Best Liquid For Removing Heat?

[kodiak356]

I'm gonna be running a liquid cooling system in my computer and i would like to know which one of these liquids would be the best for removing the heat, corosiveness to metals, plastics, vinyl and rubber, and expansion/contraction at temps between 30 degrees Celsius to 60 degrees Celsius.

Distilled Water, Isopropyl Alcohol 93% or Ethylene Glycol

The cooling system consist of a closed pump/radiator unit, second radiator and two cooling blocks. They are connected in this configuration: Main Unit - CPU Block - Sec Radiator - Video Card Block - Main Unit. Diagram Below

Thanks For Your Help

[GAHD]

Use engine coolant, it's funky neon colored and it's designed for precisely those conditions.

[Buffy]

Originally Posted by GAHD

Use engine coolant, it's funky neon colored and it's designed for precisely those conditions.

It is? My main worry is if it would be electrically conductive. Of course what I'm thinking of is the old Cray approach of filling the entire cabinet with coolant, but what kodiak might be thinking of is tubing to radiator heat sink thingys. Does engine coolant conduct?

Who-Needs-Central-Heating-When-You've-Got-5-PCs-In-The-House,
Buffy

[C1ay]

I'd suggest a blend of ethylene glycol with dionized water. For engines the recommended mixture is usually 50-50. It will remove heat better than straight ethylene glycol and it's nonconductive so a leak won't short anything out. It's also nonflammable. A leaky alcohol system could turn into a flamethrower.

[kodiak356]

Originally Posted by C1ay

I'd suggest a blend of ethylene glycol with dionized water. For engines the recommended mixture is usually 50-50. It will remove heat better than straight ethylene glycol and it's nonconductive so a leak won't short anything out. It's also nonflammable. A leaky alcohol system could turn into a flamethrower.

http://encarta.msn.com/media_4615512...peratures.html

this is Ignition chart, if my system was at 750 degrees it would already be toast LOL
Plus Isopropyl is non conductive too

but i will try that mixture and see what temps i get
Where would i get dionized water

[C1ay]

Originally Posted by kodiak356

http://encarta.msn.com/media_4615512...peratures.html

this is Ignition chart, if my system was at 750 degrees it would already be toast LOL
Plus Isopropyl is non conductive too

but i will try that mixture and see what temps i get
Where would i get dionized water

It's not the spontaneous ignition temperature to be concerned with. Atomized alcohol spraying out of a leak could easily be ignited with a small electrical spark.

Look on Froogle for the water or check your local chemical supply house.

[Fishteacher73]

Originally Posted by kodiak356

Where would i get dionized water

Just about any comercial "drinking water" (not spring water) is usually filtered through a RO(Reverse Osmosis) and DI (De-ionizing) filters. Any grocery store should carry it. Just check the label. They will usually tell you there. (These are used in aquariums which I'm a fish dork if you had not guessed by the name).

[zadojla]

In the olden days (1980's), mainframe computers were cooled by chilled water, but I don't remember the water being specially treated.

[Qfwfq]

Originally Posted by kodiak356

Where would i get dionized water

They sell it for steam irons and car batteries, often called distilled water because that was used once upon a time but isn't necesary. Neither is reverse osmosis necessary, btw that stuff doesn't make good drinking water anyway, you need to have enough solutes in drinking water or the stomach cells soak it up too quickly and explode. Apart from pollution or excessive calcium, most of the stuff in normal potable water is good and is what your metabolism expects to find in water.

For the rest, I agree with C1ay but I might use less than 50% EG; it is anticorrosive but de-ionization helps that way too as well as removing conductivity. As far goes heat alone, hardly anything is better than the water itself. You certainly don't need to lower the freezing point, you only want to further decrease corrosivity. Don't use anything inflammable.

[kodiak356]

I looked up the heat capacity of each liquid as where Alcohol was the lowest and Glycol was the highest but is thicker than water and would burn up my pump so i'm gonna do this mixture 50% Glycol / 50% II Distilled water.

Thanks for your help.