[wowza]

PLEASE READ 1st!
I forgot to dedicate this build to somebody, and I highly regret not saying anything, which makes me sound completely selfish

I would like to thank Drewmeister from Extreme overclocking Forums, he is a giant in this field, building custom chillers for overclockers like you and me. His uber l33t builds include his AC-X chiller, which is 1000x better than mine (look at the custom work!). He has given me tons of his little freetime, answering my n00b questions hour after hour, PM after PM, helping me late into the night/morning (yes were talking 4AM) I appreciate all the help he has given me, his guide and I shouldn't have left you out, otherwise, I would be a lost little n00bie still on my thermaltake bigwater! Again thanks bro, you made this possible for me.

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Ok so I decided to start to build a chiller. First, I ran by my local Sears and picked up a Kenmore 5150 BTU A/C unit. Then I went to my local ACE and orderd a Rubbermaid 12 Can Cooler (didn't have it instock so I ordered one, which should arrive thrusday). Also, I picked up some dielelectric grease and some silicone for insulation. I also picked up a Swiftech MCW6000-775 waterblock which is an easy insulator, and will do the trick. For tubing, I picked up 15 feet of the Clearflex 60 3/8" ID, 5/8" OD which was only .89 cents a foot (if you buy 10+ feet). I have a lot of work ahead of me, and I will try to keep this updated as much as possible..

I ran to the Home Depot and picked up some Pipe Insulation (only thing they had) some Pipe Wrap and some White Cork Tape for insulation on the back of the motherboard. I also ordered some HydrX from Xixode, though, I didn't order enough mis-calculating the amout of HydrX for my setup, those little bottles are a rip off

I am probably going to run to an auto shop in my area and pick up some Watter Wetter
I still need to buy a pump and I was offered a Danner Mag 5 which I might get. I also need to pick up some Prestone De-Icer which may be hard to find in Cal-i due to the heavy restrictions on that kind of stuff.

Update:
Tonight (still working) I unscrewed my way into my chiller, there was one stupid screw that I had to grind off

which set me back quite a bit of time.. I get some pics in a second.

 

[wowza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thehybridpyro whats this costing? like $160~ so far?

Price rundown, glad you brought this up. This is one of the main advantages of a water chiller. It's cheap and effective if you want subzero on a buget. It also runs very quiet (quieter than a Vantec tornado)

110 A/C unit
20 Tubing
30 Waterblock
100 Pump (didn't go cheap, but could get one for around 50)
20 Insulation stuff
15 Rubbermaid 12 can cooler
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295 Total so far.

I still have to get the Prestone De-Icer and the Water Wetter, assume an extra 40 bux ontop of that 320.. This would all be a lot cheaper if I had a decent water setup to go off of. Unfortunatly, the TT kit I have would crack in a milisecond if it got a hint of subzero.

 

[wowza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuchan This will be very interesting as mine seemed to be a bit of a failure for reasons I have now rectified. Good luck and lots of progress reprts\\pics please As for a pump, you could look into the pond pump idea, submergable, heaps of grunt and cheaper. gees I was using a 1600LPH job. If the chiller gets happening again if I dont go drirct die, the compressor and (slush box) will be located maybe outside with insulated pipes running to and from. No noise at all I put a garden hose on the pump and put the hose over the top of the house and it pumped water no worries. Enjoy.

Thanks.. I was mainly avoiding submersable pumps in my tank because it adds extra heat (yea, lame reason

) and they are a little more damage prone when sitting in -30c water. Also, I am very tight on space with that evap in the tank so I don't think I could fit a pump in there. Definitly insulating pipes is a biggie.. I got a ton of insulation tape and some of that foam, don't need Ice forming on the tubes..

I'll give you tons of updates, probably every other day, depending on how school sports goes for me.

 

[wowza]

Ok, I will keep that in mind. I know there is something out there that will do the trick.. Humm we have fairly dinkey hardware stores here in the states (at least where I live) most of them just carry the basic stuff. I really have to go to a home improvement center to get anything done these days, though it's about a 30 min drive from where I live (traffic

)

 

[wowza]

Update
I gutted my setup a little more, took out the styrophome, and took out the extra junk in an A/C unit. I fired it up and got some frozen condensation buildup going

Many pics to come!

 

[wowza]

@ Tuchan, I read that at XS, they painted and polished their setup, mainly for looks.. Didn't do anything to their preofrmance

@ hvacgaspiping, Thanks for the thoughts, I was planning on insulating the compressor pipes that should let me deal with the condensation problem somewhat. I wasn't planning on removing fans from the condenser, that is more or less suscide.

I ran by ace to pickup my cooler that I am planning on putting the evap in, but they didn't have it in yet. They will by tommrow. There isn't much I can do right now untill the pipes come along with that cooler.

