Yes, Another Car Radiator Thread....Major 56K Warning!

[Naja002]

Just wanted to add an update/more info.

I have 2 crunchers on this system: Q9450 @ 3.6 and Q9450 @ 3.5. I am waiting on some more ram and then I am hoping the 2nd Q will go to 3.6. This Ballistix garbage is just that: garbage.

Got the Killawatt out:

Pump=55watts

Fans:
Low=25watts
Medium=36-37 watts
High=50watts

That's x2, of course.

Here's a current screenshot of the Q at 3.6--fans on Low=50watts:



The temps drop 3-4C by switching the fans up to Medium(=36-37watts x2).

These rigs are crunching WCG 24/7 and 1 rig has an 8800GT crunching F@H. The 8800GT is not currently WCed. I bought a block, but it arrived cracked, so its on rma at the moment. Once I get a useable block--the GT is being added to this system.


I've decided to modify my manifold and add a 2nd car radiator--a smaller one. This one will go inside here and be used during the cooler/winter months. I will deign the manifold so that I will only need to turn 1-3 ball valves (not sure yet) in order to switch from one rad to the other. This will give me convenient seasonal control: I can pump all the heat outside during warmer months (helping with the A/C) and pump all the heat inside during the cooler months (helping with the heat). And I will be able to do this with the turn of a valve or 3.

Expected Cost Guesstimate:

Car Rad: Less than $100 Shipped
Pump: ~$100, if needed--I may figure out a work-around.
PVC: $20, probably less
Gate Valves x3: ~$27, should have already been incorporated.

No doubt there will be some misc costs--nothing major though. I've put a little thought into this already, but have not sat down to think it through yet. I really enjoy pumping all the heat outside! Plus the dual fans on Low really help cool the out-building! So, I might as well set things up to help with the heating bill this winter--instead of just heating the neighborhood! Currently using about 500watts on these crunchers--might as well keep it inside when its cold out!

Also, by setting this up for convenience (turn some ball valves) I will still be able to play with it all winter and see how the low outside temps effect things!

I'll update this when I get it done--Yes, with Pictures!

[Naja002]

Qiuck update:

Added another cruncher, so now there are 2x Q9450 and 1x Q6600 on this WCing system--all @ 3.57. Fans on low. Weather has been much cooler than normal here. High of ~73F/23C yesterday and ~76F/24C today, So I am going to have to wait a bit for warmer weather in order to post "Warm-Weather SS". Here are some from Cooler Weather:

Q9450:



Q9450:



Q6600:




The WBs arrive today, so I will be adding 3x G92 GPUs to the system over the next week or so, and then a 4th G92 GPU in a couple weeks or so.

Picked up the 3x Gate Valves in order to isolate each setup from the system--just need to get them installed.

Going to start working on the "Winter Rad" setup shortly.

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

Interesting. My q6600 runs @ the same voltage (assuming cpuz is right) @ 3.6ghz and I get the same temps w/ an MCR320.

Thanks for the info. I am so tempted to ask the people where I work for a 55gallon barell, but I have no room in my room or basement or a convienent plate to burry the sucker.

[Naja002]

Hey Synth,

I've honestly thought about by-passing the blue barrel. Not sure how much good it actually does in this particular application. I may at some point, but right now its not high on the list of things to accomplish.

If you are still looking at cooling 1 rig--then I wouldn't bother with a res at all, or one mainly just for filling, etc. If you are looking to use it to cool your "farm"--then I really can't say at this point--because I'm undecided. I will say that my blue barrel sitting in its current location probably gains/loses enough that ambient temp have too much impact. I could wrap it in insulation--and I may, I have some--to see what the effect will be.

Honestly, I would suggest that you just set things up without a res (or a small 1 for filling) and see how that goes. I think it would work very well.

[Naja002]

Warmer weather update:

1x Q9450 @ 3.58
1x 8800GT @ 711/1777/999 (now @ 744/1854/1033)




1x Q9450 @ 3.58
1x 8800GS currently on air @ 744/1854/1033




1x Q6600 @ 3.57
2x 8800GS @ 737/1842/996 (now @ 784/1960/1021 and 725/1812/993)

[Makubex_GB]

LoL Naja, that setup is hilarious. Love those ghetto mods.

