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Please help me with this.. Air Conditioning a room with my PC? Possible??

G

GoldMember

Banned
Alright.. I run a 1.4ghz Tbird OC'd to 1.58Ghz (weak.. I know.. I got a chip that is sad for OC'in 🙁 )

I use a 172w peltier and a DangerDen Maze2-1 on an Asus A7V266-E board.
I also use a SuperCube Radiator from DangerDen.. along with an external tubberware resevior that has 2 gallons of water in it and an Aqua Via 360GPH pump.

My setup is as follows...

Resevior ----> WaterBlock ----> Radiator (with 120mm sunon 114CFM fan) ----> Resevior.

Simple enough.. Now to my question.

I am on the 3rd floor.. and just recently 2 years ago had it insulated. Over the cold winter I noticed that my water cooling rig was spewing a lot of hot air from the radiator.. Enough that it actually kept the room pretty warm with out the space heater on. (NO hot air from the furace gets up here.. none at all)

So I went down to my local home depot and bought me some round aluminum vent tubing.. ya know the kind that you can scrunch up. I also got some foil tape.. I used the tubing on the back of my radiator.. I used the foil tape to tightly secure the tubing to the back of the radiator so all the hot air blown out travels up the tubing.. which I put on the cieling and ran it to the center of my room. I run bout 16' of tubing from the back of my machine to the center of my room. Well the cold dwelled outside all winter.. and the PC kept me nice and warm with out having to run a space heater and run up even more electric having this power suckin peltier and a space heater. Well.. now it's reaching middle 70's and even this coming week low 80's here in PA. Now I most certainly do not want more heat up here 🙂. It's time to think about air condition this room.. Or atleast keeping it 10 degree's cooler then outside and keeping the humidity out too. But I don't want to spend 300 dollars on my project to just keep it 10 degree's cooler! My theory is as follows: (it's a lot of reading 🙂 .. but it's good readin)

As I stated over the winter I noticed the heating effect... I realize that I am getting a good deal because the water heats up and stays hot.. so it's not like I am using 300w of peltier energy to put out the heat.. I'm really getting a great deal because when the waters heats up it stays up.. peltier or not. So it's not like I am getting all of this heat because of a huge energy transferance.. It's really small when you think about it. So onto the AC deal...

I had the idea that if I can heat.. I can cool.. I had some pretty crappy idea's of how to do this using peltiers... The reason I want to use peltiers is because a team of 3 lower wattage peltiers will take less energy then a 5,000BTU window air conditioner. I never thought about the humidity though.. an AC will take out the humidity.. how will my system do this? I don't want cool but humid. Over time I've been thinking of plans on how to do this setup. One night I was over at, overclock-watercool website.. I saw this thing that cooled your water.. I thought.. what the hell?! When I inspected this device more.. I noticed that the creator was using 3 peltiers in a config of 2 water blocks.. He clamped the pelts down inbetween 2 specially made blocks. The cold side of the blocks had your systems water running through it.. the hotside of the blocks had it's own radiator and resevior and bump. Well if you already have your systems resevior water cool.. then you don't need a radiator right? And since this water is pretty cold already.. you wouldn't need a peltier on your CPU either! So you would just take your radiator and put it on the second system that you had to have to cool the hotside of the peltiers. So I started getting idea's.. The creator of this device was expirencing temps as low as 40f or about 10C I believe... So I thought.. AC units put out a max of 60F air.. that's pretty cold considering that it's humidity free. I thought if my water was 40F or 10C and I was blowing air through a radiator that had that cold water traveling through it.. I'd get some pretty cold air out in return. Water now enters my radiator right this second at 108F and leaves the radiator at 97F. My water temp in the resevior is approx. 107F and the air that is coming out of my radiator up the vent tube is 103F. Now imagine if that was cold water going through.. at 45F... That'd be some COLD air coming out of the vent tubes.. right? Also the colder I keep the hot side of the peltiers in the block setup.. the colder the cold side would be.. which means colder water!

I got crackin on a lot of idea's and theories that might fuel my fire some more. The most logical of the bunch I've recently thought up. Here is my setup (In theory).

