Thermostat question

[Eldrick]

Brand newbie to a chiller project;

The obligatory first pic:


My question is this: What I want to try and do is wire a bypass to the thermostat so that the system can operate as a just less than ambient water chiller in most instances.... and an xtreme chiller at others.

The problem is that when I either cut the wires to the thermostat or bridge them, the ac unit does not operate at all.
I know I can directly wire it and get rid of the controls, but can I do both? I'm an electricity dummie and am not sure if am explaining this properly..... If I direct wire the fan and compressor to power through a switch, will I have problems 'back feeding' the existing wiring/circuitry in trying to operate the unit using the controls as well.

Thanks for trying to understand!

[chilly1]

Replace the thermostat woth a penn control that can be set from 70 degF to -30 degF

[Eldrick]

Update pic, after 25 minutes of running - starting with room temp fluid. Am using -45C windshield washer fluid for lack of better. Reservoir I built takes 5 litres of fluid to cover the evap. I am assuming it took the temp down so fast because of the small fluid volume.


The only load on it is a submersed pond pump pumping from one side of the evap to the other. I will try to load it up over the weekend here.

Any thoughts or suggestions are most welcome!
BTW - that 1 1/2" polystyro(building supply center) is a great insulater for the res. one hour since I shut the comp and pump off and the temp is still -30C

[Eldrick]

Quick update:

Below are first attempts with CPU only in cooling loop... not at coldest temps possible(only about -25 in the res)

-12 at idle, -5 under full load(CPU Burn-In)

Pulled it apart and made some changes(including adding GPU to the loop - too damn scared for the first test! All that goo and foam is not for the faint of heart.....)

Have rigged the thermostat to sense water temp inline when I want it too, and run full bore at others. Very nice as it then serves as a 'normal' watercooled computer for most purposes and 'extreme' when the need arises. ;-)

Pics of the whole thing will come later, temps for now. I am pretty happy, being a brand noob and simply reading this great site and others.
Lots still yet to do though.......

[Pimpsho]

sweet! how long was the project from start to finish bro? thats a nice temp you seem to be getting...and are those temps the cpu temp or water temp?

[Eldrick]

Are projects like this ever finished? Lol.
I bought the ac unit at a scratch and dent auction about 10 days ago.

The temp of -5 under load is cpu temp as reported by motherboard moniter through webtemp. both are free or shareware/trial downloads.

[extremecorvette]

Do you have more pictures

[Eldrick]

Yep... here's a few.

First off I should say that I broke the cardinal rule.... and may be in trouble. I did not leak test the system.... and the GPU block insulation was such that it literally soaked my 5900 ultra.... and it eventually cratered. I am hopeful it will be revived simply by drying it out.... but no such luck yet. Fingers are crossed...... anyone know of any way I can aid the drying process?????? I am less excited about extreme cooling than I was a few days ago.....

[novagamer]

So you had a leak in your block? Or was it from condensation? I get my watercooling gear this week and am chilling it with a dehumidifer, need to know these things!

[Eldrick]

Leak where the one hose connecte to the GPU barb.
I was sure they were good, so I completely encased the thing with foam, silicone, etc.
Looked very nice.... problem was the connection leaked - but being that my insulating job was so good I had no idea tll the vid card cratered.... then when I ripped the insulation apart, it was sopping wet - not from condensation but from the leaky barb. It's all good now - but the vid card either has not dried out yet.... or is screwed.

Two mistakes I made insulating though, on the water lines. I used 1/2" insulation on 3/4" OD diameter hose. To get it tight enough to completely cover the line, I had to put so much pressure on the plastic ties that every one of them had condensation on the outside. I should have used 3/4" insulation and not tied the cable ties nearly as tight. You will se by looking back at my pics of the hose insulation what I am talking about.

Live and learn - maybe the hard way this time.

[bh2k]

hmmm for -30 coolant that seems somewhat high...or just because your cooling CPU and GPU

[Eldrick]

I am thinking the flow might be not quite enough at the low temp.
I have an Eheim 1260 submersed in the reservoir.... I dunno if temps should be lower or not:

At about -30 to 32C in the res, I have:
about -12C at idle.
-5C under 100% load with cpu burn.
As I said, temps not recorded by probes but by MBM and WebTemp.
Nvidia GPU temp monitor does not go below 0C, so I am not sure how cold it gets - it never gets above 0C.