Cooling a computer with a mini fridge

John Jamie Rocca · Aug 20, 2014

Hey forums
I got a purely hypothetical question for everyone.
Could i possibly use an old mini fridge as a way of keeping my desktop cool? Basically if i could find a way to get the wires out of the fridge with the tower still inside, and insulate the inside so as not to damage the tower with moisture, would that be possible to keep the tower cool in lieu of spending alot of money on liquid cooling?

getochkn · Aug 20, 2014

No. Condensation will form. Hot item, cold space = condesation, no way around physics.

Greybeard Croft · Aug 20, 2014

In theory, I don't see why it wouldn't work.

jaimelmiel · Aug 20, 2014

Greybeard Croft :

As the previous post said, condensation. A Fact, not theory.

Greybeard Croft · Aug 20, 2014

getochkn :

Damn, I didn't think about that old science thingy.... :pt1cable:

Would it be possible with a watertight case?

John Jamie Rocca · Aug 20, 2014

getochkn :

yeah i see what youre saying. I'm going to wait for more answers before i mark yours as correct

mouse24 · Aug 20, 2014

John Jamie Rocca :

You also forgot about the fact thats fridges don't deal with things that constantly output heat. That would be like leaving your door open with the AC on in the summer time. It will just over run and break.

(sorry for my lack of fridge technical jargon, not in that field.)

John Jamie Rocca · Aug 20, 2014

Greybeard Croft :

Now you've got me thinking......i dunno lets see what everyone else says

getochkn · Aug 20, 2014

John Jamie Rocca :

Greybeard Croft :

Now you've got me thinking......i dunno lets see what everyone else says

Why not see what google says and do your own research then...........

John Jamie Rocca · Aug 20, 2014

getochkn :

John Jamie Rocca :

Why not see what google says and do your own research then...........

because it'll just put me back on my own thread

Greybeard Croft · Aug 20, 2014

getochkn :

Dude, he's asking a hypothetical question that should spark discussion, you don't need to get defensive..

For mine and his benefit, because I am equally curious about this now, could you tell me where the condensation forms in this situation?
Case Exterior? Interior? Fridge Interior?

getochkn · Aug 20, 2014

John Jamie Rocca :

getochkn :

because it'll just put me back on my own thread

Funny, I just googled it and saw tonnes of pages talking about the heat burning out the motor of the fridge as it's not designed for a constant heat source and condensation, the two reasons already stated in this thread that it won't work.

John Jamie Rocca · Aug 20, 2014

getochkn :

John Jamie Rocca :

Funny, I just googled it and saw tonnes of pages talking about the heat burning out the motor of the fridge as it's not designed for a constant heat source and condensation, the two reasons already stated in this thread that it won't work.

That's loser talk good sir! KEEP ON DISCUSSING EVERYBODY!!!!!

John Jamie Rocca · Aug 20, 2014

Greybeard Croft :

getochkn :

Dude, he's asking a hypothetical question that should spark discussion, you don't need to get defensive..

For mine and his benefit, because I am equally curious about this now, could you tell me where the condensation forms in this situation?
Case Exterior? Interior? Fridge Interior?
also maybe if you could sufficiently cool the tower with a say a cheap liquid cooling loop maybe that could keep the fridge motor from burning out?

Greybeard Croft · Aug 20, 2014

Put a V8 on your fridge.. I'm sure it wont burn out!

mouse24 · Aug 20, 2014

Greybeard Croft :

getochkn :

Dude, he's asking a hypothetical question that should spark discussion, you don't need to get defensive..

For mine and his benefit, because I am equally curious about this now, could you tell me where the condensation forms in this situation?
Case Exterior? Interior? Fridge Interior?

Everywhere inside the fridge and to whatever it can cling to.

getochkn · Aug 20, 2014

For mine and his benefit, because I am equally curious about this now, could you tell me where the condensation forms in this situation?
Case Exterior? Interior? Fridge Interior?

Imagine this. Cook a roast beef or turkey until it's cooked and hot. This is your CPU/GPU/PSU, anything that generates heat inside a PC. Now take it right away and put it in a container, mostly closed, and put it in the fridge. Check it in a couple of hours. The inside of the container is covered in water, and the top of meat would be too if you could see. The fridge walls and any other items in the fridge will have some on it too.

