Whole room watercooling

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Freak1

Limp Gawd
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Sep 9, 2009
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hi

I’m planning to do a whole room watercooling system. 8 systems alle with 1080TIs and different i7 cpus, I already have water blocks for 4 of the 1080ti EK ftw3 blocks that I plan to use.

I’ll like to mount a radiator on the outside of the house. I would prefer one or more car radiator for price and size.

I’ll like to run it passively so I don’t have to use any fans, or only use fans on hot days. Radiators will be in shade all day.

I get outside temperatures from -15 to +35 Celsius so I would use something with antifreeze.

Everything should be able to run at the same time and run 24/7.

First problem I see is if I use car radiator is they are mostly all aluminum. The blocks are Nikkel / copper.

Also. A normal pump like the one I already have
EK-XTOP Revo Dual D5 PWM Serial - (incl. 2x pump) be enough? Thinking I might go with something not normally used in watercooling.

All PCs should be able to disconnect individual while all others run. So i will make everything with quick release coblings.

This has 2 objectives. 1. Move the heat outside the room get very hot even with only 5 pcs I got running now. 2. Remove the noice from the room.

Any thoughts, ideers and help is apriciated.
 
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Look into how hvac outdoor air conditioner lines are run. Beyond that, I'm not really sure the best way to do it.
 
35 outside is still less that you're system will normally run at full load so with enough surface area, I could see it work. You may need a fan during the heat of the summer though. You could pick up an old ac condensing unit from a scrap yard or something and plumb it into that. It'd be all copper. Put a fan cycle switch so the fan only kicks on at x degrees or something.
 
SticKx911 said:
35 outside is still less that you're system will normally run at full load so with enough surface area, I could see it work. You may need a fan during the heat of the summer though. You could pick up an old ac condensing unit from a scrap yard or something and plumb it into that. It'd be all copper. Put a fan cycle switch so the fan only kicks on at x degrees or something.
Click to expand...

35 is very rare. 25 is more normal for summer.

Good idea with the used ac unit, will look into that.
 
Interesting idea of having a multi-system liquid cooling system.

Here are my thoughts:

  • Agree with the split system used by hvac systems. In fact the outside condenser coil would make a kickass radiator since it is made of copper. It would be robust since it does not have to deal with the pressures found in an hvac system. I woujld shoot for a 1 to 1.5 ton condenser coil. Re-purpose the big top fan for moving are thru the coil (you won't need the compressor).
  • Coolant would need to be a good grade of automotive antifreeze for sure since the condenser would be subjected to temps ranging between -15c (or where I am -25c) to +35c.
  • You would want a 'pressure' pump to move the coolant through the circuits D5 or even a serial pair of them while pretty good, would not be enough due to the parallel lines going to each system. While I don't know the head you have in mind you would need something like a pond pump to move all that liquid - it is not just about parallel circuits, it is also about how much that liquid has to lift coolant from the pump to the target systems. Any pump has a specification of how much lift they will do at any given flow rate (up to their maximum).
  • You would want intake and return manifolds with branches to each system. A ball valve on the intake side of each system would be needed to isolate the system when it is not in use or include it in the cooling loop. The ID of the manifolds should be large - perhaps with an ID as high as 9/16" to 5/8". Each branch I would limit to 3/8" to keep the pressures up in the manifold. Coolant should enter(intake) or exit(return) both ends of the manifolds to keep the flow even from end to end. You don't one system at the one end of the manifold getting more coolant than the one at the end. Likewise for the returns.
  • Be sure to have a good sized reservoir to help keep coolant temperatures stabilized. As well most pond pumps are submerged in the coolant.

Upsides:

  • You eliminate the need of a radiator and pump for each system. This limits space needed in small form systems.
  • You can control how fast to run the pump and condenser fan as needed using variable speed managing circuitry (if your pump and fan supports it).

Downsides:

  • It is not a small undertaking. There will be a lot of hand fabrication needed for the manifolds and adapting coolant lines to the condenser coil.
  • There is also a lot of math and measurements needed to get the flow resistances for each system.
  • Because the radiator is outside, it is subject to the whims of nature. Summer temperatures can cause higher system temperatures while winter temps give you nice chilly system temps. Those winter temps will also subject your system to sub-zero temperatures which need to be treated as if you are running a sub-zero chiller (because during winter - you are!). This means insulation and condensation/frost damage prevention on your system's waterblocks.


