WC to get heat out of a room?

[Syzygies]

We're attempting green (e.g. we've gone solar) and we don't use air conditioning in California summers that often reach 100 F. Instead, we aggressively cool the house with outside air at night, and close up for the day. Our house is beginning to resemble a computer case, with homemade arrays of 10 case fans exhausting air in many windows. There's a unique free shipping bulk-discounted fan at NewEgg for this, and it works great. This moves a lot more air than any drugstore fan.

My study gets to be the hottest room in the house in the late afternoon, with my computer gear. Last time I kept a Q6600 rig here for the summer (I also live in NY), I literally used dryer hose to vent it out a window. This made a huge difference, and that's "Plan A" for this summer.

There's a shallow dirt basement just below my study that stays cooler. Is there any chance I could build a water rig that ran all the way into the basement, to send the heat there? I'm willing to consider non-traditional pump solutions, but I can imagine overshooting on the pressure with dire consequences.

What's the furthest anyone has moved heat with a WC rig? Thanks!

 

[WoodButcher]

I've gone 6-8' but on the same level, If your only going down 4 or 5' a pair of 355 w/custom tops would probably work if you ran 2 in series on the up side. One at the bottom and one 1/2 way up. I use a 1/2" barb w/ 3/8" ID tubing stretched over them. I don't know the science of hydraulics enough to say for sure but it seems to me that pushing a lesser volume, the smaller tube should help the pump. Not by increasing the head which tubing size won't affect but by lowering the volume, less work for the same head.
Am I totally wrong?
won't be the first time.
There are quite a few hydraulics wizards here that should be able to help you out.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Syzygies


What's the furthest anyone has moved heat with a WC rig? Thanks!

lets ask a different question here.

How far do you wish to go? Then we'll tell you yes or no, and how.

 

[Syzygies]

Originally posted by: aigomorlaHow far do you wish to go? Then we'll tell you yes or no, and how.

With at most a 5 foot drop, I could hang e.g. a ThermoChill PA120.3 from my basement rafters.

 

[0roo0roo]

no point trying to transfer with water like that, your pumps will waste too much power.
get a whole house fan
or some window fans to exchange air in the evenings.

 

[Syzygies]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
get a whole house fan
or some window fans to exchange air in the evenings.

That's what we do: Whole house fan for brief stints, security screen doors open all night with commercial fans, homebuilt arrays of 10 computer fans in many cracked windows for exhaust.

There's a 30 to 40 degree swing to play, but we're open precisely when it's cooler outside. If we're lucky that's 6pm to 8am, it can be much worse. The insulation levels are that of a classic California house (poor), perhaps improved by all the solar panels now blocking the sun over my study's end of the house. My study can get rather warm (programming at home) by 4pm, and we don't turn on the AC.

My prototype last summer exhausted the Q6600 rig's heat through a dryer hose out the window. That remains "Plan A". I want to move to water; I'll top mount a ThermoChill PA120.3 over my Antec P182 case, then build an insulated enclosure around the whole thing to guide air to the dryer hose. A fan array at the window on a variable voltage control will pull.

 

[letired]

I'm confused...you are using power to run: a whole house fan, commercial fans running at screen doors, and homebuilt arrays of 10 computer fans in the windows and yet you are refusing to turn on the AC? Something is wrong here...

 

[Syzygies]

We're pulling in colder air when it's colder outside, using the most efficient technology we can. Do you have any idea how much energy it takes to run AC? Or would you rather not know, because you use it?

Think when entire states go into energy crisis: When a heat wave causes most residents to turn on the AC at 3pm, or they had it on all day and it really starts to crank up, trying to hold some ridiculously cold reference temperature. Personally, the elephant in the room is my air travel, our solar panels canceled about four years of it, but none of your PC rigs out there are wasting power like AC units.

 

[tutelary]

...thats why we have temp controlled AC. It goes on and off when necessary. If you want to live such a crazy life go ahead, I'll laugh. Your problem is that you live in California, and the idiots there have tried to make ideological progress by not keeping their grids up to a manageable standard, resulting in the Cali power issues. It's not that we are over-using, its that you aren't using effectively.

You should scissor kick your state goverment in the head, and turn on your damn AC.

 

[Syzygies]

I'm guessing you use AC, you don't have solar, and you have no clue which of us uses more power, so you got all defensive and political on me. We're just sailing the numbers, which we understand. It's a national grid; CA goes to its dirtiest generators in summer mid-afternoons, because you're cycling your AC wherever you are.

