What do you think about my next possible crazy water cooling system? - Page 3

Thanks for all the ideas.

Yeah, I was thinking of actually going with 2 pumps. 1 pump to circulate the water from the bottom rest where the stones are, up to the top, where gravity will take over and it will trickle down and into the res again. I'll cut the line of that system and put one side of the the heat exchanger on that "loop" (an open loop).

On the other side of the heat exchanger, I will put a second pump, my spare D5. That will basically just circulate the water through the other side of the exchanger and into my water blocks.

So hopefully the Jabao PP-399L pump that comes with it is up to the task. Otherwise, I could just co "completely hand made" and go with a larger pump, The same manufacturer makes a WP2000 that is 530 Gallons per hour and has 10 foot head for only $43 (or a 792gph w/11.5 feet of head for $50).

I will say the thought of using actual stone would be interesting. Heavy as hell, but it would act as its own radiator. It just might be too complex for me (I'm no stone mason). While the sheet of stone and having water slide down it would work, I love the look of the "Aqueduct" and the multiple points of falling water.


Edited by 47 Knucklehead - 7/19/12 at 8:17pm

Well, the more I think about it, the more I think I'm going to do with a 100% build from scratch setup. I think I've got most of the major components picked out (or at least a good idea), but strangely, the thing I can't seem to find is some sort of reservoir tank. Basically I'm just looking for something that is an open topped rectangle with, preferably, two flanges in the bottom that I can easily attach holes to or are pre-threaded (to avoid the issue of leaks.

Copper would be awesome (but expensive), and if I had that, I could easily braize in some fittings in the bottom, and because it would look nice, I'd leave the top part exposed maybe an inch or two. But plastic would work, and would most likely be cheap.

This will sit inside a custom made wood stand that I would either finish or paint and hold the heat exchanger and pump (and heaven forbid, a second radiator and fan if this doesn't have enough cooling capacity).

This reservoir would then have a submersible pump placed in it to carry the water up to the upper "rock waterfall", and then be filled with nice looking stones and filled with a gallon or two of distilled water (and maybe a silver coil).


So if anyone can assist me in finding this, I'd appreciate it.




As far as the rock for the upper part of the water fall, I'm going to go with real slate. Since this will be inside my house, where we typically keep the air temp at 68-75F, the stone will be able to weep away lots of heat. Most likely I'm going to do with a hand built, irregular shaped (at least in places) "stacked slate" look. Something like this, except with pieces of slate jutting out 2-3" at various points to get a "water fall effect", as opposed to just water sliding down a flat surface. The "aqueduct" look is what I'd really like, but that is just something I can't build. Maybe if I see something like that in real stone in a garden center, I can go for that, but the stacked stone is something I can do.



or


Edited by 47 Knucklehead - 7/20/12 at 8:22am

Well, I found some real copper "window planter liners" that look perfect, as expected, the copper ones are expensive ($160-180) for a 24"L x 8"W x 8.5"H one. They are made with 16-22oz sheets of copper. So popping 2 holes in the bottom then brazing in two hose fittings would be a snap.




Alternatively, they also have an identical sized "copper-tone finish" galvanized steel box, for only $75. Only problem is, I don't know if you can braze galvanized steel and how will that work with a heat exchanger with a copper core? Dissimilar metals and all.

Thoughts?