[concept] Mineral Oil submerged system with a mini fridge's condenser?

Title's pretty much the whole story.

I've been thinking of building a custom system, and thought it would be cool to build a mineral oil submerged system.

Here's generally what it will be like:

The main computer system will be in a 18" tall mid-tower sized transparent mineral oil tank, sitting on top of a 6" vented matte black box to bring it up to a full tower size.

virtually all components of the computer will reside in the mineral tank, and behind the motherboard will like the condenser coils taken from a portable fridge. the condenser itself will lie in the black box, along side spinning hard drives (due to them needing ventilation for atmospheric ventilation)

the black box will have some sort of sound insulation, though it would probably be very hard to muffle the condenser when it kicks in.

All inputs/outputs will be snaked down to the back of the black box, primarily to make future upgrades easier. I'd probably place disk drives on the front of this box.

lots of LEDs, possibly ones that are controlled by the OS.

There will be fans circulating the oil to the condenser around back. I'd love to add something to the oil (such as sparkles) that help reveal the movement of the oil, but I don't know what that won't clog fans.

There will be a means of working on the system, which means a gasket where the box meets the case, and some form of drain.

Thoughts? or is this too complex?

what kind of fans will you be using?

I don't really know. Mostly I just want something that circulates the oil over the cooling coils:


Though it may not be necessary.

I think the tank itself would be completely sealed on the sides and top, with all computer and cooling components mounted to the base (ideally with acrylic or something that disappears in the oil).

this way I can just place the system upside down when I want to put it in or take it out of the oil tank.

This is kind of what I'm think about. Sorry about the shitty drawing.

I'm not a HVAC genius or anything, but there's little chance that oil will flow through lines meant for gas. Secondly why not use a transmission cooler or oil cooler and some quite silent fans.

Mineral Oil Submerged Computer; Our Most Popular Custom PC

Maximum PC | Exclusive: Oil Immersion Cooling Goes Mainstream with Hardcore PC's Reactor

An interesting concept, and one that has been tried a number of times with varying degrees of success. One thing to be aware of is that you should not immerse HDDs in the oil, as the oil would find its way in through the breather hole(s) and clog the mechanics up. SSDs should be OK to be immersed.

I have to add that it is not for me though.

linnemeyerhere said:

I'm not a HVAC genius or anything, but there's little chance that oil will flow through lines meant for gas. Secondly why not use a transmission cooler or oil cooler and some quite silent fans.

Click to expand...

Look a little closer: the oil doesn't flow through the tubes. The coolant tubes are a closed system.

Would it be better if I use an Indirect cooling system (like the picture in post #3) or a radiator? What I like about the cooling system is that it will be virtually invisible (except for the cooling coil, which I intend to make out of copper. The problem is that it may be louder than a radiator, and finding the right sized/powered cooling/compressor system may be tricky.

Or what if I did a Hybrid system (or basically not buy a premade cooler)?

I could bend my own copper "radiator" that sits behind the motherboard, then link it to a standard liquid cooling system; with the pump, fans, and a couple radiators inside the black base. It would be a self contained system. I'm just wondering if it will be enough compared to a refrigerator style condenser system.

I'm definitely considering starting this when I get the chance. But does anybody have any other advice? And how hard would it be to seal the top and ensure no air bubbles show up?

Saw an article on the big boys doing this. Here is a link to their site. Interesting video section. They did say they also sealed the HDD and they are submerged also.

Gallery | Green Revolution Cooling

Jim

Interesting that this only saves 50% of the power needs for cooling but the real savings I suspect are on the front end. It would also seem to me that maintenance and upgrade cost would be higher due to the immersion but the lack of clean room, refrigerant and halon type extinguishers off sets a lot of those costs.

I'm definitely going to do this, as soon as I have the time and money.

Not sure what I'd do with this afterwards, as I'm not a gamer so both of my HTPCs handle my needs fine...

Does Oleum Calculos sound fine for a name?