As it happens, the whole house fan isn't that efficient, so we use it sparingly. The fan by the security screen door draws 20 cents a night of power. If you're here, you should know exactly what each 80 mm case fan draws at 7.5 V, and how much air it moves. Now figure what temperature differential an AC unit can create with the same power, and you'll what the temperature difference outside has to be for the fans to win. Now consider, I'm in a forum of people who mod their computer cases to accept hand-built water cooling systems. Does it sound like I mind being different from the general populace, or mind building an array of computer fans to go in my window?

 

[DaQuteness]

This is an IT-related forum, not a lion pit political debate arena :laugh: As for the air recycling issue, try consulting a specialized company for opinions. Venting a house is way harder than it may seem. Try HERE for starters, we use these things at my father's company building and it's quite economical and ecological, especially since EU is imposing some very strict laws in order to regain an ecological ballance.

As for the WC kit, i think it would be a good idea to use more pumps in a push-pull config but that would draw up a bit more power.

 

[WoodButcher]

DaQ, your right venting a home can be a bitch, this is why the outdoor barbeque is so popular in the summer. eliminate the heat source, in this case Syzygies is attempting to do exactly that.
If you run a single like this you should be ok.
Cpu block > NB > vid>
down through floor to pump #1 > radiator(s)>
up through floor to punp #2 and back to the cpu.

I'd be looking at this for a rad or a pair of Swiftech triples at least.

I like this idea better though as it would be (IMO) more efficient and you could remain on air. Less complicated, your adding no motors to draw more juice, ie, fans and pumps.

 

[tutelary]

Originally posted by: Syzygies
It's a national grid; CA goes to its dirtiest generators in summer mid-afternoons, because you're cycling your AC wherever you are.

This is laughable. no, its not. I live in south carolina. Me having air conditioning on does not affect you, and you're idiotic to think it does. Again: blame your state government. We don't have rolling blackouts in the summer here, you only do that kind of crap there because your grid is insufficient. WHY is it insufficient? Because people like YOU have insisted on not allowing it to be properly upgraded "to protect the enviroment". Then again, you Cali retards are the same ones who will cut down trees to make sure your solar panels can get light. You folks are a joke.

I live about 20 miles from a nuclear power plant. Have fun sweating in the summer.

Oh, and if you need proof:

"The state's lawmakers and energy executives are blaming each other for the energy crisis.

"I think the people that insisted that we get into deregulation in 1996 made a huge miscalculation," California Gov. Gray Davis told CNN. "They did not anticipate the huge [economic] recovery California experienced and the needs of the tech companies here in California. Secondly, there was no effort to build new plants to meet the demand." "
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/20...isis/backgrounder.html

 

[Syzygies]

Originally posted by: WoodButcherI'd be looking at this for a rad or a pair of Swiftech triples at least.

Thanks, I'd missed one could buy 9 x 120 in a single unit at that price. From forum comments, it indeed would take some serious pumps.

 

[DaQuteness]

9 x 120? Do you want to freeze mammoths? Oh, what the hell, just go out and buy a car radiator, make a shroud out of a sheet of metal or a plank of wood and there you have it. Most car radiators have the same 3/8" fittings, you may actually save some money here

 

[WoodButcher]

Freeze mammoths??? didn't somebody pull that off a while ago?
No, just the closest to a passive rad as can be had, lesser fans will do the job and still offer headroom.
If your PC were on the floor or close to it the 355's w/ tops will have no problem. I really think that moving the whole PC is a possibility that should be explored.




@tutelary, "Ask not for whom the bell tolls"

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: tutelary

Originally posted by: Syzygies
It's a national grid; CA goes to its dirtiest generators in summer mid-afternoons, because you're cycling your AC wherever you are.

This is laughable. no, its not. I live in south carolina. Me having air conditioning on does not affect you, and you're idiotic to think it does. Again: blame your state government. We don't have rolling blackouts in the summer here, you only do that kind of crap there because your grid is insufficient. WHY is it insufficient? Because people like YOU have insisted on not allowing it to be properly upgraded "to protect the enviroment". Then again, you Cali retards are the same ones who will cut down trees to make sure your solar panels can get light. You folks are a joke.

I live about 20 miles from a nuclear power plant. Have fun sweating in the summer.

Oh, and if you need proof:

"The state's lawmakers and energy executives are blaming each other for the energy crisis.