Lets start with my water cooling system.. for my machine. I have: Resevior ---> Radiator ---> CPU block ----> special waterblocks with 3 peltier setup ----> Resevior.

I will take the 172w peltier off of my CPU .. that way less load will be on the water. Now.. the water leaves the resevior at say 40F.. enters my radiator.. where the cold air is blown off into my room.. enters my CPU block at about 42F to 43F.. Exits my waterblock at 46F and enters into the special waterblocks (the cold side of course) at 46F and leaves the cold block at 43F... enters back into the resevior.. 43F. Sounds logical.. right? Temps might be a bit off... But it displays my point. Maybe I should have it, water leaves resevior, goes into the special waterblock, then into the radiator? What if I had it.. resevior, special block (2 peltiers), radiator, CPU, back to a 2nd special block with 2 peltiers, resevior?

That might be better.. Anyway I want to use 3 50W peltiers.. or maybe higher.. I am going to find the ones that are the most efficient with electric.. the highest rating with the most efficiency.

Now on the hotside of the special block..

I'll have it, resevior, special block, radiator, resevior. I am not just using any little radiator though. I've had the idea to run the setup like this.

I am going to build 2 special plexi-glass boxes.. the first one will hold the hot equipment.. and the box will be around 4Ft tall.. the second will hold all cold equipment and will measure in around 3Ft. (these sizes aren't dead set yet.)

The hot box (as I call it) will hold all hot equipment.. as I stated before 🙂. I will have the hotside of the special block resevior in there.. the radiators.. the switches for fans.. pumps.. all that. I picture this box.. perfectly clear. I am thinking of either using a real small box fan inside.. wrapping the flexible copper tubing around the box fan.. this will give me a huge cooling area to blow off hot air.
Or using 3 120MM 114CFM or higher fans.. Having 3 hole cut outs in the back of the box.. and using the copper tubing there.. wrapping it around in a circle.. or a left to right format.. Then putting the 120mm fans right up to it.. and bolting them in place.. Then using the aluminum vent tubing.. 3 tubes to carry that hot air right out my window. I'll use neoprene rubber on my window to seal the cap in the window that I'll have.. to keep out the rain and hot air. I'll have a fan in the box.. probably a small box fan.. blowing air right over the sealed anodized aluminum resevior.. so hot air gets taken offa it and sent right outside. I'll have a 2 gallon resevior in there. I'll also have a fan at the top of the box.. taking hot rising air right out and sent outside. I'll keep the water for the hotside of the special block as cool as possible. I'll install switches for all of my fans.. and run the peltiers and fans off of a PC power supply.. like a 400w.. I'll mount all of the switches on the front of the hot box.. real easy to turn them on and off and so forth. I'll even install switches for each power supply. So I have 3 home made radiators.. each with a fan.. taking out hot air.. I am running this system at 1/2" also. If you get the picture in your head.. good.

For the cold box.. I'll have the resevior for my system in there.. I'll have an intake for this box.. an aluminum vent tube properly placed in my room.. I'll have a fan in it to bring in humidity.. when it enters the box and hits the cold air and the cold radiator water will form.. the humidity.. and it will drip in the box into a pan.. This will take the humidity out of my room by transfering it into a solid.. (water).. just like an AC unit. I'll use a ComAir Rotron 235CFM fan inside this box to get the cold air from the radiator of the cold side of the special block into my room.. get my drift? I don't know how I will setup the cold box yet.. to get the most efficient cooling.. But cold will be seperated from hot items.. and my humidity problem is taken care of for the most part.. I just have to think of the radiator I will use for my cold system.. I don't want to use the SuperCube alone because that only has so much space.. I want to use something that will give me a large area of cold copper tubing.. Maybe I'll use the same small box fan idea in the cold box.. that will give me a large place for humidity to change over to water.. and also give me a large amount of air flow.. But I want to keep the boxes sealed up from noise as much as possible.. accept for the aluminum vent tubing of course.

