Above Freezing Water Chiller?

[J-Roc]

Hey Guys! J-Roc here with another question.

I was pondering the thought of adding a water chiller to my cooling loop. I dont want to go below freezing because that can lead to all sorts of problems and issues. Below ambient but above freezing is what im looking for.

Problem...
All the water chillers i can find on google are industrial grade and run in the neighborhood of $300-1900. So that avenue is closed. Then i thought about making one. Only problem with that is that everyone who builds one of thies things is trying to get -20c to -30c. This is usually achived by moding a mini fridge or AC unit into some sort of external enclosure. Again, this is not my style and might be too involved a project for me.

Essentially i am looking for somthing along the lines of this unit:
http://www.xoxide.com/coolit-systems...r-cooling.html

I cant afford to buy it and chop out the pieces i'd need to make my own. Perhaps somone knows where to get a chiller like that. Or maybe a link to something along thoes lines like a metal reservoir where i can attach some TEC units.

-Thanks, J-Roc

[D1337]

Hey Guys! J-Roc here with another question.

I was pondering the thought of adding a water chiller to my cooling loop. I dont want to go below freezing because that can lead to all sorts of problems and issues. Below ambient but above freezing is what im looking for.

Problem...
All the water chillers i can find on google are industrial grade and run in the neighborhood of $300-1900. So that avenue is closed. Then i thought about making one. Only problem with that is that everyone who builds one of thies things is trying to get -20c to -30c. This is usually achived by moding a mini fridge or AC unit into some sort of external enclosure. Again, this is not my style and might be too involved a project for me.

Essentially i am looking for somthing along the lines of this unit:
http://www.xoxide.com/coolit-systems...r-cooling.html

I cant afford to buy it and chop out the pieces i'd need to make my own. Perhaps somone knows where to get a chiller like that. Or maybe a link to something along thoes lines like a metal reservoir where i can attach some TEC units.

-Thanks, J-Roc

Tec's will cause MAJOR problems if you dont know what your doing. Your best bet is to keep any tec's external or as sealed as possible inside the case as they will produce condensation. which is obviously BAD.

If your talking about those 1-2 foot tall mini fridges, they use a tec a heatsink and a fan.

The unit you linked us to is a completely loop, which is a waste of money if you already have a wcing loop.

[J-Roc]

My thoughts exactly.

I dont want to put any Tec's directly on the die(s) nor do i want anything external. I just want to chill the water to below room temp. I dont want to deal with condensation on my components but i could live with a little in an unused corner of my case. I was unaware mini fridges used tec's, i thought they used compressed refidgerant.

The unit i linked to was just an example. Its the only unit i've ever seen which cool's but doesnt go below freezing. I am looking for somthing like the chiller attached to it.

[D1337]

This is what i would do, and what i probably will do in the future.

Buy a Tec, buy a waterblock(anything CHEAP) that covers most if not the entire tec.

Make something to force the tec and waterblock together, like two pieces of square metal that sandwitch the tec/wb held together by screws and bolts.

insulate the wires as best as possible to prevent shorting.
then encase the entire thing with plexiglass and seal it as water tight as possible

[Spawn-Inc]

i would grab 2 old heat sinks and strap them to a tec. then cut open a stock res, or make your own and put the cold side in the res and seal it up with silicone. fill it back up with water and put a fan on the hot side of the tec.

[J-Roc]

I know the point of this site is to be creative and make things yourself. However, i havent a clue on how to make a custom reservoir that is actually leak proof.

Would i get enough heat transfer through a generic acrylic reservoir to go on with this idea? Perhaps somone knows of a supplier or website that makes metal reservoirs?

Its not so much that dont think i could make somthing custom like this. Its more to the fact that i live in an appartment and dont own many if any power tools. No tap's or die's or brazing torches which i think would be required to make a metal reservoir.

Thanks again guys!

Spawn, im a little confused with the specs in your sig.
Celeron D 420 1.60GHz stable @ 3.1GHz 1555MHz FSB on ACFZP7(*Core 2 Quad Q6600)

Quad core celeron D with 1555FSB?

[Spawn-Inc]

haha, i was wondering if people where gonna mix that up. all the stuff in (brackets) with *'s mean i will be replacing the stuff before it with whats in the bracket. i should update it as i will undoubtedly wait for the newer Q9450 quad core. i will also wait for the newer video cards to and see what they can do before i buy an ultra.



as for the reservoir thing i mean you can go buy a ready made one (swiftech micro res for example) then get out your dremel and cut a hole in the side of it. get a copper or aluminium heat sink and cut the first row of the outside pins and then stick the heatsink in the side of the res. use some silicone and put the tec of the heatsink and it should chill the water nicely. you could even get ride of the rad all together if its powerful enough.

if you still don't understand my crappy english skills i will do a quick google sketchup drawing.

[FrooP]

maybe a cheap fridge chiller thing...sorry but german xD
liink

[NightrainSrt4]

From my understanding, going below freezing isn't the issue...it IS going below ambient. Going below freezing just creates ice crystals and such that melt and drip all over stuff when the computers off and comes back up to ambient temperatures.

If you start going to close to ambient temps or below your going to get condensation. Condensation will form below ambient temps, not just below freezing.



Take this example...

On a hot summer day, grab a glass of really cold soda or water or watever. It doesn't even need ice in it and it will form condensation on the glass.

The freezing point isn't going to be your issue, its the ambient temperatures.




Just figured I'd warn you ahead of time before you run off and buy a whole bunch of stuff, only to go crazy trying to figure out why your having condensation all over the inside of your pc.

[FrooP]

therefor you need to isolate everything, and fill the holes with silicone or vaseline, so no air ( air contains water, that condensates and gets..om... fluid?...yeah..wet and thats bad) so, no air on the cold parts=erverything is fine