Antifreeze as Cooling Liquid?

J

JCNiest5

Supreme [H]ardness
2FA
Joined
Apr 25, 2005
Messages
4,141
Okay, so I was thinking of using real antifreeze coolant for my cooling project because I will be putting the radiator outside with the snow so I can get a better cooling. Is that a safe practice or is antifreeze a no no for cooling?
 
You can use some rad coolant but note two things: use only between 0% to 30% coolant per volume; coolant (glycol) is both denser and less efficient than pure water and should only be recommended has a biocede and/or anti-rust inhibitor for systems with lots of copper/alum.
 
Using only 30%, wouldn't it freeze, though, since it's gonna locate outside the house?
 
No, but it depends how cold your winters are to determine the blend.
The coolant in your car should be about 50/50 and it does not freeze at normal winter temps (good till -40F or so). The purpose of the antifreeze is it will lower water's natural freezing point. Pure antifreeze typically freezes around -5F. By using water as a catalyst it will lower the freezing point of it. A 30% blend will get you to around -10F--15F probably. Now remember when your running your computer your loop will be significantly higher than these points so on really really cold days you could just keep your computer running.
 
put condensation into the equation. cold coolant coming into room temp will cause condensation. be careful
 
dakrat said:
put condensation into the equation. cold coolant coming into room temp will cause condensation. be careful
Click to expand...

again it depends in his location, we have very dry weather here. then again he mentions snow so...
 
Yeah, I think there may be a problem with condensation. Maybe it's not a good idea for such project. I will think of something else to do my project. Thanks for the input.
 
as long as the water pump stays on and the water is constantly flowing you're not gonna have a problem with it freezing
 
A long while ago when i was just getting into watercooling, think socket A days, I ran both anitfreeze and an alcohol mix. Both worked well. I could maintain ambient with no issue. Thos cpus/gpus don't output as much total heat though as todays. Especially gpus. Water has been proven time and again to be the most efficient. But for circumstances like yours where you'll have the rad in low temps then an additive is needed. Look into peltier cooling if you're worried about condensation. Peltier users have been fighting condensation for years and have come up with some ingenious ways to do so.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top