Anyway.. that's pretty much it.. Thank you for reading this large post.. please let me know if you think it will work.. and if you have any idea's to add.. please do so. I don't want to blow my load on this just to find out it doesn't work well.. or an AC unit would've worked a LOT better. I don't care about the room it might take up.. or all the vent tubing.. I mainly want to do this as an expirement.. but also to try and find an alternative for my water cooling system..other then heating 🙂.

Thank You!!
 
<--skimmed through

Why not buy a window mounted AC, remove the side cover to your case, place case next to window mounted AC, Add a few fans blah blah blah and theres your ac cooled pc!
 


<< I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT COOLING MY PC!!!!!! I AM TALKING ABOUT AIR CONDITION MY WHOLE ROOM! READ THE WHOLE DAMN POST! >>



Geez, i was just suggesting how to more effectively kill 2 birds with one stone
 
I suppose I could just run the A/C and then use a real slow yet effective HSF.. one thats quiet.. that way I'll have a quiet PC and it'll be cool.. I'll have a cool room too. I see your point.. shoulda said that from the beginning.
 
You forgot something very important..... in order to make that water that cold, you have to remove the heat from it, right? Where is this heat going to be dissapated? If this whole system will be contained in your room, it will never work. Thats why window units go in the window, to remove heat from the room and transfer it outside. On top of that, do you really think you can cool a 3rd floor room in the summer with a few peltier units? That's pretty laughable.... if it could be done, we would all be saving huge amounts of money on electrical bills in the summer.

Buy a window unit, there is no way you can cool your room with your computer. But I will give you points for creative thinking... 😀
 
A more appropriate question might be "can I heat my entire room with only an Athlon and a "not very safe" power supply mod...and still o/c" 😀😛😉
 
Creative. But Peltiers and all other cooling devices I know of just act by transfering the hot air to somewhere else, be it the other side of the peltier or to the atmosphere outside your room (like an AC).

My host family in Japan had this washer/dryer unit that vented the hot air into the same room as the machine, as you can imagine this made the laundry room extremely hot and humid and the dryer was only effective with very small loads (my host mom filled it up and ran it 12 hours a day sometimes, but of course it didn't do any good). This is basically what your Peltier unit would end up doing.

Some people have proposed air conditioners that would transfer the heat into electricity, but I don't think any such a device exists (perhaps in a lab somewhere?). Of course it wouldn't be of much use unless it removes more heat then it creates, and I guess this means it would have to act as a generator. Now wouldn't that be cool, we could put giant units in Palm Springs and power LA while countering global warming.
 
You guys aren't reading my whole post are you?

One of you suggest that I can run my PC cooler if I just buy an XP processor..

One of you says that I am not taking the heat from the peltier out of my room..

Guys.. if you read my whole post I go over all of this. The removing of the heat... Why I am doing this. I am not doing this to keep my PC cooler.. I'm doing this to keep ME cooler.



<< The hot box (as I call it) will hold all hot equipment.. as I stated before . I will have the hotside of the special block resevior in there.. the radiators.. the switches for fans.. pumps.. all that. I picture this box.. perfectly clear. I am thinking of either using a real small box fan inside.. wrapping the flexible copper tubing around the box fan.. this will give me a huge cooling area to blow off hot air.
Or using 3 120MM 114CFM or higher fans.. Having 3 hole cut outs in the back of the box.. and using the copper tubing there.. wrapping it around in a circle.. or a left to right format.. Then putting the 120mm fans right up to it.. and bolting them in place.. Then using the aluminum vent tubing.. 3 tubes to carry that hot air right out my window. I'll use neoprene rubber on my window to seal the cap in the window that I'll have.. to keep out the rain and hot air. I'll have a fan in the box.. probably a small box fan.. blowing air right over the sealed anodized aluminum resevior.. so hot air gets taken offa it and sent right outside. I'll have a 2 gallon resevior in there. I'll also have a fan at the top of the box.. taking hot rising air right out and sent outside. I'll keep the water for the hotside of the special block as cool as possible. I'll install switches for all of my fans.. and run the peltiers and fans off of a PC power supply.. like a 400w.. I'll mount all of the switches on the front of the hot box.. real easy to turn them on and off and so forth. I'll even install switches for each power supply. So I have 3 home made radiators.. each with a fan.. taking out hot air.. I am running this system at 1/2" also. If you get the picture in your head.. good. >>

 
OK, you will blow the heat outside.... sorry I didn't see that. However, it still won't work. Won't even come close. It's quite simple really. Once that room starts to heat up, those pelts will not be able to keep up with the load. The water will just get warmer and warmer, pretty soon it won't even be cool anymore. Like I said, points for creativity though!




