New to Dry Ice

[masterofpuppets]

I have found a supplier for dry ice and I can get some. But I have a few questions before I do my first DICE run.

1. What form of dice should I get? Slices, block, pellets?
2. What material of container would you recommend? Copper or alu?
3. What temps should I expect?
4. Is there any other ways of using dry ice in cooling that doesn't involve making container? such as chilled water with dice.
5. Any tips that you can give me on using DICE?

[Juicy629]

You should prolly read all the previous threads revolving round d-ice...copper is the fav but im sure alu wouldnt make that big of a difference..if you want temps look around..and yes you can chill water..simple put the d-ice in a res..theirs actually a thread on that if you look...as for tips...since your going under ambient then your going to wanna insulate...id go for pellets since theirs more surface area....oh and most of all have fun and get lotsa screen shots with your ocs

[PytonOrm]

Answer

1. Pellets form to get best contact to copper base
2. copper is best
3. temps around - 70 / - 78.6 is max for Dry ice
5. good insulation matrial

[masterofpuppets]

Thanks for advice. I'm gonna get some DICE this week. Wish me luck. And yes Juicy629, I will definately take some screenies!

[Kunaak]

1. What form of dice should I get? Slices, block, pellets?

I like blocks, you get more for your money, and blocks last longer then pellets.
never heard of slices...

2. What material of container would you recommend? Copper or alu?

copper.

3. What temps should I expect?

well, the dry ice gets to about -79C, but the motherboard won't report temps of that.
they never do.
all temp sensors are different, some don't even report sub zero temps.

4. Is there any other ways of using dry ice in cooling that doesn't involve making container?

such as chilled water with dice.

dry ice and water, just makes fog, the water doesn't even get cold.
you need something alcohol based to use the real potential of dry ice.

5. Any tips that you can give me on using DICE?

yes, try not to fill a container anymore then 10-15% with you fluid of choice (acetone, everclear, ethenol)
anymore then that, and you might find you get a volcano all over your PC hardware.

insulation is your friend.
more is better then less.

you might try taking a handfull of silver or copper BB's from a BB gun, and putting it in your container. I find it helps lower temps alittle by seperating the dry ice, from the colder fluid.
but it's not always worth using.

don't use cheap alcohols, like nail polish remover or something, this stuff always does worse then good pure alcohol.
if your desperate for something that will work, late at night...
the liquor store is a good place to start

not cause of the drink, but cause you can find things like Everclear, or high proof vodka and those do the job fairly well.

Acetone from Home Depot, the Pure kind that you use to strip the paint off boats is great (in the marine section) or the regular acetone for painting does the job pretty good too.

Ethenol is supposedly the best, but I've never found Ethenol yet, so I never got to try it.

lastly, only use dry ice in a open area.
the alcohol and nitrogen fumes can really screw you up, and in the case of the nitrogen, it's taking oxygen out of the room if theres no ventilation, so you may pass out, and not wake up...
so use common sense.
open some windows.
get a small floor fan.
and don't stay in there long if you can smell the fumes too long. the more open the area, the better.

[Franky 4 Finger]

helpful, thanks

[BigPanda]

hmm maybe i should nick some dry ice form work and try it.

How quicky will the dry ice wear off? like 10-30minutes?

[Jort]

10% a day is lost.

and with 10kg you can bench 7-8 h NON-stop
2 containers

[Rio71]

I like blocks, you get more for your money, and blocks last longer then pellets.

this is not an good idea.
you must crushed the blocks, this made a big lost in sublimation in the time if you it crashed.
this lost is the money you have saved before..
go for pellets!

[dastt]

what kind of temps do u see from dice?

[Vapor]

Alright, I have a few questions for when I get started....

Where's the best place to buy insulation and what kind? What kind of nail polish would be okay to insulate my board with?

I can get shaved DI (think of it as a DI slushy), would that be even better? I wouldn't need any alcohol with that, right?

[metro.cl]

you always need alcohol many here recomend acetone.

yesterday i did my first dry ice run, one thing i can tell you is that you need insulation.

good luck

[Vapor]

you always need alcohol many here recomend acetone.

yesterday i did my first dry ice run, one thing i can tell you is that you need insulation.

good luck

Alright, I'll get some acetone....anybody else have anything for the other questions? I suppose I'll ask Jason about the best insulation for the Mousepots so I don't need that one answered.