"I think the people that insisted that we get into deregulation in 1996 made a huge miscalculation," California Gov. Gray Davis told CNN. "They did not anticipate the huge [economic] recovery California experienced and the needs of the tech companies here in California. Secondly, there was no effort to build new plants to meet the demand." "
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/20...isis/backgrounder.html

basically yea the environmental folks are all about obstructing and complaining.always obstructing construction for this and that reason pretending more people aren't moving into the country blocking the building of more high density housing...which would have made mass transit more viable. blocking nuclear, which would have lowered our emissions by now. blocking blocking blocking. and of course they are too liberal to be against illegal immigration and population growth. buncha politically correct twits.

 

[Jimmah]

I've seen a few copper circuit watercooling home-builds online, like the ones with 4 or 5 feet then a 90 degree elbow, 6 more inches, another 90 degree elbow and 4-5 more feet of tube, repeated a few times. Heard of people burying them, others just tossing the coils into large buckets of water outside, even others putting the coils on their garage floors. I think in your situation you could easily hang a system from your basement rafters, 3 or 4 passes would likely be enough with 4-5 feet of run. Just get a good sized pump to run it all, heck you could even solder some copper fins to it all for more efficiency. Another option already mentioned would be the car radiator, a good used unit would be dirt cheap, even new they're inexpensive. I wonder if a large heater-core would suffice as well.

Or, since you're cutting holes in the floor anyways, why not just draw cool air from the basement, through your pc then out the window with the dryer hose?

 

[Tim]

Originally posted by: tutelary

Originally posted by: Syzygies
It's a national grid; CA goes to its dirtiest generators in summer mid-afternoons, because you're cycling your AC wherever you are.

This is laughable. no, its not. I live in south carolina. Me having air conditioning on does not affect you, and you're idiotic to think it does. Again: blame your state government. We don't have rolling blackouts in the summer here, you only do that kind of crap there because your grid is insufficient. WHY is it insufficient? Because people like YOU have insisted on not allowing it to be properly upgraded "to protect the enviroment". Then again, you Cali retards are the same ones who will cut down trees to make sure your solar panels can get light. You folks are a joke.

I live about 20 miles from a nuclear power plant. Have fun sweating in the summer.

Oh, and if you need proof:

"The state's lawmakers and energy executives are blaming each other for the energy crisis.

"I think the people that insisted that we get into deregulation in 1996 made a huge miscalculation," California Gov. Gray Davis told CNN. "They did not anticipate the huge [economic] recovery California experienced and the needs of the tech companies here in California. Secondly, there was no effort to build new plants to meet the demand." "
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/20...isis/backgrounder.html

Such a friendly and helpful post to answer the OP. Good to see you're still getting along with everyone you meet. Please just go ahead and change your Member name to Oscar the grouch.

To the OP, I like what other are suggesting about moving it to the basement, sounds like this is your best bet to accomplish your goal.

 

[panfist]

I'm going to agree with what woodbutcher suggested...why not move the whole PC to the basement? There are a couple ways you could accomplish this fairly easily. Just put it on the floor and run a 12', or whatever length you need, KVM switch to your study. Or strap the computer to the ceiling of the basement and you won't need such long cords to reach it from your study.

 

[piasabird]

Build a computer case on the floor completely sealed. Then just vent the case thru the floor with 12 volt fans and maybe a solar power to them or just run off the power supply.

If you had a closet you could put the computer case in the closet.

 

[ShockwaveVT]

question, why not install more solar panels and run the AC off of them? Peak usefulness of the AC is during the day when the solar panels will be at peak production. The technology exists to live comfortably and efficiently.

 

[Syzygies]

Originally posted by: panfist
I'm going to agree with what woodbutcher suggested...why not move the whole PC to the basement?

Crawl space would be more descriptive, but the dirt stays cool.

Moving the PC is an intriguing idea. Ordinary cables would reach from my study. The only mod would be to bring up the power/reset buttons. This is a compute server I can use via ethernet; this argues for hauling down an old 15" lcd and keyboard for setup, then running headless with just power/reset/ethernet through the floor.

I do want to continue overclocking. The idea of a copper pipe out-and-back passive radiator is enormously appealing, if a bit crazy; that would be easy in the basement, with everything at the same level. I did find a link where a guy buried a 50' copper pipe radiator in his yard!

KISS on the other hand would argue to stick to air, if I move the PC to the basement.

The urge to play with water cooling will probably mean going the enclosure/dryer hose/window route, so I can get at it to tweak.

 

[Syzygies]

I happened onto this thread, the pictures have to be seen to be believed:

crawl space coolerr build

 

[Tim]

Originally posted by: Syzygies
I happened onto this thread, the pictures have to be seen to be believed:

crawl space coolerr build

That's pretty hardcore... but looking at it, I'm wondering why he didn't choose a large car radiator. I'm sure there's a reason?