Curiosity - Strange coolant ideas

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BellaCroix

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 25, 2004
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Let me preface this by saying I'm not planning on doing it, but I was sitting around pouring rubbing alcohol on a cut and my mind started wandering...

Has anyone ever used Isopropyl Alcohol in a water cooling loop? What advantages/disadvantages could you forsee. I know the 50% solution's boiling point in 180°F, flash point is much lower but without an ignition source that shouldn't be an issue (Okay, I have too many MSDS at work that I read on lunch when I'm bored).

Yes, I know the cold feeling you get when you put it on your skin is caused by it's rapid evaporation and that wouldn't play a part in a loop (unless a bong set-up would work). It should kill nasties in the loop, but I think it's electrically conductive, right... so it would do nothing to stop corrosion?

Just curious.
 
IPA will attack certain types plastics, and of course, certain types of tubing/o-rings.

Not to mention evaporation rates. A WC setup may be a closed loop, but it will probably leach thru seals and tubing easier than a water solution.

Not to mention a real fire hazard if you have a leak and it falls on live electrical components!:p

Jim
 
Nothing in your computer gets hot enough to ignite it, so the whole flammability aspect of alcohol doesn't matter.

But yeah it will not play nice with plastic/rubber parts.
 
so lets say you make a custom setup all out of copper. i was playing around with they idea myself since i work in construction. of course, the system would be all custom and not transferable from case to case, but would it work?? are there any other liquids that would cool better than water, maybe acetone?? anything goes since it would be tightly sealed and use all copper/ceramic/brass parts with little to no chance of leaking. i already considered the pump and have a design in mind that would run off the power supply much like a fan. only thing really holding me back is what type of liquid would cool better than water and not react with the copper and what not.
 
There aren't many fluids better than water for absorbing heat. I think Mercury does, but that would be expensive and dangerous :p
 
thewhiteguy said:
There aren't many fluids better than water for absorbing heat. I think Mercury does, but that would be expensive and dangerous :p
Click to expand...

Now that would be [H]ard :cool:
 
Nothing really beats water for thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity. LH2 is the only other thing I can think of that comes close but there may be a couple things out there. The only reason why you'd ever want to mess with water is for different freezing / boiling temps, kill swimmies and floaties, or change it's electrochemical properties.
 
Good lord, could you imagine having an "accident" with a mercury cooled computer. You'd need a hazmat crew to clean it up. Mercury is heavy, I wouldn't feel safe running it through a plastic res, and rubber tubes. Not to mention, I don't think any of the pump we use would hold up too well with mercury.

As soon as I'm done refinishing my basement I'm starting a submerssion project I've been waiting for. I'm going to be using some sort of oil, I still need to do some test with various oils and temps.
 
lozaning said:
what kind of pump would you even use to run mercury through your loop
Click to expand...
You'd either need a really powerful magnetic drive pump or some sort of diaphram pump.
 
You'd need a clear glass res with temperature ticks etched into it... who needs an inline temp sensor when the coolant becomes it's own thermometer.
 
thewhiteguy said:
Nothing in your computer gets hot enough to ignite it, so the whole flammability aspect of alcohol doesn't matter.

But yeah it will not play nice with plastic/rubber parts.
Click to expand...

Flash/Ignition point of 50% Isopropyl is only about 53°F... I'd have to think there's something in the case that if shorted out could produce a spark of that temp.
 
He did say a closed copper loop system... There would be no need for hoses/clamps, etc.


You'd need a clear glass res with temperature ticks etched into it... who needs an inline temp sensor when the coolant becomes it's own thermometer.
Click to expand...

There isn't a smiley invented yet to express how cool that would be. I'll have to make do:


:eek:
 
Okay... we've got Isopropyl and Mercury... keep it going... what other strange ideas?
 
I think mercury might work. I don't think it would have a problem with copper, and if you used a "only one moving part" style pump the pump should be OK. I think it is thiker than water, but it has been a long time since I've been around mercury. Does anyone know where one could buy mercury besides buying a lot of old thermomitors or mercury switches?
 
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