherboard, etc. to make even deionized water conductive enough to be a rather bad problem, so assume it conducts and plan accordingly.

2. Alcohol doesn't do much in a watercooling setup other than make it harder for algae, etc. to grow in your lines.

3. Water Wetter owns. Get it. Use it.

4. Antifreeze, or some other form of corrosion inhibitor, is MANDATORY if you run different metals anywhere in your system, such as copper waterblock and aluminum-tubed radiator. If you're running all-copper or all-aluminum, antifreeze is basically unnecessary. When it -is- necessary, though, use it sparingly as too much will reduce the water's heat transfer capability.

oO

 

[Rob Cork]

Jeff Evans (Dec 23, 2000 09:27 a.m.):
I'm using 10% anti-freeze, 20% alcohol, 70% water. It works great for me . . . . . . .

Is the alcohol intentional or did you just spill a can of beer ? ;-)

 

[Rob Cork]

Anyone tried beer cooling? No need to bother with a bleed tube, as it expands from the heat just run it off - cool computer and beer on tap Be a bit warm though - maybe a pelt and second watercooled loop to cool it back down.

 

[CFusion]

Rob Cork (Dec 25, 2000 12:25 p.m.):
Anyone tried beer cooling? No need to bother with a bleed tube, as it expands from the heat just run it off - cool computer and beer on tap Be a bit warm though - maybe a pelt and second watercooled loop to cool it back down.

LOL!!! hey oddone, great summary for coolants!

 

[Murphy]

Rob Cork (Dec 25, 2000 12:25 p.m.):
Anyone tried beer cooling? No need to bother with a bleed tube, as it expands from the heat just run it off - cool computer and beer on tap Be a bit warm though - maybe a pelt and second watercooled loop to cool it back down.

The beer will do fine, I think, but warm beer isn't much good for me. Since I've got no peltiers, I won't do it. The anti-freeze in your beer should be no problem, even in Russia they can't taste the difference between antifreeze (glycol) and real booze.

 

[lsdeep]

hey, thats not true. my russian pals swear on vodkacooling and only the best is good enough, but then this board isnt about vodka..... ;o)

 

[speaks to electric box]

Has anyone used a hunk of zinc to prevent corrosion

 

[moleman]

does vodka really work well in a liquid cooler setup? i can see it now... my father hawling my off to a teenage rehab center for finding bottles of vodka all over my room. i think i'll pass : ).

 

[Deviant]

Don't just rely on anti-freeze to stop corrosion, I agree with putting some zinc in your resevior, to stop galvanic corrosion. I don't think Anti-freeze actually stops the electrolyte properties of water, but tries to form a protective layer on metals.

Here a link on Anodic properties of metals, which shows zinc is a good metal to use (also used on outboard motors, and oil rigs)
http://www.pemnet.com/design_information/galvanic.html

And here something that some might have missed, on what can happen if you don't use an effective form of corrosion prevention.

How to bake your CPU!

 

[Fink]

Deviant (Dec 31, 2000 06:49 p.m.):
Don't just rely on anti-freeze to stop corrosion, I agree with putting some zinc in your resevior, to stop galvanic corrosion. I don't think Anti-freeze actually stops the electrolyte properties of water, but tries to form a protective layer on metals.

Nope. Antifreeze definately sops up electrolytes by buffering and sequetering the metal ions (electrolytes) in various metal coordination complexes. You can polymerize ethylene glycol, but only under extremely acidic conditions and rather extreme temperatures and thus it does not form any kind of protective layer whatsoever. 10-20
% antifreeze will do a fine job at sopping up any electrolytes that form in your water-cooling systems. Just treat it like you would a car, and change it every year. There is in reality so little metal in your watercooling system when compared to a car, that corrosion should not be a big issue - unless you do not run ANY antifreeze.

As always, it is recommended that you minimize the possiblity of corrosion by using similar metals in both the waterblock and the radiator. In reality however, a 10-20% antifreeze, 3-5% waterwetter solution will be able to handle a copper waterblock and aluminum radiator for at least a year.

Zinc will work just fine as an anticorrosion agent, but why bother when the use of a small amount of antifreeze will perform the same function....

 

[surlyjoe]

if your not using refridgerated water ,you dont need antifreeze ,,water wetter will do fine ,,unless your running an aluminum and copper combo ,,then I use 3x the recommended amount and havent seen any corrosin so far

 

[Fink]

surlyjoe (Jan 01, 2001 05:38 p.m.):
if your not using refridgerated water ,you dont need antifreeze ,,water wetter will do fine ,,unless your running an aluminum and copper combo ,,then I use 3x the recommended amount and havent seen any corrosin so far

I agree! You are better off without the antifreeze as it kills the heat capacity of the water... Waterwetter should be enough to do the job.