 

[wowza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvacgaspiping Hey Wowza, Why not set that chiller outside and make it a split system. What I`m talking about is setting the compressor/condenser unit outside and pipe the refrigerant lines through a wall/window to the evaporator inside your house where it sits in the reservoir. The only other control you`ll need for the outside unit is a condenser fan cycling control for cold weather operation. This control would connect to the refrigerant liquid line (smaller refrigerant line to the evaporator) via of an access tee with a schrader tap. This control would keep the refrigerant pressures at the correct level for proper operation when it`s cold outside. When the weather warms up it would just keep the fan run normally, instead of cycling on and off. You just have to make sure that you have the glycol mix concentrated enough for winter time, in case the pump quit or got shut off accidentally.

My parents wouldn't let me do any house remodeling in the process of this build

Idealy that is what I would do, use a full setup with the compressor + conden. outside and the evap inside. I would probably go LN2 before I did that though. Also, the coldest it gets on a chilly night is 40F, usually not nearly that cold. What do you recommend for insulating the compressor again? Could I use the pipe wrap or would I need something else?

Btw, I will give you all an update tonight

 

[wowza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvacgaspiping You don`t need to insulate the compressor itself, just the suction line and accumulator connecting to the compressor. The compressor shouldn`t get cold enough during normal operation to cause condensation. If something weird happens to cause it to get cold enough to have condensation form on it, then there is some improper operating condition. If this is worrying you, then you can cover the area where the suction line enters (maybe a 2" to 3" diameter area) it with closed cell rubber insulation (Armaflex). You have to be careful here, so as not to cover too much area. If you do, it could cause the compressor to run too hot and also present a fire hazard with the insulation getting too warm.

Ok, thanks for the tips, I was wondering if I should get that accumulator wrapped up.

Humm I got some more pics to post, just got in my chiller today. Tommrow I am going to cruise around to find some De-icer. Hope I can get something for low enough temps.. I'll attach a few pix in a second

 

[wowza]

Thanks, but any kind of Antifreeze will be too thick for any pump below 0C.

Ok I got my tubing today after waiting a week and a half for UPS to deliver it at their own leisure. Later, I am going to cut into the cooler and custom fit in the tubes. That is my next project. Over the weekend, I went searching for De-icer, though unfortunatly I couldn't find any. All that was in stock was the "summer blend" which isn't good past 0c. I hope I can get it instores to I don't have to pay the ripoff price for shipping.

 

[wowza]

Update, I cut the hole for the lines between the evap and the compressor, took me a good 30min to do. My wepon of mass distruction was a box cutter. Tommrow I will cut the holes for the inlet and oulet tubes for the waterlines.

The measurements on that is 1 3/4" down and 1" across

 

[wowza]

Update
to start, I enlarged the hole in my cooler, to accompany the size of my copper lines running from the accumulator to the evap. I used a hack saw on that one, works much faster than using a box cutter. Next, I got the evap and the copper lines as close as possible so I could fit it in the cooler. It eventually worked without any major problems. The evap fit perfectly into the 12 can cooler

just as planned. Next, I need to work on drilling the holes for the clearflex tubing for my water loop. Also, I need to buy some Prestone De-Icer which can be a PITA to find where I live. I'll give you some updates on how the drilling goes.

 

[wowza]

Update: I drilled the holes for the supply and return lines for my loop, I used a 3/4" forstner bit, cut through that stuff like butter, but leaves a nice little mess behind. (stupid static electricity and insulation stuff

)

tommrow, I am going to start to insulate my waterblock..

 

[wowza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roxter sorry to ask again, but do you have the pump yet, and what kind is it? i really need one for my system but am not sure which one to get and not really willing to pay much money.

I'm getting a Mag 5 pump (build by Danner). I payed 30 shipped for it, used and will do the trick just fine. No worries about the Q's, my thread is open to all Q's people may have on my build

Anyways, moving on. Over the weekend I bought some De-Icer and some Redline water wetter. I was supprised to find that De-Icer in California, but I did. Tommrow, I am going to start to insualte my tubing

 

[wowza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuchan Did you get a hold of any insulation yet? This is looking good mate, cheers for the pics

The pipe wrap will do the trick.. We will see, it's more or less a trial and error, since this is my first build. I will have a ton of pics tommrow

 

[wowza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thehybridpyro im looking forward to the pics on a scale of 1 to 10, how hard is this? im proficent with most power tools, and have a knack for putting thihgs together

Humm, it's actually fairly easy. I just takes a little of creation and some patience at times. Depending on your scale it really isn't much harder than building a computer. I mean, It's basically like having a perminatly frozen item in your water bay chilling the water. Sometimes it's tedious work, othertimes it's more or less fun. The hardest part about this is insulation. It takes a ton of insulation around the CPU block, and you also have to insulate the tubing, motherboard, pump, basically everywhere the water flows. If your done with the insulation, everything else is a breeze.

