How about blowing cold air, not super cold but cooler air in the computer case? Frostless freezes are all cooled by air blown

ddemaz · Sep 15, 2015

How about blowing cold air, not super cold but cooler air in the computer case?

Frostless freezes are all cooled by air blown in through the coil by a fan. What if we channel the air flow in the case?

We probably can accommodate the compressor, coil and the fan of the refrigerator, in a simple housing and channel the airflow into the computer case.

I shall highly appreciate any advice – please.

Thank you all.

KingDingDong · Sep 15, 2015

Back in the golden days of punch cards that is how mainframes were cooled. I had a great uncle that designed, build and installed cooling units for "data centers" (they were not called that back in the 60's).

I am no scientist but the problem lies in some basic scientific principles. Cooling refrigerant creates heat. What are you going to do with that heat? A refridgerator keeps your food cold at the expense of producing heat in your kitchen.

Unless you are willing to exchange that energy into another room or the outside environment what are you achieving? I suppose that might be the ultimate water cooling system. Drill holes in your walls and put the radiator outside. Or better yet install a dedicated compressor A/C unit outside and connect the coolant lines right up to case.

Now that I think about it I bet some trust fund kid posts some pics of this exact setup in 5 minutes.

USAFRet · Sep 15, 2015

ddemaz :

Where does this 'cold air' come from? A typical house fridge?
You will kill it quickly. A residential fridge is not made for a constant heat source.

getochkn · Sep 15, 2015

Problem with any situation of using very cold air vs warm air is condensation. Pelltier coolers try to get around this by their properties of physics, but cooling very warm air quickly usually makes condensation. Damn physics again. lol. Small house freezers don't get much frost because it's a small closed in area. Leave your freezer door open a bit by mistake and let warm air to be pulled in and cooled, and everything is covered in frost, because of the moisture. Large walk in freezers usually have a humidity control system to remove this moisture, and again, for the most part, they are closed systems. Not a lot of warm air coming in, just recirculating the air currently in there and keeping it at a constant temp.

Also, compressor based fridge systems aren't meant to constantly cool. That's why you can't put a PC inside a fridge. The constant heat will kill the compressor running all the time.

Lots of reasons the fridge idea, which comes up every month on here, doesn't work. If it did, you would see lots of mods and threads on pics online. There is a reason there isn't. People overclocking and watercooling probably longer than you've been alive have thought this things out.

Solandri · Sep 15, 2015

Heat transfer rate is proportional to temperature differential. So all other things being the same (e.g. fan speed), if your system runs at 60C with 20C room temperature, then it should run at 50C with 10C chileld air. (Both have a 40C differential.)

As KingDingDong said, there's no free lunch here. Chilling the air involves dumping the heat from the chilled air + heat from the compressors and pumps into the room. So if your room is air conditioned, you'll actually be increasing your AC bill above what it would be with a regular cooler. You should look into dumping the heat outdoors if at all possible.

Another thing to worry about is if the air chills non-heated components in the computer below room temperature, and some room-temp air leaks in, water in that air will condense on those components. That's the reason this sort of cooling is usually done with a Peltier or a water cooler - those can apply the cooler temperature to a specific part and only that part.

USAFRet · Sep 15, 2015

An "under $50" way to test this:

1. Obtain an old fridge. Probably free on craigslist
2. Drill a hole in the side of the box for the power cable
3. Obtain a PC. Either your spare parts box, or $15 from Goodwill
4. Put the PC in the fridge and turn it on. It doesn't have to actually do anything. Seal up the power cable hole.
5. See which dies first...your electric bill, the fridge, or the PC.

KingDingDong · Sep 15, 2015

My office "kids Minecraft den" is in a second story bedroom. Got rather warm this summer in there. In a few weeks ther will be another rig in there and there is no really good way of cooling that room and keeping the temps comfortable with out freezing out the rest of the house and going broke trying.

My solution. Buy a cheap ass window unit for $150 or so and run it June-August. The other option is to buy a 6" inline duct fan and install it in the hvac in hopes it will pull more cold air into the room. I have read the results are rather unsatisfactory with this method and I will not enjoy crawling around in the attic and wiring it up

The smartest solution is to just move all desktops into the basement for the summer months and get a dehumidifier.

You hear about all these 35 year olds still living at home and playing video games all day in their parents basement. Sure, it is nice and cool down there.

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How about blowing cold air, not super cold but cooler air in the computer case? Frostless freezes are all cooled by air blown

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