will a sub-32F resevoir crack any components from temp difference?

[ThePiston]

I'm building a passive cooling system using some Swiftech parts and multiple heater cores from cars. I will have 2 heater cores in my room attached to the inside of my desk and another heater core will be inside a crawl space that is not insulated so it gets really cold in the winter (I'll bypass it in the summer). If my components are all at room temp and i turn on the pump, do you think it will be ok for them or do you think they could crack from the extreme temp difference?

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Im fairly sure nothing will crack, you just need to be careful your water doesn't get so cold that your blocks dont begin to condensate. That would cause much worse problems.

 

[Canai]

Well, one thing to consider is if you have any downtime on your comp and the fluid inside the system could freeze, there's a chance there could be ice in the lines. Even if it doesn't freeze all the way through, there could still be chunks of ice flowing through that could plug a pump or something. Maybe if you have the third heater core inside and then move it outside after the system is running and warm.

 

[ThePiston]

i'd use antifreeze so it wouldn't ever freeze, and if it did condensate it should only be for the first few minutes until the blocks warmed up some. i'm really only worried about cracking the block with a burst of liquid that is 50 degrees cooler in 2 seconds.

 

[Noubourne]

Note to all from someone with a dictionary: Condensate is actually the product of condensing. It is a noun. The verb is to condense. Moisture from the air would be condensing, not condensating.

The moisture from the air would not "begin to condensate", it would begin to CONDENSE and that process would form condensate, or condensation.

You should not be worried about cracking the block. You SHOULD be worried about condensation (water in this case), which will short out and destroy your computer hardware long before it heats up enough to evaporate back into the air.

If the tubes or blocks are cooled to below the dew point in your room at any time, moisture will begin to condense from the air onto those cold surfaces, and your hardware will be in danger.

 

[ThePiston]

yeah, but the only amount of coolant that will be very cold is only what can be held in a large heater core - the reservoir and all of the tubing I will probably keep in the house.

 

[Noubourne]

I understand your intentions and how you plan to set it up. I'm not saying it won't work, since I don't know a bunch of important information, like the dew point in your house and the lowest temperature of your cubby hole.

I'm just telling you what's going to happen if your liquid starts cooling the tubing or any other part of the system to below the dew point.

 

[ThePiston]

i think it'd be ok since it would mix with the reservoir liquid pretty fast and then warm up - i just like the idea of having the extra cooling of the core outside. i'd have to bypass it in the summer though

 

[aigomorla]

ummmm hey op, just want to give some insight.

I hope you some sort of wind flow in that cabnet. Radiators need air moving though the fins to cool, having it sit in a cold place without flow wont give you the super temps you want. Try to put the heat exchanger next to a fan so you have wind blowing over the fins. That would make it more efficient.


Also if your coolant ever did drop below dew point, and then by some chance it stayed at dew point, your blocks will condense and you'll get moisture forming.

Also if your coolant ever dropped below freezing, your tubes will form ice around it, and if the coolant froze in your radiator, you'll damage the impeller head off your pump. Not to mention a stuck loop is a very bad outcome.

Anyhow if i was to mess with sub ambient temps, i dont think i would feel safe unless my board was properly insulated.

But this is my 2 cents..

 

[ThePiston]

not looking for super temps, adding fans is not an option - i want absolute silence in cooling. I don't mind adding radiators in series with a good pump - as many as it takes. I'm going to have blocks for cpu, northbridge, gpu and gpu ram. the psu fan and HDD fan will be slowed down to silent with cheap resistors and the heat removed from the case will improve the temps of the HDDs and system ram. as long as i'm under 55 on load, i'm happy.

 

[herm0016]

i would try putting the rad that is outside between the 2 inside rads in the loop. this if there is an extream temp difference the inside rad will actually warm up the water a bit. this should help with keeping the condensation to a minimum. sounds like a great idea to me. i don't think you will have any problems unless the water gets below about 40 degrees, i don't think it will get that low with no fan on the rad outside.