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Well Oiled Computers

K

karrock

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 11, 2004
Messages
427
This guy's PC has been submerged in off-the-shelf ordinary vegetable oil for a year and it's still working!

rechner11.jpg

http://www.oilcomputer.com

Another PC submerged in oil
http://www.tractum.de

First seen on Boing Boing

I'd love to do a mod like BrainEater's ThinkTank, but I don't think I'm that industrious or capable...
 
So? Nothing special....there are no ions present in oil...oils do not autoionize.
 
if I am correct, oil does not conduct, but if say, water or another foreign substnace were to get into the tank, coulnd' it mess up parts? What about dust? Would dust remain on top of the oil or sink? If on top, no problem, just wondering about cleaning...
 
Oil will go rancid after a while, especially if kept warm... I'm surprised it didn't start to stink after the first month.

And can I just say.... ew!

-Nate

 
Water and oil don't mix, so it's pretty easy to skim water (or some other liquid) off the top of oil, as far as I have read...
 
What exactly are the benefits to this? Does the oil remove heat from the hardware significanting better than air?
 
Stoopidguy - water is heavier than oil... it'll sink right down to the bottom... where the motherboard is.

Robberbaron - oil conducts heat MUCH better than air. Like, I don't know, 1000 times or so better. Think of baking versus deep frying. Ever reach into a 500 degree oven? Not so bad, right? Now think about when a tiny bit of 500 degree oil splatters on your arm. Hurts like an SOB, right?

Not entirely sure how he cools the oil, since it'll eventually heat up... maybe 'if you spread the heat out that much, it'll dissipate into the air fast enough...

-Nate

 
Nate- thank you for reaffirming my belief that Water is indeed more dense than Oil, and from what I have read, if you have enough oil, the heat gets spread out enough that it dissapates quickly and doesn't usually reach a few degrees above room temperature.
 
So then if you're willing to deal with the smell, this isnt that impractical of a setup?
 
if you seal the case air tight it shouldn't smell.

The big problem I see is that I always thought oil deteriorated silicon based components and world break the computer in 3 months. however, this guy says 1 year so who knows.
 
i remember reading about another idea like this, but using a special liquid Just for this type of purpose. can't remember where i read about it though but some company had technical PDFs about it.
 
I dont know about Oil breaking down silicon but...
Most of your big power distribution transformers are Oil Filled.
Even bigger ones are Oil Filled Oil Forced, where Oil is forced through radiators much like water is in domestic cooling solutions. I thought about using some special transformer oil from work and doing this to my computer, but the thought of the impending mess all over my house turned me off reeeeeaaaaal fast.
 
i..just don't know what to think. probably good he didn't use motor oil.

although, i can totally see how it would work out. it's just strange is all.

and for being on the "english site" it sure is in deutsch.
 
i think it would take a lot more than just "a" spark to set vegetable oil on fire.

Vegetable Oil *Mist*

and that's for a mist of vegetable oil, which I would assume is more flammable than a tub of oil.

"1. Flash point (closed cup): 162 to 282degreesC (323 to 540 degrees F)"
 
I actually worked on a Group4 science experiment, a requirement of the IB diploma... anyway, we wanted to go nice and easy, so we found out the Specific heat capacities of different oils.

Here are my results:
Sunflower: 2256 J/kg/°C
Corn: 1636 J/kg/°C
Sesame: 2183 J/kg/°C
Olive: 2883 J/kg/°C

Now, each of these results were the averages of three trials, and they were quite high in uncertainty.

Nonetheless, it indicates that oils have very high specific heat capacities.
Pure water has nature's highest, at 4180 J/kg/°C... and few things come close. As far as a cheap-ass alternative to dielectric fluid, oils seem to kick ass! They should absorb a lot of heat from the CPU while not raising in temperature by any significant amount.

I guess the advantage is being able to run all your shit open-core...
but it must really suck if after one year of sealed-off oil tubbage, you find out you need to reset your cmos jumper... eeech.
 
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