Chilly1 Evap, Condensation Issues.

[{PMS}fishy]

I'm running a chilly1 evap, with his mounting kit and insulation.

I have had nothing but issues with condensation. If I turn the machine off for a little while (30mins), water will start to drip out from around the socket.

The foam that goes on the evap seems to be both too tall, and too thick, but it was what was provided with the evap and mounting kit.

It recently killed my p5wd2, and I can't continute to leave the machine on 24/7 so that the snow doesn't melt into water.

When removing the cold evap, there is snow all around the inside of the mounting bracket. The socket was greased up, and the mount was as tight as it could go.

Anyone have ideas?

[Charles Wirth]

I need to have new gaskets made that fit tight around the socket for LGA775. I cheat and use a Vapochill bottom gasket.

I dont thaw out ever, my machine runs 24/7 and if I have a melt down I am one to break the socket down and make sure its dry before restart.

[n00b 0f l337]

I have used a chilly1 evap, I did not like the mounting and the o-ring was not provided to me. I insulated the evap inside the black shell, put the black shell on, and insulated some more. I insulated and I insulated.
Make sure though you can get an air tight seal, maybe fall back onto the old seal-string setup?

[{PMS}fishy]

I need to have new gaskets made that fit tight around the socket for LGA775. I cheat and use a Vapochill bottom gasket.

I dont thaw out ever, my machine runs 24/7 and if I have a melt down I am one to break the socket down and make sure its dry before restart.

I usually don't shutdown either. However, I have had to turn the machine off a few times recently for some hardware upgrades and modifications.

Thawing out every time doesn't sound like a solution. At some point this will not be a 24/7 machine, and I can't be bothered to take it apart everytime I want to use it.

Please let me know if you get something else that will work, as I will need it too.

[The Weedman]

I cut the round foam insulation down some and i use foam tape around the socket. I havent had a problem yet and i dont use grease in the socket either.

[twotwo2010]

I dont have a chilly 1 evap but I have had the same problem ( condensation after shutdown) no matter how much I insulate and grease the socket.
I lost 2 video cards within a 6 week time span, I ran it 24/7 after loosing the first card but returned home and found there was a power outage which helped to claim the second.
I was considering mounting the board upside down on my next phase change because the condesation dripped from the evaporator both times with no sign of condensation in the socket.
Of course we cant always run 24/7 so I am very much interested in a solution.

Good luck

[jinu117]

I usually don't shutdown either. However, I have had to turn the machine off a few times recently for some hardware upgrades and modifications.

Thawing out every time doesn't sound like a solution. At some point this will not be a 24/7 machine, and I can't be bothered to take it apart everytime I want to use it.

Please let me know if you get something else that will work, as I will need it too.

Errr.. thawing out isn't an option? You are only asking for trouble than. Quick tip for you. Turn unit off, turn computer on and sit in bios till it hits about 40c. Turn it off. Thawing should take no more than 2-3 minutes this way.
As for condensation proofing on asus mobo... I've had same problem (not inside socket but outside on vrm area. You DON'T need to use the full height of donut really, cut some if you feel it is too tall. As long as you can make tight seal inside is not a problem. in my case it was outside unfortunetely...
As for A64 setups thanks to having bit more room around socket, I don't have condensation problem ever really :P
To be honest on intel side, if your single stage can cool well enough, you will need heaters to take away heat from motherboard the way I look at it to stop cold to spread out to motherboard itself.

[Gray Mole]

?

If there is condensation in the sealed area it's not sealed.

You need to find out why.

If the caps surrounding the socket area are holding up the foam ring, cut little notches out of the ring so it sits tight onto the mobo.

Also to get a nice seal, you can put just a little dilectric on the base of the ring to ensure it's airtight.

remove the ring and look at it's contact. if there are obvious reasons for air leakage, you need to find out, and fix it.


Gray

[{PMS}fishy]

?

If there is condensation in the sealed area it's not sealed.

You need to find out why.

If the caps surrounding the socket area are holding up the foam ring, cut little notches out of the ring so it sits tight onto the mobo.

Also to get a nice seal, you can put just a little dilectric on the base of the ring to ensure it's airtight.

remove the ring and look at it's contact. if there are obvious reasons for air leakage, you need to find out, and fix it.


Gray

Well, it starts off with air in it. Unless I can get the air out, I will still have the problem. The seal looks good to me, but I will try to trim it down, and maybe try some seal string.

Personally I think a new mounting system is in order for s775.

[Silverdoc]

lol I used an old neoprene mouse pad i had, cut it to fit and pulled off the cloth, glued 2 of them together for thickness and it works great, better than the vapo pads i had.

[Gray Mole]

Yeah there's definitely a little air in it but unless you live somewhere with serious humidity you really shouldn't have a lot of moisture at all, and even then it shouldn't be dripping out if it's airtight.

trimming the seal so It's got a nice contact is a good idea, and making sure it's definitely contacting the entire surface too.

I'm working on a dual Xeon chilly mount, and the only way to get that to have a good seal is to build up the entire area around the 2 sockets with neoprene. I don't know if you're in a similar position, but that may be the only way around it.

If it could help, using a thinner ring for the large seal may be an option for ensuring clearance around the socket. Can be found at most good fridgy shops if you take the old one with you and ask for something that will fit the size, but is thinner.

Gray

[fatty]

I'm working on a dual Xeon chilly mount,

Gray

Boasting again Grey lol I use dialetic grease but then I'm not using 775 so??

