Mini-Fridge mod?

[mccoyn]

I can get a mini-fridge for free. Does anyone know how well sticking my computer in it will work?

On the plus side, sub-ambient temps are possible, but I don't know if the little cooler will be able to keep up with 70+ Watts of heat. Anyone have experience with this sort of thing?

 

[nodark]

I'm pretty confident the lil fridge will end up dying a premature death, cause it's not built for constant use (which a pc inside will force it to do).

 

[howlingyeti]

One idea would be to run a water cooling system and place your radiators inside of your fridge. You would have condensation problems but those can be dealt with.

Also there was a fourm member that placed his computer entirely inside of mini-fridge (excluding the hard drives and optic drives) and it seemed to work fairly well. I don't know about the fridge burning out. I think you'd have to figure out what kind of coolant it uses and how well it can cool. Probably on a sticker on the back.

Either way, I'd grab it if it's for free. You can keep your beer cold that way.

 

[vincent_1985]

woulds be quite interesting.

or you can modify it to run air ducts from it to your computer intake fans. thus blowing cooler than normal air into the comp.

whoc ares it it burns out it was free anyways!

 

[I.M.O.G.]

Running air ducts from it would be a very bad idea... Ever stand in front of the fridge looking for something to eat? I have. It only feels cool for a few minutes. It's made to keep non heat producing food and drinks cold... It can't serve as an air conditioner.

You want to find out first if the fridge is cooled with a compressor or TEC's. TEC's couldn't handle it, a small compressor might.

My search for "mini fridge" produced 289 topics and these threads that I picked out:

http://forum.oc-forums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239066&highlight=mini+fridge
http://forum.oc-forums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=197769&highlight=mini+fridge
http://forum.oc-forums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=238846&highlight=mini+fridge
http://forum.oc-forums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=216658&highlight=mini+fridge
http://forum.oc-forums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=235217&highlight=mini+fridge

 

[vincent_1985]

IMOG you make a very good point never thought of that.

i'm used to my fridge which is always cold i guess even when open for awhile.

 

[nodark]

Either way, I'd grab it if it's for free. You can keep your beer cold that way.