New question....transportation of it--how? Dewars are wicked expensive, would a styrofoam cooler be enough? Any other cheap way to carry it? (I'll only be walking 3 blocks with it to my dorm--doesn't need to be long term storage)

Oh, one last question....how do I handle it? Would an oven mitt be good enough?

[Eldonko]

Would methyl hydrate be good? It says it is 99.9% pure but I don't know if that means pure alcohol. I have a jug I use for cleaning off as5 and such, all I know is it isn't too nice on the hands. :O

[metro.cl]

you need to handle it with gloves if not you'll burn when you touch it.

carry it on a coolerman's kinda cooler (http://www.avidoutdoors.com/colhiphug6so.html) but you must use it soon you loose it fast, also do it on a ventilated place, the vapor is quite toxic

[perry_78]

Oh yes, it burns hands quite nicely

[M.Beier]

ehm...

I've hold a few pelts in my hand and let'en them turn into air....
You wont get burned much, unless you touch it for a veeery long time... I actually think its possible - with a bit speeding, to poor the stuff into tube with hands...

[WASD]

ehm...

I've hold a few pelts in my hand and let'en them turn into air....
You wont get burned much, unless you touch it for a veeery long time... I actually think its possible - with a bit speeding, to poor the stuff into tube with hands...

I don't think that's a very good idea. I don't know what quality(depending where you get it it can have quite a bit of water in it) and size of pellets you were working with, but if you hold a piece of good dry ice in your hand it will freeze to your skin and give you serious burns. You can touch it quickly, and maybe drop a piece into the tube really fast, but I would advise using a glove of some kind. It doesn't need to be an oven mitt, just an insulator to seperate your skin from the DICE.

[M.Beier]

I don't think that's a very good idea. I don't know what quality(depending where you get it it can have quite a bit of water in it) and size of pellets you were working with, but if you hold a piece of good dry ice in your hand it will freeze to your skin and give you serious burns. You can touch it quickly, and maybe drop a piece into the tube really fast, but I would advise using a glove of some kind. It doesn't need to be an oven mitt, just an insulator to seperate your skin from the DICE.

Its not that cold... :\
The size that I held in my hand 'till it "melted" into air, it was a very little pellet... Last time I used big pellets since Air Liquide was out of the small ones - Anyhow, those, hell no - But still, I made a little prank with the stuff before benchin' - water+dice+glass and a dice bomb as well... No problem doin' that with my hands... Though one thing was too cold... I wanted a thermosensor in button of the DICE box (26 liter box) - in order too move all the dice away from middle, that I couldnt do with my bare hands, I had too use my "Icemonkey grib" or whats that fancy name for the LN2 gloves I got..

But, DICE aint that cold.. Atleast not when you've skieing now and then

[thedog18]

Thanks for the help with all DI information. GREAT help for a NEWB such as myself

[vampire338]

well to sove your question to the temps it should reach -109.3°F (-78.5°C)

[gilgamesh1]

[quoteEthenol is supposedly the best, but I've never found Ethenol yet, so I never got to try it.

Ethanol gets very thick and sludgy at around -70, the best one i have found is called ICY-1-OL (not icypropol) this can go down to -120 degrees before it thickens

New to DICE myself but im getting there


By the way does anyone know where I can get DICE from in Yorkshire UK, (need it as close as possible to maximise sublime time )
gilgamesh

[gilgamesh1]

you always need alcohol many here recomend acetone.

yesterday i did my first dry ice run, one thing i can tell you is that you need insulation.

good luck

Acetone is good, but the fumes..........phew Icy One OL is the best if you can get hold of it

gilgamesh

[jimmyz]

Acetone is good, but the fumes..........phew Icy One OL is the best if you can get hold of it

gilgamesh

The fumes are good. they remind you that you need good ventilation. If you don't get a good crossflow of air the co2 can be lethal.

[gilgamesh1]

The fumes are good. they remind you that you need good ventilation. If you don't get a good crossflow of air the co2 can be lethal.

lol ofcourse, thats why i have installed 2x 20cm fan in the cellar to push the C02 out of the window.

ICyonal is the best for me


gilgamesh