[Sparky]

Fun stuff. I look forward to having my own place so I can create some wacky setups like this

[Naja002]

The Seasonal Manifold

As mentioned in post #76, I plan on making this WCing system "Seasonal"...meaning that I can pump the heat outside during the summer/warmer periods and pump it inside during the winter/cooler periods. But it has to be convenient. Come October I expect to be turning valves for the cooler nights and warmer days.

So here is the new Manifold:



There will be another car rad, located inside here with me, attached to the 2 straight barbs on the right end of the manifold. I also added another set of gate valves for, uh, "Future Reference"...yeah, that's it--Future Reference!


For warmer weather the valves will be set as below in order to pump the heat outside:




For cooler weather I will set the valves as below in order to pump the heat inside:




For winter play I can set the valves as above for summer or below for a "Mix" to check out different things and/or avoid condensation:



I should have used gate valves, but ball valves are what I grabbed. Either way, ball valves allow for reasonable adjustment.


I decided to add a drain port to this manifold:



With all of the Isolation abilities here, I thought it might come in handy. I expect to change the plug to a barb and a shut-off valve of some kind in the future. Right now, the plug will do.


Having the Good Luck that I do....(can You spell: M-u-r-p-h-y)....I managed to crack one of the pvc Tees while screwing in the last gate valve. No, I didn't do anything wrong or even different--I did this same thing 6x on the last manifold and 7x on this one....this last one just cracked! So, I did what I always do and tried to "fix" it. Some pvc glue and good clamp and a bit of time:









Of course there was a small leak. Nothing major....after a couple of hrs sitting and a few more hrs with the manifold installed and operational--its managed to seal itself. Hopefully it will stay that way! Yes, the clamp is a permanent fixture!


Here it is installed and operational:








I've been trying to decide which pump to get for this interior part of the system. The vertical head is only ~4-4.5'. But I do need flow also. I am looking very hard at the Eheim 1260. The 1262 is unnecessary, and I think the 1250 will be too small. Sadly, the 1250 and below are what most folks use for PCs and aquariums--so, there really are not many 1260's available used at a good price. A new one is ~$120 + shipping and, Ya know, that just kinda breaks my heart to pay that much. Yes, I probably will break-weak and get the Eheim, but the Mag 7 @ ~$75 is looking awfully tempting! They are both powerful, reliable pumps.....but the Eheims are just Good stuff and quiet too. I've got some time, so we'll see what happens....


Finally, I purchased the car rad that will be used in here. It should be here Thurs. 9/11. I'll put up some pix, specs, etc. once its here......

[T_Flight]

You are a watercooling God! Wow! That is definitely full on Xtreme there. I like it alot.

On the pumps have you considered the Iwaki's? They are very powerful and high qualuity at the same time. With 3 systems a pump like that would be spread accross the 3 systems pricewise. An Iwaki may be just the pump for a system like that. What model I have no idea. It would take a powerful one.

[Naja002]

Thanx, I am definitely enjoying the process: Crunching, building crunchers WCing, this WCing setup, etc, etc, etc. It has certainly all kept me busy and, uh, now broke......but, Hey....WTF, right?

I also wanted to add that it looks like I am reaching critical mass here with this system= 3x Quads @ 3.57 + 4x OCed GPUs. Temps are still good, but slightly higher than in the past---even when weather is cooler. My first guess is not the rad.....but the pump. I still have good flow with everything hooked up, but I would say that it is probably in the 1gal/min range. With cooler weather right around the corner and approaching completion of the interior cooling setup--I don't think I'm going to worry about things right now. However, come spring I think it will be time to move to a larger pump or add on another mag 9. Not sure which route I'll take, but I'll try to sort it out between now and spring....

Yes, the 4th GPU went on water today...

[[XC] Hicks121]

Nice going Naja!!! Sux you cracked that fitting, but you know that Mr. Murphy had to show his face at some time

Keep up the good work brother!! Now all I need is to get Murphy out of my face.

Ps. Thanks for all the help the other night!

