Reservoir TECS

[Bosw8er]

Now that i have a powerful silent aircooled system it's time to raise the bar and built and even more silent and more powerful system.

I already have sufficient space inside my modded Aopen HX45 (http://www.madshrimps.be/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=488) for a complete watercooling setup.
But switching to watercooling just gives me a maximum 4 to 5 °C "profit" to my current situation ... and that's just NOT enough to justify the effort.

I thought it would be interesting to put a TEC on the waterreservoir. I would put a HS on the TEC and then experiment with different types of fans (silent ofcourse). The outcome being the water inside the system will be around 15°C instead of 25°C.

This way i wouldn't have any condensation problems and i believe the benificial 10°C drop of the watertemperature justifies the effort.

Feasibility, thoughts, donations, fanmail, ... shoot !

[BermudaTriad]

TECs, or peltiers, are very inefficient for cooling down water. Also, pelts only cool as well as you can remove the heat from the hot side, which means you'll either need a monster HSF on it or a whole other water-cooling loop. I've seen peltier chillers, which are basically pelts slapped between two large waterblocks, one for the cpu loop, and the other simply to cool the hot side down. These chillers really don't cool your water down enough for the amount of money it costs to buy the blocks and the pelts (and the PSU to power the TEC) and the other equipment for the chiller loop.

In my opinion, TECs are only worth using if you are using them to directly cool the cpu. The advantage is a great improvement over using straight water-cooling. The problems are condensation below the peltier, and the pain of powering the TEC (which SHOULD have its own PSU (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/samam32inpsu.html), especially if rated over 120w).

Also, Peltier wires are notoriously brittle and snap off easily. of the 4 TECs I've owned so far, only the first one (120w with molex connector from http://becooling.safeshopper.com but is no longer available) had a strong, decent heatshrunk connection to the ceramic plate. the other 3, which includes two 72w's and one 226w, all had to be resoldered, because the wires would snap off so easily.

If you really want a chilled reservoir, modify a dehumidifier or air-conditioner (which uses phase change), so you can turn the evaporator (tubing or radiator-like component where the phase change coolant evaporates and gets REALLY cold) down into a bucket of water. I've done this with an old dehumidifier i found in my garage, and it keeps my coolant temps under 0C.

for more information on this method of chilling, check out 3rotor (http://3rotor.dns2go.com)

edit: they seem to be down right now, go to the Phase Change Gallery in the forums, there are a couple examples in there.

[Bosw8er]

Thanks for the info Bermuda.

Done my homework and it seems that TEC and silent aircooling don't go hand in hand. And it MUST be quiet !

Option 1 :
Second airflow with TEC between 2 waterblocks ... but i'll have to find waterblocks with long "canals" into it for maximum efficiency.

Option 2 :
CPU : TEC : waterblock

Option 3 :
Only silent water/aircooling and the water is cooled at 3 places :
-> rad -> cpu-waterblock with HS/fan-combination -> rad -> graca waterblock

[wymjym]

I built an 'ambient water chiller'.
I can set the water temp anywhere I want it but choose <8~10 inorder to stay out of condensation.
The hot side of the pelts are water cooled so it is a dual loop system.
check it out here (http://westech.home.mindspring.com/chiller/mychiller.htm)

wj

[BermudaTriad]

nice chiller box, wymjym. looks very clean :thumbsup:

Bosw8er: sounds like your safest bet is using a chiller to directly cool the cpu. if you really have a hardon for peltiers, you can make a peltier chiller, though you would need another loop to run the chiller. I found a dehumidifier in my garage, and i turned it into a chiller by turning the evaporator into a 5-gallon bucket. It keeps the coolant temperature just below freezing. of course the only problem is condensation, but i wrapped everything in closed cell foam and neoprene. :)

[wymjym]

Thanks BT,
It is a work in progress but I am very satisfied with my outcome thus far.
wj