Tower fan for radiator?

[davschall]

So I've been reading about all these great mods, and im always thinking about cool modifications to make to my comp as its just never enough. I got this rig for gaming and i spend more time on google lol. So this is what I'm wondering: has anyone ever tried modifying a tower fan (something like this) =http://www.ebay.com/itm/Holmes-Tow...94?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d77bd9ae] to hold a radiator? Me and my wife have one and the thing can put out a lot of air very quietly and a ton of air at ramped up speeds without to much noise increase.

Im thinking about trying it, but before I rip apart a 60 dollar fan I figured id ask around to see if anyone has tried it at all. Im thinking they'd have decent static pressure because the whole blade has little sections of "scoops" but i have no real idea lol. Just wanted to check if anyones done this, ill probably try it either way lol if it doesnt work ill just switch 480 rad over to the rad box im gonna attempt to make. Ill try to find one on craigslist or ebay, cause i took one look at ours and my wife said, "Dont even think about it." But honey its in the name of science!!

Im not quite ready to attempt sub ambient (lol lets face it i dont even have my water cooling stuff yet*facepalm*) but im thinking this might be a good little project for me to attempt. I like how most of water cooling mods seem to be geared toward cooler/quieter whereas air cooling is all about, well if my case is a wind turbine its gotta be good right? So yea...has anyone tried it, does anyone have any thoughts on success or failure of the idea, or how about suggestions on what you think will work best. Wont be able to get the stuff til january since thats when my funds from selling my xbox are supposed to get cleared(first ebay sale woot!) and also when i get my first check from my job so got some time to plan it out.

 

[Lutfij]

Well, welcome to watercooling!

Couple of things: I like the idea however I'm not going to encourage you nor discourage you.

Reason being are:
There are fans specifically designed for rads, meaning high static pressure and sometimes high cfm. They are built robustly to push a good amount of air through tight spaces. The tower fan seems like it can knock a toupee off a persons head but will work negatively on a tightly packed finned radiator.

I can see your idea stems from the aquacomputer/zalman external radiator products where the only thing needed to add are fans(if you want more cooling).

You know if you're going to be watercooling eventually, why not get the head start a lot of people yearn to have? go down to the watercooling sticky and stock yourself with info. For fine tuning we are available but we won't hand pick any parts for you btw every lil info is available on the internet - Google them

The other part is every project, even though may not yield results to our liking, are the platform off of which we can improve our next project - think about it. Success and failure...provided failure doesn't make you give up altogether.

In two words, keep thinkering :lol:

 

[davschall]

Lol way ahead of you on that way im happy to say, Ive read every single piece of information ive been able to get my hands on, its practically all i do all day, its all great info!
I was wondering if the fans would have the high static pressure you mentioned, idk if you've ever seen the fan blade for one of these? They are a tall cylinder with scoops to essentially grab air from the back and throw it up front. Ergo i believe that there will be little "air bleed" out the back of the fan(just like a high SP fan) lol or all that will happen is the air will hit the radiator and be sucked back in to the whirlwind of the fan and ejected out the back.

Im not sure, but i think if i created a sort of channel and distanced the rad very slightly from the actual fan "blade" the air would continue its normal path and having nowhere left to go it would be forced through the radiator by more incoming air, thoughts? And thanks for the advice on the stickies i have definitely read them, I already know (well knew) what im getting the raystorm rx240 with another rx 240 for my c70, then a 360 or 480 rad to test my idea and if it fails ill just buy and old computer case on craigslist and turn it into a rad box of sorts and get a nice d5 vario or something to put in series with the rx kit. I actually googled my idea and was surprised to see no one had tried it.

 

[Lutfij]

[:lutfij:3] what your talking about is called a shroud - regular fans have them for two reasons : 1| to mount the motor driving the fan and 2| to allow air to come from the rear and not from the sides. The latter is crucial as there's air bleed taking effect for fans that have an open frame construct like the Cooler master excalibur fans. Some people have tried them on the Corsair all in one units but haven't gotten good temps until they had a similar fan suck the air being pushed on the rad.

Yeah I know how it feels to be the lone wolf, I got my AMS rad when it was in its early stages -> in fact there's not much data regarding them. They look really shiny but not much in terms of data that would scream "I also perform as good as I look"

Back on topic, you'll need to see if the fans are capable of funneling the air towards tightly spaced fins. I think your first test will be to hold your hand infront of it and see how it fares. Later get an egg crate channel made from some cardboard and see how it goes - try to simulate the same conditions as a rad(i.e: closely packed fins), ofc not accurately just enough to gauge your efforts towards a full scale mod.

hope these help

 

[davschall]

That's a great idea for testing without breaking a fan unnecessarily, Ill try it! you gave me another idea as well maybe putting some sp or af 120's (not sure which would be better for a pull scenario ive read debates on it and im leaning towards high airflow to get the air away from the rad thoughts?) on the backside of the rad to help encourage the air flow. Another good idea for testing it would maybe be stacked cardboard cut to rad thickness, certain cardboard has "fins" I believe.........huh food for thought.

lol Try not to get annoyed with me, I pretty much just need a sounding board like a collaborative interest, as I have no friends interested in this kind of stuff. I certainly appreciate the ideas. I guess I really have no idea what im trying to convey, essentially I know my ideas are valid and viable (to a point) im not looking for direct answers(but at the same time i am lol?), ah here we go Im just looking to bounce ideas off of a more experienced person/s(which youve been great at thank you), lol maybe im tryin to hard to visualize it and its pointless with some form of testing ill get back to ya on that.

 

[Lutfij]

the tricky part will be to see if you can even match the depth of a RX via the corrugation of the cardboard.

Relax dude, If you were here talking about what parts to get or what about mineral cooling or even modding a closed loop cooler I'd be all Battlefield on you by now so sit back and [:isamuelson:6]

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I saw this last night on my phone at work but the link doesn't work,
If you're into tinkering and crazy cooling, you are in the right place
you can get so far in your own head with an idea but then working it over with others is always useful, and having parts to hand makes a huge difference, you can work faster and develop/discard ideas in seconds
find a working link for the fan thing and I'll throw my ideas in
Moto

 

[Lutfij]

the link is fine, OP posted additional content before the link thas why it was acting funky

www.ebay.com/itm/Holmes-Tower-Fan-HT38-U-Black-/110989400494?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d77bd9ae]

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Yeah, mod that front grill to accomodate the rad,
but remember to insulate the tubing to and from the rad to avoid ambient heat getting to your cooled water
Moto

 

[davschall]

Thanks for the great ideas guys im definetley gonna go ahead and try it, cause ill never know how well (or horribly) it will work until i do. Thanks again!

 

[davschall]

Best answer selected by davschall.

 

[rubix_1011]

This topic has been closed by Rubix_1011