 

[wowza]

@ Hybrid - check the 1st page and on for continueous updates, most of the info is in the 1st post.

@ HVAC - I bought that Green stuff at a "speciality" auto parts store. I am very suprised to find it where I live for a few reasons, one being the main ingrediant is Alcohol that is super flammable and is potentially harmful to the enviorment and 2 being, it won't get below 0 where I live, heck, won't get anywhere near that, and yet they sell -30F De-icer. I know for shure most of the other colors are banned from sale in Cal due to the alcohol levels.

@ Tuchan - So far nothing has gone wrong, I am passed the hard part of fitting the chiller in the 12 can cooler, all the insulation work is more or less busy work.

Update
Ok, tonight I started with insulating my motherboard. First, I removed my Northbridge fan so I could better insualte the area around that. I used my mom's clear nail polish to coat around the CPU socket and near the northbridge. After that, I used white cork tape on the motherboard's surface to stick and protect the circuits ect. from condensation. It is very sticky, feels a lot like gum, I wish however I would have got the black cork tape and not the white, since my board is black. One last note on the cork tape, DONT compleatly cover the chips (see last pic), expecially the MOSFET chips and the clock frequency chips, otherwise we would have some major problems with overheating and other bad things.

Next up, I need to spread some silicone around the capacitatiors to provent from condenstation build-up and corrosion (needs to be air tight!) and I also need to gap off the memory slots so no air / water will seep under their causing any more problems. Later, I will build up the dielectric grease around the CPU socket so I can have an air tight seal around the processor. Tommrow, I am going to get a custom heater like this for a vapo LS kit to help me around the backside of the motherboard so I have to do less insulation work, also, this is another form of security against the condensation.

 

[wowza]

Thanks guys,
ok, small update time,
I mostly finished with the cork tape insulating around the motherboard. Takes quite a bit of time around those MOSFET's, attention to detail here can save your board. Next, I need to work my way around the power MOSFET's, the more difficult part, they are currently being covered by a stock heatsink. I'll probably take that off and order some new ones, and use some sticky thermal tape to attach it. That's still in the books, but next up, I will be using silicone for an airtight seal around some of the capacitators near the CPU, seal off the northbridge and seal off the ram sockets and the PCI-E socket.

 

[wowza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tylor360 Does that look like oatmeal to anyone else in here? -10 for the prettyness factor but I guess when you computer run at sub-zero temperatures you can show off with that

lol I know, it actually feels a lot like gum, and works like gum. It really isn't to difficult, just time consuming, and sometimes anoying when it comes to those small cracks. Just wait till we get to the CPU socket, then the delecate/hard part comes, expecially for my board, with the pins in the motherboard

That prettyness factor will jump when you see the temps

I'll see If I can get the silicone on before too long so I can give you guys another update, unfortunatly, I'm in the middle of reading Ken Kesey's Cuckoo's nest for school.

 

[wowza]

Ok, so tonight I compleated the front side of insulating my motherboard (- CPU)... I had to use silicone on the capacitators to give them a watertight seal, this protects the connectors from condensation and possible corrosion. It's messy stuff, but it's much faster, and better than using the cork tape, expecially in those small, hard to reach areas. Boy, I'm burned, I got a lot to tackle comming up.

What's next?
1. Insulate back side of board using more cork tape, and foam tape for added protection
2. Order a Heater for added security
3. Work on the CPU (dielectric grease + airtight seal) and fitting in the waterblock.
4. Sleep until my pump arrives (thanks lando

)

I'm open to any questions you may have.

 

[wowza]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omri i gotta really big question for ya... when are we going to see the chiller in action!?

lol good question..
Well, I still have to do the following
1. Order the condensation heater (maybe by the end of the week because I am ordering some custom ones)
2. Wait for my water pump to arrive
3. Insulate my waterblock
4. Install the heater and inulate the back of my motherboard
5. Insulate my accumulator so it doesn't crack
6. Insulate my waterpump from frost buildup
7. Insulate all my tubing using the stiff celled tubing insulation and pipe wrap
8. Get the right ratio of de-icer and watterwetter correct.
9. Pressure and leak test the system
10. Post a lot of pics on my backup 700MHz mac w/64 megs of ram and intagrated gfx. (the longest part)
11. Start to OC and get some 5GHz results....

So for time estimations, Mid next week, you will see my waterblock covered in ice, by the next weekend, I hope to have my Heater in, and back of the board inulated, and by 2 weeks from now, pressure and leak tested to profection. Not to mention I still am looking to buy a raptor..

for temps, a safe guess on temps would be -20c idle and -10c load, mabye lower if I decide to mod the setup. My goal is to get better temps than the OCZ phase change system when it comes out