Water vs Oil

Not a problem just more of a question for future builds. Many people use water to cool their systems which is great but has the always present danger of leaks therefore potential damage to other components. Others now use mineral oil for cooling which is great but looks really messy and when upgrading components wouldn't be as easy as just opening the side of the case. So the question is would it be possible to fill a water system with oil instead therefore if it does leak it wouldn't damage anything just be a bit of a cleaning job and whether the oil is a good enough medium to be used that way. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated

I believe at least 2 things will make water a better choice. It is a better heat conductor then oil. It holds heat less then oil. That is it will better transfer the heat to the radiator, whereas the oil would hold the heat. Actually a 3rd issue occurs to be, the viscosity of oil would be murder on the pump in comparison to water. A Guy

Thanks and yes I agree it would require a better pump and probably more expensive components but would keeping the radiator inside a cooler such as a modified car cooler (Obviously separate from the PC) achieve better results or is the chance of a good water system springing a leak is too small to worry about such things in the first place

I think your last sentence is correct. The chance of a leak is rather small. A Guy

Thanks I will stick for now to the tried and true just always good to try and push the envelop a bit

Doesn't hurt to ask, but I would assume if it was necessary, they would already be doing it

A Guy

Indeed seems whenever we think of something, someone somewhere had already thought about it too but still worthwhile thinking outside the square in case it can be fitted inside a circle with mods of course :)

If a water cooling system is built properly it will not leak.
Distilled water is best for your system and cools your system the best.

They do make fluids for computer liquid cooled that do transfer heat very well and are non conductive if by chance you do get a leak.

Oil of any kind in a computer cooling system is a no no. Very poor heat transfer.
As far as I know the do not make a computer cooling system pump that will do the job for long.

I personally use distilled water with a silver kill coil to stop bacteria growth.