Water cooler life expectancy

[blubomber]

It seems to me that water cooled systems are become more popular and readily available. Would a water cooling system be reliable enough to run in a desktop system, 24/7? How long would it be able to last under those conditions.

So, here is what i am thinking. As faster processors come out, the hotter they are and the faster fan speeds you need to keep the cool.Faster fans usually meen more noise. So if i were to build a new system that would be used for gaming, surfing the net, office apps, general use, and not overclocked excessivly, then would a water cooled system be better, quieter, and last as long as a fan system?

Just curious.

[Idigguns]

Better? That's a matter of oppinion.

Quieter? Definitely. That is, providing you replace your case fans with quieter fans and use a quiet PSU.

Last as long? Probably. With a watercooled system, you can always use dual pumps. That way, if one goes down, you're still running at least half-capacity. Or, something I've given a little thought to, you could have two pumps, but only one running. Rig up some check valves and a pressure switch. If one pump fails, it could automatically kick on the other pump. The check valves would keep the water from "short-circuiting" back through the other pump.

A little extreme, I know. Hey, what do you expect from a Pipefitter?

[edwin2002]

how safe are the water-cooling systems? something about having water running around on the inside of my machine scares me.

[Idigguns]

If you use distilled water in your water cooler, they say there is no danger. Distilled water doesn't conduct electricity. It's the disolved minerals in water that conducts electricity. Distilled water is totally pure. Maybe one day I'll experiment with this with an old PC. I can't afford to lose one of my cows right now, though.

[tmx468]

Kicking out a 386, I filled it up with distilled, and it continued to work... till the HDD and CD-ROM filled and the heatsink/fan bubbled to death.....
Then a quick drain and onto tap water - one word. FzizzziziziizizTTtttt!!!!!
Bye bye, you are the weakest link, and heading to the scrapyard.
Test complete.

On a sidenote - the CD rom turned out to be my CD-RW/DVD. Damn. Still, all in the name of research!!

[edwin2002]

wow ... emmm ... i think ill stay away from from the water coolers :-D

[fritz the cat]

Why does no one use or talk about non conductive liquid?

[Ruahrc]

Most non-conductive liquid does not conduct heat as well and also usually has different material properties (i.e. density, thermal expansion, etc) and therefore regular water pumps are not designed to pump them efficiently. I'm sure there is some great non-conductive fluid out there that would work fine but it is most like hard to come by/expensive, and all that's really needed is a good construction job with distilled water and it should never leak (and if it does the distilled will save you).

My watercooled system has been running for 2 years now- not 24/7 though. Usually about 6-8 hours a day average. The only leaks I have had were during testing of my water circuit and were caught and fixed before it ran in the presence of components.

The real truth is, however, that if you do a good job with construction and get quality components- the hardware in the water cooling portion of your computer will outlast the components in your computer due to getting old-slow.

Ruahrc

[ShawnD1]

Most organic liquids are fairly non conductive, although they make up for that in flamability lol. Try filling the cooler with something like methanol (fondu fuel), ethanol (booze) or propanol (rubbing alcohol) and it will probably work. Just make sure the hot liquid/gas doesn't escape because high concentration alcohols are flamable and extremely toxic. To see what I mean, put some rubbing alcohol in the microwave for 1 minute.....you'll end up with a poison gas cloud. Just make sure the thing has a good seal (preferably not made from an organic material!) and the alcohol shouldn't have a problem.

You cannot say the water will not cause a problem because it is distilled. In order for the water cooling system to work properly, it needs to be like a radiator in your car where air flows by the hot liquid - you still need case fans (just 1 will do probably). That case fan will suck dust into the computer and most dust is conductive.

[blubomber]

Thank you all for the replies. I was just curious but i might now look seriously at a water cooled solution for my next rig.

Thanks again