Now if kept replacing the roast with a new one every hour, so it stayed hot in the container like a PC would, it would keep creating more moisture. the fridge would keep working to cool down and break.

Condensation and PC's don't mix. Overclockers who overclock with liquid nitrogen have to deal with condensation. Bring a heat source down to below ambient temperatures create condensation

Greybeard Croft · Aug 21, 2014

getochkn :

For mine and his benefit, because I am equally curious about this now, could you tell me where the condensation forms in this situation?
Case Exterior? Interior? Fridge Interior?

Imagine this. Cook a roast beef or turkey until it's cooked and hot. This is your CPU/GPU/PSU, anything that generates heat inside a PC. Now take it right away and put it in a container, mostly closed, and put it in the fridge. Check it in a couple of hours. The inside of the container is covered in water, and the top of meat would be too if you could see. The fridge walls and any other items in the fridge will have some on it too.

Now if kept replacing the roast with a new one every hour, so it stayed hot in the container like a PC would, it would keep creating more moisture. the fridge would keep working to cool down and break.

Condensation and PC's don't mix. Overclockers who overclock with liquid nitrogen have to deal with condensation. Bring a heat source down to below ambient temperatures create condensation

Sweet, thanks for the explanation, I was just having trouble visualizing where the condensation would form.

Xibyth · Aug 22, 2014

I have seen this work before, they did it with a freezer though. They set it up in a fish tank, rigged the line from the freezers condenser with a large copper at the end of the line, putting it into a hole they had drilled in the tank and several large fans on the bottom, they then filled it with mineral oil. The usual cooling parts on the system the fans pushed the cold oil up, which was curculated around the case and the warm oil at the top was pushed down by three 120mm fans towards the copper block. Nearly silent except the hum from the freezer, and the i7 4770k OCed to 4.8GHz averaged 45C under full load.

Xibyth · Aug 22, 2014

Then again thats not really what your asking is it, yes condensation would normally occur, but the oil prevented this in their system...

John Jamie Rocca · Aug 22, 2014

Greybeard Croft :

getochkn :

Dude, he's asking a hypothetical question that should spark discussion, you don't need to get defensive..

For mine and his benefit, because I am equally curious about this now, could you tell me where the condensation forms in this situation?
Case Exterior? Interior? Fridge Interior?

Xibyth :

John Jamie Rocca · Aug 22, 2014

Xibyth :

I wanna give you best answer but i accidentally clicked on that other guy and i dont think i can repeal that.

Xibyth · Aug 23, 2014

John Jamie Rocca :

Xibyth :

I wanna give you best answer but i accidentally clicked on that other guy and i dont think i can repeal that.

You can, where it would normally say select best answer just click the same button.

jaimelmiel · Aug 24, 2014

I enjoyed this thread so much that I am thinking of moving beyond the arctic circle.

Teran1982 · Nov 24, 2014

John Jamie Rocca :

Yes friend, you could in my opinion. But you will have to take care of some things first.

As many friends in this thread correctly quote, the setup you are proposing will not work because of condensation of air inside your pc case\components. So, first things first, you will have to place the tower of your pc out of the fridge. So you avoid condensation and probable electric shocks, and\or destruction of crucial pc parts.

The first step in fridge-cooling a pc, is to place the pc case as is, outside the fridge.

You don't need the fridge as is, you just need its cold air,so you open two holes on your fridge (input to the fridge and output).
The output should go as lower as you can (cold air heavy,goes down). This goes to your pc case facing your CPU heatsink. The other hole (input) is free. The mistake here would be to connect it in your case also. The outside air is much cooler than your case air, so the fridge would have to take out a lot of heat. So,using outside air would be far better than the case exhaust.
As for the fridge cycle, I would make it faster actually and not constant. Constant coolant will burn the fridge motor but, starting cool,a 5min cycle could work just fine in providing cool air. Notice that you want the heatsink in room temperature and not lower, to avoid any condensation.
Also, you could fill your fridge with lots of bottles of water and let it cool it before you start your pc.. It will hopefully give you some more pc-cooling time due to water heat-cool capacity.

But note that a small motor of a small fridge will give you small cooling power.. Larger, better.. So I don't know if it is worth it.. I will try to do it as described above in the future,stay tuned ;D

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