Voted Best Answer
Jun 18, 2023 - 02:32 AM
Let's go through your questions one at a time:
Heat sinks, AKA Heat Spreaders or Fins: You don't mention the power rating of your CPU, but most do need as heat spreader, as the surface area of the die is pretty small. If you're going to go without heat spreaders or fins, you'll need to concentrate your flow onto the hot die, and your description of the design doesn't sound like this is possible. Our recommendation is to change the TIM (thermal interface material) to a solid or semisolid one and keep the heat spreaders on. Paste-type TIMS usually dissolve in any liquid, which makes the coolant look cloudy.
Radiators: There are lots of different types of PC radiators, with different cooling capacities. Make sure you research this. Also make sure that the seals and gaskets are compatible with hydrocarbon fluids - most PC radiators are made for water/glycol, which has a completely different compatibility profile than our coolants. Use our Material Compatibility Guide for assistance.
Reactivity: Nearly all two-part epoxies are compatible with our coolants. Make sure that the epoxy is fully cured before immersion. Again, use our Material Compatibility Guide for assistance. See the section on pipes and hoses for rigid tubing recommendations - CPVC (not to be confused with PVC) is a good choice.
Wires: Wicking through insulation sheathing is a phenomenon seen with all coolants that have a high surface tension. There's a good discussion in the FAQs on how to solve this - basically, you can either cut the outer sheath enough to allow some air to enter and break up the siphon effect or you can put a silicone rubber plug inside the sheath. See the FAQs.
Wire stiffness is also a problem with most hydrocarbon-based coolants; it's caused by plasticizer chemicals in the PVC insulation leaching into the coolant. This doesn't affect the insulating capability of the PVC, only its flexibility, and is usually a minor annoyance rather than an operational problem.
Operational Lifespan: In a sealed system, you should never have to change the coolant unless there's a short-circuit (very rare) or other component failure (also very rare). There has never been a case of biological growth in our coolants, either in storage or in application. The coolant should remain clear over application lifetime. Often our coolants will discolor slightly because of color dyes that leach from the wiring or gaskets; this doesn't affect the performance of the coolants in any way. The only ways the the coolants turn cloudy is due to dissolved paste TIM material or getting water into the system.
In short, the biggest things for you to watch out for are gaskets, O-rings and hoses that are not compatible with hydrocarbon fluids. The Material Compatibility Guide is your friend.
One more thing - the flow distribution plate at the bottom of your tank is more important than most people realize. Ideally, you want all of your coolant flow to touch the hot components on your motherboard or circuit board. Any flow that just goes up the side of the tank without contacting the hot components is just wasted flow and isn't doing you any good. So if your flow distribution plate is full of holes that are spread out all over the bottom of your tank, you don't have optimized flow. Consider how you can concentrate your flow to go to the hot components - this can be as simple as not putting holes in your distribution plate that aren't directly under the circuit boards.
Heat sinks, AKA Heat Spreaders or Fins: You don't mention the power rating of your CPU, but most do need as heat spreader, as the surface area of the die is pretty small. If you're going to go without heat spreaders or fins, you'll need to concentrate your flow onto the hot die, and your description of the design doesn't sound like this is possible. Our recommendation is to change the TIM (thermal interface material) to a solid or semisolid one and keep the heat spreaders on. Paste-type TIMS usually dissolve in any liquid, which makes the coolant look cloudy.
Radiators: There are lots of different types of PC radiators, with different cooling capacities. Make sure you research this. Also make sure that the seals and gaskets are compatible with hydrocarbon fluids - most PC radiators are made for water/glycol, which has a completely different compatibility profile than our coolants. Use our Material Compatibility Guide for assistance.
Reactivity: Nearly all two-part epoxies are compatible with our coolants. Make sure that the epoxy is fully cured before immersion. Again, use our Material Compatibility Guide for assistance. See the section on pipes and hoses for rigid tubing recommendations - CPVC (not to be confused with PVC) is a good choice.
Wires: Wicking through insulation sheathing is a phenomenon seen with all coolants that have a high surface tension. There's a good discussion in the FAQs on how to solve this - basically, you can either cut the outer sheath enough to allow some air to enter and break up the siphon effect or you can put a silicone rubber plug inside the sheath. See the FAQs.
Wire stiffness is also a problem with most hydrocarbon-based coolants; it's caused by plasticizer chemicals in the PVC insulation leaching into the coolant. This doesn't affect the insulating capability of the PVC, only its flexibility, and is usually a minor annoyance rather than an operational problem.
Operational Lifespan: In a sealed system, you should never have to change the coolant unless there's a short-circuit (very rare) or other component failure (also very rare). There has never been a case of biological growth in our coolants, either in storage or in application. The coolant should remain clear over application lifetime. Often our coolants will discolor slightly because of color dyes that leach from the wiring or gaskets; this doesn't affect the performance of the coolants in any way. The only ways the the coolants turn cloudy is due to dissolved paste TIM material or getting water into the system.
In short, the biggest things for you to watch out for are gaskets, O-rings and hoses that are not compatible with hydrocarbon fluids. The Material Compatibility Guide is your friend.
One more thing - the flow distribution plate at the bottom of your tank is more important than most people realize. Ideally, you want all of your coolant flow to touch the hot components on your motherboard or circuit board. Any flow that just goes up the side of the tank without contacting the hot components is just wasted flow and isn't doing you any good. So if your flow distribution plate is full of holes that are spread out all over the bottom of your tank, you don't have optimized flow. Consider how you can concentrate your flow to go to the hot components - this can be as simple as not putting holes in your distribution plate that aren't directly under the circuit boards.
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