BTW, I have a lot of experience with A/C, heating, and ventilation. Have a degree in it and worked in the field for 10 years, so this is why I am so sure it will not work... 😉
 


<< You guys aren't reading my whole post are you? >>


No. Too damn long. Not that I could answer your original question, but I quit reading when I had to scroll the first page.

RagManX
 


<< I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT COOLING MY PC!!!!!! I AM TALKING ABOUT AIR CONDITION MY WHOLE ROOM! READ THE WHOLE DAMN POST! >>



Anger Management. You need it.

Next time don't be a Moron to people who are trying to help you.
 


<< You guys aren't reading my whole post are you?

 >>



No, life's too short. And your ranting makes me even less inclined to do so than I was before.
 
I don't need to be told things I am not even asking about. Helping isn't skimming over my post and just blurbing something stupid and useless out. If you aren't going to read the whole post and respond only if you have an intelligent comment to insert then don't read the post and don't say a word.
 


<< I don't need to be told things I am not even asking about. Helping isn't skimming over my post and just blurbing something stupid and useless out. If you aren't going to read the whole post and respond only if you have an intelligent comment to insert then don't read the post and don't say a word. >>



So you expect us to have divine knowledge to whatever you are asking?

You even said it yourself:

<< and if you have any idea's to add.. please do so. >>

...

Read sodchaos' posts, he says that it would be too weak and inefficient for cooling the entire room...

And keep in mind, we're not stopping you from carrying out any experiments to prove if any of us are wrong
 
Most people who air condition their room use a thermostat of some sort to turn the cooling on or off. What happens when a cool night comes and your asleep with the PC on? Freezing, lots of extra energy spent cooling this thing. If this setup could be more efficient than a traditional AC unit with compressors, then AC companies would be using them in windowboxes, etc.
 
It would be independent.. so I could turn the cooling on or off with out having the PC on. Besides.. it's summer we don't get cold nights here during the summer 🙂.

Anyway.. enough with these posts.. babies on this forum are starting to cry.
 
I would defer to the person with the most experience, and in this case I agree with him.

Without being an HVAC expert, I still see a fatal flaw, in your assumptions. You assume that the resevoir is at a constant temperature of 40F. However, over time, that temperature will climb to meet ambient, so around 70F.
 
Jeez guys.. shut up. Get a fricken clue about what you are talking about before you go spewing your crap. Go read my post under highly technical. Those guys answered my questions.. they didn't tell me to buy a better processor. They read my post and answered my questions with learned answers.
 
Buy a faster CPU. But I suppose anyone who wastes their time with this sort of insanity can't be expected to make rational decisions.
 
Oh come on, jaeger66, this was an interesting idea even if it won't work. If this guy wasn't such an ass then I might feel some sympathy for him after putting in so much thought.
 
i read your post and i think you might be able to do it... water holds it's temperature longer than air. if your room is well insulated and not too many windows, it should work... the direct sunlight is what will kill it. i have not played with a peltier before, so i don't know it's cooling effectives (lack thereof?). by using cooled piping/radiator and blowing air over it, you get rid of the humidity (u said this.. just repeating it to myself.) the smaller the diameter of piping you use the more surface area vs. amount of water you get and thus the more quickly it will transfer the heat from your room to the cold water. go to a junkyard and see if you can't find a decent radiator out of a car.. that might work. hmm.. you might want to add some anti-freeze to the mix just to make sure no extremes crack your system.

hmm.. if this works, you could try to put the entire system into a window type unit ac. a peltier setup with almost no moving parts and lower power usage would be very very nice. no more compressor to worry about dying.

i think this would work, but i'm not sure how well... it is a cool idea though... if you ever get it working, pm or post to tell me how it does... that's pretty sweet.
 
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