Mini-fridge Setup

[acumo]

I went to Home Depot and picked up a Magic Chef mini-fridge for $60. It's a Samsung compressor with R134a refrigerant. I plan on putting the evaporator (aka the freezer plate) in a reservoir. I already know the evaporator itself can get down to about -20C. Should I be worried, since I heard that the compressor may burn out since it's not designed to run 24/7. I plan on using a Danger Den RBX CPU block and a Danger Den Maze4 GPU block with an Eheim 1250. Will this pump suffice for my setup? Please give me some suggestions and advice if you have any. Thanks for your time.

[jamaljaco]

Originally posted by acumo
I went to Home Depot and picked up a Magic Chef mini-fridge for $60. It's a Samsung compressor with R134a refrigerant. I plan on putting the evaporator (aka the freezer plate) in a reservoir. I already know the evaporator itself can get down to about -20C. Should I be worried, since I heard that the compressor may burn out since it's not designed to run 24/7. I plan on using a Danger Den RBX CPU block and a Danger Den Maze4 GPU block with an Eheim 1250. Will this pump suffice for my setup? Please give me some suggestions and advice if you have any. Thanks for your time.

Well first off. Welcome to the madness!
I don't know bout the compressor I don't have that experience. If it is a problem you can chill your fluid down to its lowest turn your compressor off and run your computer at default or underclocked for regular use. For benching or gaming you can run it full on.
The RBX will be a B!tch to insulate, I would go with a more simple design. I have a maze 3.

[Keeper]

I used a shop GE fridge like that for over a year 24/7, no problems, it in my garage now and still works.

[Gary Lloyd]

A lot of refrigeration systems run 24/7. It is not a problem.

[acumo]

Originally posted by Gary Lloyd
A lot of refrigeration systems run 24/7. It is not a problem.

Right, but this is a mini-fridge, and also the compressor will be running 24/7 since I'm going to get rid of the thermostat. There are no fans, no radiator, no cooling.

[afireinside]

Originally posted by Gary Lloyd
A lot of refrigeration systems run 24/7. It is not a problem.

Yea but cant fridge compressors not handle heavy load 24/7?

[acumo]

There were three wires going to the thermostat in my fridge. Two were black and one was green. The blacks were positive and the green was for negative, I assumed. So I pulled the wires off the thermostat, attached the two black wires together with electrical tape and left the green wire on it's own wrapped in electrical tape. This was done to bypass the thermostat.

I placed a thermometer probe on the evaporator and right now it's at -25.1C after a little under one hour. Any idea how this will fare, residing in a reservoir with liquid being pumped through a CPU and GPU block?

[jamaljaco]

Originally posted by acumo
Right, but this is a mini-fridge, and also the compressor will be running 24/7 since I'm going to get rid of the thermostat. There are no fans, no radiator, no cooling.

I think they understand your intentions. They say your good to go I wouldn't sweat it.

[acumo]

Originally posted by jamaljaco
I think they understand your intentions. They say your good to go I wouldn't sweat it.

Thanks. Just making sure -- I tend to worry too much If it does die, I'll be following the route of an A/C chiller.

[jamaljaco]

Originally posted by acumo
There were three wires going to the thermostat in my fridge. Two were black and one was green. The blacks were positive and the green was for negative, I assumed. So I pulled the wires off the thermostat, attached the two black wires together with electrical tape and left the green wire on it's own wrapped in electrical tape. This was done to bypass the thermostat.

I placed a thermometer probe on the evaporator and right now it's at -25.1C after a little under one hour. Any idea how this will fare, residing in a reservoir with liquid being pumped through a CPU and GPU block?

Sounds good , the green is a ground I believe. should work great in a res.

[Keeper]

I did have to put a fan on mine, it would shut itself off when it got hot, so I added 2 80mm fans to move air on the back and it ran 24/7 like a charm.

[acumo]

Originally posted by Keeper
I did have to put a fan on mine, it would shut itself off when it got hot, so I added 2 80mm fans to move air on the back and it ran 24/7 like a charm.

Perhaps I should install some fans also. I'm thinking of adding two low speed 120mm fans -- one for intake and one for exhaust. Hope this works.

[Keeper]

Originally posted by acumo
Perhaps I should install some fans also. I'm thinking of adding two low speed 120mm fans -- one for intake and one for exhaust. Hope this works.

That should do it.

[acumo]

Will I be looking at problems if I don't submerse the pump in the reservoir -- I just don't know if there is enough room in there. The pump will still reside in the fridge, though.

I currently have an Eheim 1250 on order at Danger Den

[Keeper]

My pump was not submerged in my set up, but it was in the fridge, I also found that putting a fan in the fridge made a major improvement in the temperatures (chill factor).

Later when I was doing benching I added 1/2 gallon bottles of frozen water in the fridge to prolong peak temps. I actually had bottles I kept frozen in another freezer and rotated them for long term max overclocking.

[acumo]

The pump should be placed before or after the reservoir? In other words, should the pump be sucking from the reservoir and pushing towards the CPU and GPU blocks, or should it be sucking from the blocks and pushing into the reservoir?

[zakelwe]

Originally posted by acumo
The pump should be placed before or after the reservoir? In other words, should the pump be sucking from the reservoir and pushing towards the CPU and GPU blocks, or should it be sucking from the blocks and pushing into the reservoir?

Doesn't matter, the effect is the same no, ie you are creating low and high pressures and so fluid flow.

Regards

Andy

[Gary Lloyd]

I would pump out of the reservoir. You don't want the reservoir pressurized.

[skate2snow]

If you have a mag3, put it before the res, coze it create alot of heat to the water. But for any other pump(MCP600, Eheim, Hydor....), suck the water from the res.

[acumo]

Cool, thanks. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[acumo]

I intend to put my whole system (motherboard, hard drives, video card, psu, etc.) in a custom fridge setup. What should I look out for when I do this? Which components do I need to put dielectric grease on? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.