[Lagaaja]

Car rads<3 Once you ttry it, you're never turning back

[Naja002]

Nice going Naja!!! Sux you cracked that fitting, but you know that Mr. Murphy had to show his face at some time

Keep up the good work brother!! Now all I need is to get Murphy out of my face.

Ps. Thanks for all the help the other night!

Sounds like You kicked Murphy's butt out last night......Good for You! Rock on, bro, Rock on!

Car rads<3 Once you ttry it, you're never turning back

Yep, this setup has gotten kind of addictive..... Its has been a lot of fun though and still is.......just waiting on winter now.


Just wanted to add the cost of the manifold upgrade: $69.89 after tax

The only parts that I reused are--top left: Elbow, 3x Tees, 6x gate valves/nipples/barbs, 2x 1" barbs. Everything else had to be purchased including an extra Tee to fix an ill-thought-out screw up. Easy to make simple mistakes, it seems.

Last night I picked up the Foam pipe insulation for the exposed pipes outside: $8.52.

The rad will be here today!

[Naja002]

The Winter Rad


Last week I ordered this rad from the same company (ltiparts) linked to previously. It arrived in Good shape, as described as expected--$68.99 shipped:







Its a Dual-core (aka 2rows) and much smaller than the summer rad. So, we'll see how things go. I may need to tweak a little "winter water" in from the summer rad outside, but that shouldn't be an issue if needed.

Front:



Back:


Inside-2 rows of flat tubing:


Rad Cap:


Possible Fan--may use the 9" ac fans like on the summer rad....not sure yet:


Plumbing supplies--should now have everything except the pump and any possible connectors to and from it:


Broken off over flow tube:


A little bit of Gorilla Glue:


The over-flow tube is an unnecessary component in this application. This system will never get hot enough to "vent", and the rad cap seals the system. But I might as well put it on, huh?

The fan is:








According to Killawatt:

24V= 2.10amp start-up, 1.76amp load. 184 watts load. Way too noisy.
Below--0.26amps/14watts go to PSU fans,etc:
12V= 1.51amp start-up, 1.30amp load. 92 watts load. Still too noisy.
5V= 0.62amp start-up, 0.47amp load. 29 watts load. Nice and quite and still moves a lot of air.

I have 2 of these fans that I ordered when I first set this system up. I haven't been using them, because I went with the 9" ac fans. Looks like I'll be checking one of these out in here this winter though..... May do a 7v mod and see what that produces.


Still trying to make a decision on the pump and hopefully find one used at a decent cost-savings.

[Naja002]

Just a Partial update. I have more to add when I get a chance:

I managed to pick up an Eheim 1262 at a $41 cost savings= $109 shipped. Added the fittings to hook up to the 1" ID tubing:






Specs:





Curve:





I've managed to get the rad fans mounted, wired and working. After messing with it and checking things out, I decided to go with 5V. Plenty of push/pull air-flow and ~43watts total for both fans:










Initially, I was just going to use 1 fan, but decided later to go with the 2 fans. Uncertain about the amount of amps that 1 fan would pull....I decided to wired it up to 2 sets of wires from the psu:






2x 5V:






Had to make my own double 5V Y-cable:


Sleeved it:





Connected the 1" tubing to the rad manifold:






I am further along then the end of this post indicates, but I will save the rest for more "Update Posts".

[Naja002]

Condensation.......is a nightmare.

Just wanted to offer a simple update:

Last week temps around here started dropping quite a bit at night. I've had several nights in the 60s, 50s, even 40s during the last few weeks. I was definitely enjoying playing with this seasonal rad setup. Its working very well overall.

But being the bonehead that I am....I had to see how things went as temps got lower and lower. What I found is that with the temps in this room around 80F and the temps outside somewhere between 48F-43F....uh....condensation occurs on the blocks. When I went to bed temps were ~48F. I left the rigs on the outside rad with a plan of just checking realtemp for the lows when I got up. That was my mistake: Not doing it when I would be right here to babysit everything.

Yep, messed some stuff up. Been working through it. Still have some issues. Its been a royal pita. Live and learn, I guess. Either way, the Seasonal Dual Rad setup works great!

