Coolanol OS-59

[Maxor1]

Ok this is a hypothetical more than something I am actually planing on doing any time soon. Anyway I was wondering if anyone had ever taken a sealed computer case connected a pair of quick disconnects to it then after isolating the optical and disk drives, just filled the case and run something like coolanol OS-59 or 25r through the system with a radiated reservoir pump? I really don't see any reason why it wouldn't work as coolanol is less electrically active than air, and has much better heat transfer properties. I know we did this for a number of electronic systems for military applications but had never seen or heard of anyone doing it for a desktop computer which seemed a little strange to me as it shouldn't be particularly difficult or expensive.

 

[rubix_1011]

Give it a try, I personally haven't heard of it, but see what happens and let us know.

It's highly likely that while this might not be difficult or expensive, it might be very impractical for day-to-day utilization.

 

[Maxor1]

Hum will give it a shot sooner or later. Only real problem is I don't really want to try it with my own new and expensive hardware so will likely use it on something unexciting like an old athlon 64 if I do. I was also a bit curious as to weather or not people had done it on numerous computers and found that for some reason it wasn't particularly effective.

 

[rubix_1011]

I don't really know much about this product, so it's likely that not many other people do as well. There is also an issue with this being a viable cooling option or not...it really depends on what this entails to actually work. You aren't going to find many people that will want to submerse a high-end rig (including yourself) into a vat of coolant for day to day use...or are you intending to use this coolant as a coolant within a loop? I guess I am not sure I follow your methodology.

 

[Maxor1]

Coolanol is a variety of silicate esters, used as heat transfer liquids on various high power transmitters, primarily. Though in the aircraft world a decent part of the time if you are using it on the transmitter people also end up cycling it past or over any processors in the system because you are already paying for the weight of liquid cooling, why not? They are typically light amber in color, slightly oily feeling, and non reactive. Slightly thicker than water. The stuff is classified as a hazardous material since large amounts of it in water kill fish by gill coating. You can drink it without serious effects but I wouldn't recommend it since it will give you diarrhea and who knows what is suspended in it or just what it has been irradiated with after it left Exxon.

My basic plan was simply sealing low end case closing off the optical drive bays and putting from the top of the case a pair of tubes one down about 2 inches and one to the bottom of the case, connect a pump out to a small finned radiator up some air over that. Might even do one side of the case up in acrylic just to see the flooded computer.

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Buy one of these kits and give it a whirl
http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php
you can have the hard drive outside the tank
Moto

 

[rubix_1011]

I just posted a response and it didn't post...sigh...

Seems like another tangent on the submerged oil solution...

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I'm interested in this 'new' materials properties though, and the kit would allow Op to crack on with the experiment sooner, without the worry of sealing/making up a box himself,
this may be the new Mineral oil, it may be the holy grail, we don't know till Op fires up hehe
and yes, Toms is being a little glitchy for me today too

 

[rubix_1011]

My post suggested putting the case inside a large tub and just submerging for initial tests without worrying about sealing a manufactured case. This way, you could easily maintain all the mounting and support structure of the case (likely missing some panels, of course) and still being able to submerge in the liquid.

Also, how much does this stuff cost?

 

[Maxor1]

I just posted a response and it didn't post...sigh...

Seems like another tangent on the submerged oil solution...

It pretty much is.

Was simply curious if anyone had done i in a home setting. I know it has been done more or less with various military electronics systems but hadn't ever really heard of anyone trying it with a pc. Figured I'd check and see what had been done previously before was wondering what if any issues previous people had had.

 

[rubix_1011]

I'm not saying it wouldn't work, but cost and real life implementation are what will be the key factors.

I'm still very curious about it. Do you have an idea of cost or public availability?

 

[Maxor1]

Coolanol is perfectly availible to the general public. Last time I checked it was significantly cheaper when purchased in bulk. Its right around $100 per gallon for the name brand from Exxon, what is essentially the exact same thing (at least it fits all the same chemical specifications under nato supply code,) falls to about $60 per gallon from Castrol. That is the prices for a 5 gallon pail. You can buy 55 gallon drums but for home computer cooling I don't really see the need.

Here is a price link. http://www.chrysanindustries.com/chrysan0105-brayco-micronic-889.html

 

[rubix_1011]

Price vs. ease of use are likely what would keep this from being a viable solution, but depending on how well it works, I'd be curious if there are applications that could benefit from it.

Are there any tech sheets on thermal capacity and specific heat?

 

[Maxor1]

Yes for coolanol you can find just about anything you want to know here http://www.exxonmobil.com/lubes/exxonmobil/emal/Coolanol_Silicate_Ester_Dielectric_Heat_Transfer_Fluids.html#figure2

As for ease of use it will gel slightly on long term exposure to air and moisture in it but for a say 3 gallon relatively sealed installation, you are looking at a run time of 8 to 10 years before a problem becomes evident.

Thermal Conductivity at 25°C, calories/(sec cm °C) for os-59 is 32.0 x 10 -5