Solved Water vs Oil

[Shimshom]

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

 

[A Guy]

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

 

[Shimshom]

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

 

[A Guy]

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

 

[Shimshom]

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

 

[A Guy]

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

A Guy

 

[Shimshom]

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

 

[badcrc]

Specific heat or heat capacity is the amount of heat required to raise 1 kg by 1 deg C. The higher the value, the better the substance is at removing heat in a given cooling system eg car engine, cpu etc because it can absorb (and move) more heat. Chart here of various liquids

Liquids and Fluids - Specific Heats

in that chart, water scores 2X as most common oils ie you'd need 2X the amount of oil for the same cooling effect. Other liquids rate higher than water, but are very toxic eg ammonia.

Looks like water is the best bet for cooling IMHO. Since oil is more viscous than water, I guess it would need a more powerful pump also.

 

[Layback Bear]

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.

 

[badcrc]

. . . 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. . .

After re-reading post #1, I was wondering if the OP was referring to completely submerging the mobo etc in oil. When I first read about underwater pc's I thought it was an April fool joke (still have my doubts). Anyway, a quick google found lots of refs to submerged pc's eg

Custom PC; Mineral Oil Submerged Computer

Strip Out The Fans, Add 8 Gallons of Cooking Oil - Dousing Your Athlon FX-55 With Eight Gallons Of Cooking Oil?

don't try this at home etc

 

[Layback Bear]

For year some have built a system in aquariums or the like and submerged the complete system in oil. I'm don't believe that is what the OP is inquiring about.
If you do enough Googling you can find some strange system people have built just because they can.

 

[A Guy]

The OP was mentioning the submerged systems, but only as a precursor to his question about the coolant inside a loop. A Guy

 

[Wandering one]

PURE distilled water does not conduct electricity. It is actually the dissolved minerals and whatever that conduct. One of the reasons after your soft drink dumps on your keyboard, rinse well with distilled water, let dry and continue working. Art.

 

[Shimshom]

Thank you all for answers. Indeed I was referring to submerged systems and how messy they look as well as reading over time many people describing how they lost their systems due to water leaks which is why I thought it might be possible to use oil in a different way but seems it's not worth the hassle so it's either go back in line and stick to tried and tested water/air cooling or when time permits continue to experiment and see if anything comes of it. I know pure distilled water is non conductive but it's been very hard to source here for whatever reason and I also use it to make Colloidal Silver which can only be made with pure distilled water but now they seem to sell the deionized water which isn't the same

 

[badcrc]

IIRC the water in a cpu cooling system has some additives to lube the moving parts and prevent corrosion. I have this cooler in one of my systems. 20 deg C drop compared to stock Intel - £35 from Amazon.

Cooler Master: Seidon 120V

 

[Layback Bear]

PURE distilled water does not conduct electricity. It is actually the dissolved minerals and whatever that conduct. One of the reasons after your soft drink dumps on your keyboard, rinse well with distilled water, let dry and continue working. Art.

You are correct.
But one never know how pure store bought distilled water is.
If one adds color to the distilled water then the ball game changes.
Their are many variables.
The reason I have chose distilled water is because of its heat transfer ability.

I like blue.

 

[Shimshom]

Beautiful looking system and blue is also my favorite color. The only way to know how pure distilled water is would be to make it by oneself and that's a whole different ball game and as Layback Bear said once we start adding stuff to even the purest water the game changes. I intend to experiment with various liquids and hope the curiosity won't kill the cat (Or my experimental computers)

 

[Layback Bear]

Their are many coolants and or additives.

You can check out these sites. They have many you can choose from.

FrozenCPU.com | 1.877.243.8266 | World's Largest Selection of PC Modification Supplies

Performance PCs Home Page

 

[NoN]

I'm using for my loop a ready made non UV Pure Water non corrosive/conductive with 1,2% Ethanediol, plus a Pump Lubricant, its doing very fine actually making not regretting my choice for the year. I still can change next year for another brand since i will need to drain the system to renew that liquid. I choose lubricant because my pump (metal ring) is making "Hum" sometimes when running high speed, it does help to smooth spinning over the Acetal material. Took a drop or two of Biocide too.

There's quite a lot of different brands which have the same components inside make it quite hard choosing, unless trying them or using just Pure Water with no additives inside.

Oh..i surely will not using the oil submerged systems with water inside the cooling system, not afraid of leaks but not enough confident about a system in oil aquarium based, not too practical though!!

 

[Shimshom]

Certainly wasn't going to submerge my system in oil and it's enough watching people on YouTube turning their rooms into fish tanks and one wonders what happens if it ever cracks. Thanks Layback Bear for the links and it will give me enough to think about and try for quite some time. @NoN how often is it necessary to clean the system and what about pre-filled systems do they also require cleaning or just replacing every so often