dk8100

Please try to keep this thread clean.

For about the last year I have wanted to set up a bong cooler, also knows as an evaporative cooler. There is a thread about it here thank you NoL.

One of the disadvantages of a bong cooler is that everything that evaporates goes into your room unless you have an exhaust. I decided that I was going to use a bong cooler that had an exhaust out the window and then I figured that I may as well just use the winter air from outside to cool off the water. Evaporative coolers also tend to build up a bunch of junk that you don't want ending up running through all your expensive blocks and building up in your loop. So I got to thinking and figured why not isolate the bong from my loop and use it as a chiller. I do a lot of work on cars and this is kind of like a water to air intercooler. I have been planning it for a couple months and about 2 weeks ago it becme a reality. Right now it is cooling a Q6700 w/2x7950GT which is the loop from my insulation thread.

For the chiller box I used a rubbermaid container. This is a pic of the pump for the computer's loop mounted to the reservoir.


This is my super precise window plate. Further on you will see the custom mounts I used for this plate.


I mounted the radiator at around a 45 degree angle in the reservoir. The radiator is a Black Ice GT Stealth 360


Here is the exhaust pipe with the shower head. The shower head is held in place by the tubing and a hacked up fan backing.



Here the tower is after assembly.


Note the impressive duct tape work to hold up the t-line and just about everything else.





The drain from the tower sprays onto the radiator.


I originally used the gigabyte pump for the tower but that led to this bubble at the top of the tubing. Clearly a sign of the pump not having enough head. I then put a db-1 in series with the gigabyte pump which worked better until a piece of tubing came off the db-1 (my fault not the db-1) and then i gave up on that setup. I went and bought another D-5 and 10 ft of primoflex tubing. This gave me enough power to prevent bubbles at the top of the loop.






This is a picture of the intake fan. The flange is made up of 2 empty fan housings taped together.


The current problem with the setup is the fan. Its a cheap 40cfm or something and i really don't think its moving enough air to effectively cool the water. The water gets nice and cool and when it gets down to around 0C outside the cores of my Q6700 3250 @ 1.36V all idle between 10 and 15C. The load temps have not gone above 30 any time in the past week or two. The reason for the vague numbers is the temps change constantly as the outside temp varies. I hope to make this thing more effective later but I have a lot of classwork over the next few weeks so it may have to wait.


For anyone considering something like this here are a few words of advice:
Plan and measure a lot before you make a mess and end up mounting the tower with duct tape hold downs.

Buy a GOOD pump and a GOOD fan. These are not things to cheap on because if you do it will render your tower basically ineffective.
Look around for the best shower head or make your own sprayer. I bought an adjustable one but if i had to do it again I would get one that sprayed a lot more.

Price the thing out first and decide whether or not its worth it for you. My project was mostly for experimental value. PVC is a lot more expensive than you think, and when you add the cost of the pump it can really drive up the cost. While the initial cost is high, this is about the cheapest long term chiller you can run as far as I know. The pump pulls very little electricity. The fan pulls even less. If you are in a climate where it is cold I cannot think of a more efficient way to chill your system. I am currently in a state of frequently checking the weather hoping to see -20F in the future. It really isn't all that loud. It may be worth while to add another fan pulling air out the exhaust.

dk8100

Pics aren't working right now guys. I'll try and fix that.

Edit: figured out whythey weren't working will try to have fixed in a few minutes

holtzman

Nice job!! I wish I could do that, but I'm broke, bring my computer to lan parties, and live with my parents (im 17) so thats a no-go. Plus my computer is nowhere near a window haha.

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Ultrasonic2 (muffy)

Why didn't you just stick the radiator out side and not bother with the rest .. or is it just for fun ? :-)

dk8100

I just spent a couple minutes trying to think of a really good reason to not just stick the radiator outside and i couldn't. It was almost entirely for fun.

One reason that may eventually come into play is that water is going to cool the radiator more effectively than air. If i can find a good way of circulating the chilled water over the radiator i think it would cool a lot more effectively than just putting it outside. I kinda wanted to test this theory with the chiller which is why is submersed the radiator. Just as an example when I had the water down to just a couple inches deep in the tank the cooling was still able to keep my quad around 15C with less than 1/3 of the radiator under water. I don't think only using one fan on a BI GTS would be able to cool my setup to those kind of temps with the radiator outside, but thats just my theory.

It was lots of fun though. Except for that part where the tubing popper off the db-1 and sprayed water all over the place.

mega_option101

Looking good, where I come from putting the rad outside would benefit my loop a lot more lol but I do like your idea

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dk8100

Yeah I kinda wish it was a lot colder here. If doesn't drop below -10F at some point this winter im gonna get some dry ice and drop that in the tub and see how well that works.

mega_option101

Might as well try it eh

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ira-k

HaHa...Looks like fun.....Thanks for the pic's...I helped a Buddy make one a long time ago, he filled it full of ping-pong balls to film out the water...It worked pretty good with a Little Giant pond pump...He tore it down after a week or two it was already turning black and you don't really want to add any additives to it since it vaporizes into the air...I think everyone should build one they are a lot of fun...

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dk8100

I have antifreeze in it right now and im gonna be putting aquarium biocide form walmart in there in a day or two. I'm not worried about adding the additives because they are exhausted outside.

How does the ping pong thing work? That might help my temps if it spreads the water out i guess.

Any advice on what size of fan i would need for it to be more effective? I was thinkin 100CFM would do the job but I don't know if I really need that much.