I'll post more later.....

[1oooop]

umm, actually radiator tubes are soldered with lead, the fins and tubes are copper(or aluminum)... just to let you know... also, I really love your system, I hope I can jack a radiator and fan from dad(mechanic) without him knowing... all new ones BTW (in other words... expensive)

also, I suggest you use car antifreeze(the concentrated kind), try getting the greenest one(I forgot the antifreeze type) and just pour it into your giant 55g barrel it prevents rust and is quite cheap

[Naja002]

Thanx for the comments, 1oooop. At this point, I'm not seeing any evidence of corrosion. I have not actually removed the blocks, etc, but I'm not seeing any degradation in temps or anything else that would indicate foulplay. I may end up adding some anti-freeze. I've been tossing it around for a while now. But it would just be for the winter temps. However, I expect the external rad system to be off for most of the winter while I pump the heat inside....


Another Update:

Bought a brand new Mag Drive 9.5 pump. I haven't incorporated it yet....not sure when or how I am going to.... I keep seriously thinking about eliminating the 55g blue barrel. So, that will help determine what happens.

As stated above, the winter rad is setup, hooked up and functionl. 1 regret is that I used ball valves on the new seasonal manifold instead of gate valves. Gate valves would allow me to tweak cold water into the internal system...which would allow me to pinpoint a lower temp range for the PCs and even help regulate the ambient temps in here. Oh, well, I may redo the seansonal manifold...maybe not....we'll see....It works fine as it is...just doesn't allow for the "fine tuning" that the gate valves would provide.

I've had the winter rad hooked up before the condensation issue above. But had to deal with that. 99% back up from that fiasco.

When I orginally hooked up the winter rad.....I found a leak! A spraying type leak! So, I had to figure out what to do, how to do it and all that good stuff. With the help of my buddy Hicks, I decided to try to repair it.......Uh, yeah,......Myself! Think I would know better by now, huh? But I am glad to say that after a bit of a learning curve and going around and around in circles....I managed to get the job done!

It looks much worse in the pix below, then it does in life. Those are macro pix, so everything is a bit larger than life. I had zero prior experience of rad repair before this, so keep the learning curve in mind. Either way, it works, its leak free, I fix it myself and it only cost some time. Long story short--I messed up a few times, but managed to get the job done:
















As stated before--it looks worse in the pix than in life. The last pic shows that the damaged area is much smaller in reference to the overall rad then may otherwise be assumed. The blob of solder ended up being necessary in order to create a 100% leak-free seal. Did I mention the part about having no prior experience? Anyway, the rad is under the desk. The damaged area is toward the non-viewable side, so as long as it works....it works!

I'll update more at a later time.....

[1oooop]

that's why I get new rads(you can jack them from just about anyone who fixes cars) no, I'm kidding... good job fixing it tho... I never thot that you can do that to fix it.... well, that particular tube was useless anyway so, no worries except condensation

[Hoboclese]

just thought of the coolest thing ever and this gave me the inspiration.

ok things you will need shovel and lots of PVC

k so dig a big hole in your yard about 2 meters by 2 meters and about 1 meter down
then lay pvc tubing down in a back and forth pattern
then rig it up to your WC loop

i think this will work cause ground temp is about 7-21 degrees Celsius 1 meter down

[theorie]

This reminds me of what BladeRunner did several years ago. His website Zero Fan Zone (ZFZ) has since shut down, and all traces of it are now gone, but that guy did some amazing stuff. I remember he used a tractor to dig a 10 foot deep hole, then burried a huge tank down there where it was always cold - then he pumped the water in though his house. Every component of his system was watercooled (from scratch): even the PSU. That guy made some AMAZING watercooling parts.

He pretty much fell off the face of the internet...anyone know what happened to him?

[STEvil]

Very nice setup.

I would keep the barrel.

[1oooop]

I agree, I can only hope to have a setup this good

[xTKxhom3r]

WTF!!! alot of time on your hands bro? lol nice build though it keeps everything nice n cool....

now make a chiller !!!

[1oooop]

i wonder if i can use a car water pump... hmm