[s7e9h3n]

lol I used an old neoprene mouse pad i had, cut it to fit and pulled off the cloth, glued 2 of them together for thickness and it works great, better than the vapo pads i had.

Hmmm...I've had bad experiences with those neoprene mouse pads. The ones I've tried end up freezing and become as stiff as cardboard

@ Fishy: Chilly1's most recent mounting kits use 3/4" wall donuts as opposed to the older 1/2" wall ones. Although I'm not on the same platform as you, I had nothing but problems with his newer, thicker donuts. They either ran into components on the board or they would be difficult to get a good seal with. I ended up going to a HVAC store and picked up a length of 2 1/8" ID x 1/2" insulation so I could go back to the old donut thickness. After switching back, my probs with leaky sockets went away. Of course once I fixed that problem, another one followed right behind it :

[Weee]

I'm on S939, but I definitely had to do some modification to my donut to get a good seal.

I basically shaved the donut down about 1/8 inch at a time until I got the perfect mount. I also used 1 layer of the seal string around my socket, and I could tell once I had the perfect mount because once I removed the donut, some of it was ripped off stuck to the seal string and there was a perfect circle. I also started with problems with capacitor clearance, but I basically just "tucked in" the donut around the caps and PWM heatsinks, and now the donut has basically formed to that shape, so as long as I mount it back in soem reasonable time with the same orientation it works fine. Basically, if the insulation has a lot of "bulge" when you compress it down, then it is too tall. Of course, having a foot or 2 of the stuff around helps in case you cut too short on one.

Also, like Jin recommended, when I plan on removing the evap after use, I generally will do exactly what he said and sit in BIOS until it warms up before I turn it off.

[Levish]

Hmmm...I've had bad experiences with those neoprene mouse pads. The ones I've tried end up freezing and become as stiff as cardboard

@ Fishy: Chilly1's most recent mounting kits use 3/4" wall donuts as opposed to the older 1/2" wall ones. Although I'm not on the same platform as you, I had nothing but problems with his newer, thicker donuts. They either ran into components on the board or they would be difficult to get a good seal with. I ended up going to a HVAC store and picked up a length of 2 1/8" ID x 1/2" insulation so I could go back to the old donut thickness. After switching back, my probs with leaky sockets went away. Of course once I fixed that problem, another one followed right behind it :

ambient to about -50c evap is ok with just the doughnut about 3-4 inches from the center of the evap.

the colder you get the further away you have to insulate

in your case you need 1/2 the mobo covered =P or in a airtight chamber

btw NYC is pretty bad on humidity, I used seal string around the base, pressed in and heated a bit so it bonds well then the evap on top of that. So far so good but hasn't been really humid yet I run 4-5 hours a night usually. Airtight seal like wrzdal mentioned is very important as is the amount of insulation for the cold.

-100 or less spreads much further than -50, the problem is only compounded if you run a ihs that conducts more cold into the rest of the components

also i read that neoprene shouldn't be compressed (too much) so trimming it down can help

[{PMS}fishy]

I'll pull it all apart tonight, see what I can do. I guess the idea then is to cut the donut down, and build up neoprene around the socket.

[freecableguy]

ttt

i agree, we need a good LGA775 solution for the Chilly1 evap. can anyone point me in the right direction for the correct materials to use (ie. closed-cell neoprene, etc.) I will start on a template right away....

-FCG

[n00b 0f l337]

Very motherboard dependent. If you mean the capacitors, start coating them in nailpolish to form them into a single barrier.

[freecableguy]

well, i do have a spray can of conformal coating...that is probably a good first step but the key is going to be keeping the cold in. there needs to be a barrier between the LGA socket and the caps/inductor blocks immediately surrounding the socket. the vapoLS design is good but I need to know what materials to use to build this insulation set.

[Vapor]

Here's what I'm doing...over the top, somewhat

Step 1. Conformal coating/PCB lacquer around the socket area, two layers...one layer around the rest of the board, front and back.
Step 2. Liquid Electrical tape, one layer around the socket area (make a big puddle and help it spread before it dries, getting into all the nooks and crannies of the caps around the socket). Front and back.
Step 3. Medium thickness, low-density, closed-cell armaflex/neoprene around the entire socket area. Front and back
Step 4. Low thickness, high-density, open- or closed-cell cork tape around the socket area.
Step 5. Grease in the socket and the seal of the gasket foam.

First step keeps moderate condensation out, 2nd step keeps serious condensation out, 3rd step keeps the temp delta down (to reduce the production of condensation), 4th step only helps that and add structure, 5th step ensures airtightness

EDIT: if you also want to throw in some RTV silicone/seal string around the socket and gasket foam from the mouting, it couldn't hurt

[n00b 0f l337]

Mayb someone could re-create the LGA holddown in a plastic?

[MeltedDuron]

I'd worry about the ability to maintain a constant pressure on the chip at different temperatures without cracking. I think that maybe lots of really soft neoprene along with pcb laquer and LET could help but heh, I run dothan lol

[[XC] gomeler]

I preform a very similar procedure as Vapor and the only trouble I ever had was my suction line forming condensation on the 1/2" insulation, had to bump to to 3/4" to keep the cold in.

[gazzoom]

Vapor have u got any picks of the method? Some ppl report that the dielectric grease spreads the cold, so may not be as good (?), albiet if condensation gets in ur protected

[n00b 0f l337]

Dielectric grease can spread the cold, but nailpolish is a good coating for motherboard, followed by armaflex then donut is my preference.