Ice Cooled System

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longstorm

longstorm

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Dec 1, 2013
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Obviously not the easiest thing to do, but it would be a fun project.

The idea has been on here before, but I thought of a good way to do it.

Take a cooler and put a drain hole near the top of it. Fill it with water to the drain hole. Then put a hole in the lid, and fix an ice maker to it. Have a pressure switch just above the drain hole to stop the production of ice.

Put two more holes in the top of the ice cooler. Run cooling lines from your PC water cooling system into the cooler.

Option 1 (safer and mx free):
The cooling lines from your PC go to a aluminum or copper heat exchanger with fins on it to help dissipation of heat. Safer because no filter is required that could be clogged with ice, and maintenance free because drainage and the pressure switch should keep ice/water full.

Option 2:

Simply run those cooling lines into the tank and through a filter on the opposite side leaving the tank.

Additionally, running a second system with lines to/from the case/cooler and a radiator/fans inside the case, with the case mostly sealed could provide near freezing temps for all other internal components.

Illustration soon.

Thanks for reading.
 
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4Ryan6
Thanks for the thread recommendation MoC! :)

@longstorm Hi, You lost me with the transportability comment with an ice maker mounted to the top of the cooler?

I'm obviously missing some of your concept, so are you still in the idea phase, or have you actually started putting your ideas to work?

A submerged heat exchanger in the chilled water solution would allow keeping the actual flow through the block system clean and free of any kind of debri, however you mentioned aluminum or copper exchanger, I advise sticking to copper to avoid metal reaction as all CPU water blocks are copper based.

If you ran an aluminum heat exchanger you would be forced to run a coolant additive that covers various metal components in the loop, which IMO is...
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manofchalk

manofchalk

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May 11, 2012
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Option 1 will work against you, a radiator brings the water closer to room temperature, not "colder". If you chill the water, the radiator will be trying to bring it up to room temperature, in effect it will become another heat source.
Since your running a chilled water system, condensation is also going to be a problem.

I suggest you read 4Ryan6's thread on sub-ambient cooling, early on he was running ice, which he later replaced with Peltiers. That should give you an idea of whats involved in trying to achieve what your after.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/275185-29-exploring-ambient-water-cooling
 
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longstorm

longstorm

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Dec 1, 2013
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In option 1, the heat exchanger would be in the cooler, not the case. Though a radiator in a relatively sealed case, circulating cooler than ambient air, would allow for cooling components that aren't part of the loop below room temp as well.

I read about half of that thread and my improvements to his system are what I was describing above.

Peltiers look pretty cool. I actually hadn't seen them before, thanks. I suppose other than wear on the liquid cooling components from the high temps they'd be dealing with, it would at least make the system transportable.

The reason I thought this would be a good idea, is that it could be made from cheap components and wouldn't be difficult to build.
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

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May 11, 2012
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Though why put a radiator in a chilled box when you could just outright chill the water? Its just adding another medium, lowering your efficiency.
The chilled radiator idea does have the benefit of not needing filters, but you could just partition the icebox so that the ice never gets near the in/out ports. Say have two tight mesh screens inside the box running vertically, ice is dumped in the centre partition with the intake/output on the outer partitions.

Slush or small bits of ice may be able to escape, but they wouldnt be small enough cause problems. You might need to put the pump before the icebox, as you dont even want the chance of ice running into it. Maybe have a conventional reservoir before the pump just for the purpose of not letting it run dry, because the icebox will be your primary res.
 
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4Ryan6

4Ryan6

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Apr 14, 2002
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Thanks for the thread recommendation MoC! :)

@longstorm Hi, You lost me with the transportability comment with an ice maker mounted to the top of the cooler?

I'm obviously missing some of your concept, so are you still in the idea phase, or have you actually started putting your ideas to work?

A submerged heat exchanger in the chilled water solution would allow keeping the actual flow through the block system clean and free of any kind of debri, however you mentioned aluminum or copper exchanger, I advise sticking to copper to avoid metal reaction as all CPU water blocks are copper based.

If you ran an aluminum heat exchanger you would be forced to run a coolant additive that covers various metal components in the loop, which IMO is bad as a leak of that type coolant additive is caustic to internal computer components.

A leak is always something we have to be aware of and prepared for, and plain steam distilled water is my coolant recommendation.

My entire system is now setup that 4 reservoir siphoning (draining) and refills with 100% pure steam distilled water flushes my entire system, so I no longer use any additives at all, not even a silver kill coil, and my system is problem free.

I have a lot of experience with an Ice Cooled System, and I'll help and share advice all I can and I am excited for you, as you're considering entering territory traditional radiator cooling cannot touch! :)
 
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longstorm

longstorm

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Dec 1, 2013
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manofchalk:

If the system within the cooler were sealed from the liquid/ice, there would be no concern of contamination and the coolant outside the loop could be simple tap or distilled water.

The use of small diameter copper piping as part of the loop, lapping the cooler, would remove any heat from its internal coolant. Separating the systems (cooler/loop) seems like it will simplify maintenance and allow for equally cold temperatures if done correctly.
 
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longstorm

longstorm

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Dec 1, 2013
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4Ryan6:

Transportability was a reference to a system that has a Peltier and a more traditional liquid cooling system.

As I don't want to risk my current system, I would only do this to my secondary system. I just ordered an AMD FX-8320 and MoBo to upgrade the secondary system, and was thinking about building one of these cooling loops for the summer. The computer is going to be used primarily for selling computing power, to see if it is worthwhile. This means that I can tinker with it. It gets cold here the rest of the year and I want to capitalize on that as well. I want a coolant that can withstand -40F/C temps.

Awesome system, I appreciate your input.
 
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