[Bong cooler] From water back to air

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About this blog: Computers hate me. They really do. Every time I try to do something unusual like add new hardware, something is guaranteed to go wrong. I decided to start writing about my constant problems so that someone else might benefit from my experiences - or at least laugh at them!

[Bong cooler] From water back to air

23 May 2009, 10:20pm

I attempted to add a video card water block into my bong cooling loop last night, and experienced a water leak. Despite tightening (and loosening) the connectors, cutting and reseating the tubing, and other fiddling, the leak persisted. I'd been feeling so-so about having water piped under pressure into the office for a while, so this was enough to make me decide it was time to get rid of it. I'll still fiddle with the bong cooler but in a more passive way that doesn't involve water coming into the office - perhaps something like an evaporative cooler pre-cooling system. I already have ideas of pushing outside air through a radiator which is "cooled" by the bong cooler water loop, then the air goes through multiple layers of muslin that have water sprayed on them.

I'm used to seeing idle temps of 20-21C and "high load" temps only 1 or 2 degrees higher, because the water loop and bong cooler are so good at shedding the heat... now it's more like 45C idle, 69C at load. It's a stock Intel cooler; I bet I'm going to have problems in summer when things warm up. I'm already a bit nervous about a Q6600 hitting 70C, and it's the middle of winter here.

On the plus side, there doesn't seem to have been any corrosion or water marking due to condensation. I was sure that after about 8 months I'd find (some) evidence of this - on cold nights the bong cooler water temperature can drop to 10C, which is a fair difference from a 35C case/mainboard temperature. Luckily the CPU and water block seem to have come through unscathed.