But it sounds like it would be a fun project.
 
If you want to passively cool it, car radiators will be poor as they have very narrow fin pitch, e.g. they need forced air/high air pressure to pass air through and cool.
I would look at passive heating style radiators instead as they will have large fin pitch but you'll need more area for them as they are less dense.

Another way to go is a ground loop or a pool which has been done before.
P.s. this isn't reddit, hands off that enter key!
 
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Thanks for the videos. I already saw them all though :)

I found a scraped AC unit and now i will make some tests with it. only problem i might have is flow. The inner size of the pipes are not very large. But i hope its enough.
 
Freak1 said:
Thanks for the videos. I already saw them all though :)

I found a scraped AC unit and now i will make some tests with it. only problem i might have is flow. The inner size of the pipes are not very large. But i hope its enough.
Click to expand...
No thinner than the fins on a waterblock. Head pressure or overall loop height will impact flow more than anything.
 
Freak1 said:
Thanks for the videos. I already saw them all though :)

I found a scraped AC unit and now i will make some tests with it. only problem i might have is flow. The inner size of the pipes are not very large. But i hope its enough.
Click to expand...

In my earlier post I mentioned using the condenser's coils. And yes, that single flow route is really small - I think 1/4 - 5/16 is not overly large for water cooling. This makes sense because the condenser side of an AC system handles Freon compressed to a liquid and its job is to dissipate the heat from that compressed Freon.

Now the evaporator side of the AC uses larger diameter pipes where the liquid Freon is sprayed from a valve so that it turns back into a gas (hence the term phase change refrigeration). The gas needs a wider pipe to travel through. It is still copper and usually has aluminum fins soldered to it. The copper pipes are often 3/8" - 1/2" for the split AC systems that have the condenser & compressor outside and the evaporator coils inside in the top ducting of your furnace. It should not be too hard laying your hands on a 1 to 1.5 ton evaporator and jury rig it as a liquid cooler radiator.
 
I don't think you should worry about freezing, your systems should produce enough heat so that the coolant wouldn't freeze. In fact, you should make sure the coolant temperature does not fall below inside temperatures, otherwise you will have to deal with condensation.
 
Kwaz said:
Linus Just The Tip did something like this:
Click to expand...

This whole setup was a mess, just really poorly planned.

If you're serious, look into how hydronic (wiki link) systems work in big buildings. Linus was reinventing the wheel, and poorly.

You typically have one powerful pump and branches that are balanced to ensure each branch gets the proper flow.

Check out: Asetek they don't have a lot of pictures but their setup for data centers appear to use reverse return piping to a heat exchanger and pump at the top of the rack.

I thought a super cool overkill setup would be: one water cooling close loop indoors to a heat exchanger and an outdoor open loop with a small cooling tower. It would waste a fair amount of water and power but for an awesome cause. ;)

Little 5 Ton cooling tower like this should be able to handle 17,000 watts of heat:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/RSD-Coolin...139336?hash=item23aa026648:g:34wAAOSwWypbcuB7
 
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What about running each PC with it's own pump/loop, but instead of using radiators you use a liquid to liquid heat exchanger, and a large loop fed by chilled water running through those exchangers.

You could use a heavy duty pump for the large loop and keep it outside so you don't hear it and make it as high flow as possible to keep deltas between PC's as low as possible

*You definitely don't want to run this as one giant loop, you're going to have to isolate the systems somehow. Imagine one PC having issues and you have to shut everything down to drain the loop to swap one video card.....
 
Eickst said:
What about running each PC with it's own pump/loop, but instead of using radiators you use a liquid to liquid heat exchanger, and a large loop fed by chilled water running through those exchangers.

You could use a heavy duty pump for the large loop and keep it outside so you don't hear it and make it as high flow as possible to keep deltas between PC's as low as possible

*You definitely don't want to run this as one giant loop, you're going to have to isolate the systems somehow. Imagine one PC having issues and you have to shut everything down to drain the loop to swap one video card.....
Click to expand...
Can always run a y/t adapter on the inlet and oulrt of each pc with a hose between the 2. Basically how they do whole house water filters.
 
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