mini fridge with thermochill rad?

[4saken]

hi there

i have gone and bought a mini fridge , and was gona stick my thermochill rad inside it.

just wanted to know if this would be ample enough cooling or would i still need to have fans on it for maximum airflow through the rad?

i am using 3 water blocks and the fridge apparently cools to 10 degrees C, but im not too sure.

Hope that makes sense.

Thanx in advance.

[iroc409]

refridgerators aren't good for constant cooling. they aren't meant for 100% cycle, using a refrigerator to cool a computer will only make the refrigerator explode. they're intended to keep things cold, not remove a contant heat source.

[4saken]

will a single thermochill rad push out enough heat to damage a small fridge?

[iroc409]

Originally posted by 4saken
will a single thermochill rad push out enough heat to damage a small fridge?

if it were my mini-fridge, i'd toss that bad boy under my desk and load it with a couple cases of guinness. i can't answer that question 100%, but i would assume that it would eventually destroy the fridge.

like i said, refridgerators aren't intended to run at 100% cycle like that. they're intended to keep things cold, not constatnly remove heat (which would be the case here). generally your beer and eggs aren't putting off any heat.

there have been a number of mini-fridge experiments, most of which that i know of involved the malfunction of the refridgerator. it seems like a good idea at first, but in the end it's really not.

[Brians256]

The typical minifridge doesn't have enough cooling on the compressor to keep it from overheating. Cool the compressor and it'll run 24-7 just fine.

Run it stock, and you'll need a new minifridge in short order.

However, putting a heater core in a mini-fridge won't be able to dump your entire heatload from a CPU without modifying the condenser (the big heat radiating thing on the minifridge) too. Either active air movement on the condenser or a larger compressor (to move more refrigerant) would probably be needed.

However, I'm always interested in seeing how it works for you. Try it and let us know how YOUR setup worked!

[4saken]

well taking on what you said im thinking sod it im gona give it a go anyway its got 1X80mm fan on the back and its got room for another 2 80mm fans too

So im hopeing that might be enough ????? hehe

Never mind u live and learn.

Thanx guys

[Brians256]

One thing you'll need to watch is the compressor temp. Just throwing a fan on there and leaving the room might not be safe unless you have already verified that the compressor stays at a decent temp for the loads you are placing upon it.

See what temperatures the CPU, the compressor and the evaporator have over time while you have CPUBurn or other CPU load program running.

You will be able to get operating temperatures from the compressor manufacturer. They will know what temperatures the compressor can operate at.

[Boli]

Might be better if you can remove the cooling parts and make a chiller out of it - then you can REALLY cool the hot parts better - as it stands most refrigerators use a passive heat tranfer to remove the heat - if you can mod things around to put the coils in the back in some kind of "wind tunnel" you might be able to see some 24/7 performance out of it.

But why wreak a perfectly good beer cooler is beyond me.

~ Boli

[iroc409]

But why wreak a perfectly good beer cooler is beyond me.

damn strait!

Originally posted by Boli
Might be better if you can remove the cooling parts and make a chiller out of it - then you can REALLY cool the hot parts better - as it stands most refrigerators use a passive heat tranfer to remove the heat - if you can mod things around to put the coils in the back in some kind of "wind tunnel" you might be able to see some 24/7 performance out of it.

i was thinking about something kinda like this.

why not grab an old fridge or deep freeze, and refit its cooling parts on the mini fridge.

then, get as big a bucket or tub that would fit in the mini fridge, fill it with water, and submerse the radiator. that way you'd have the water as a sort of buffer (and i'd think it'd cool the radiator a tad better), and the higher power of the larger cooling unit. with the water as a buffer, the larger unit probably wouldn't have to cycle quite as much, and with its more efficient heat removal, the cycles would be shorter.

something to think about, although probably kindof silly and quite elaborate.

[Brians256]

It is certainly better to put the evaporator directly into the liquid being cooled! But, it is also a lot more work. Even better is to just buy a bigger compressor+condensor package and plumb it into your system with a custom-made evaporator that sits on top of the CPU. You can get -40C to -60C temps on the CPU. But that might be a bit more work than most people want.

[4saken]

ah never mind looks like a beer fridge then i wouldnt know where to start when putting a compresor together :shrug:bit of a noob.
so i think ill just mount my rad in my case instead thanx for the help