Liquid cooling... ??

moon47usaco

Well-Known Member
Seeing how many of us use pc fan cooling for our grow room/boxes i thought i would look into liquid cooling...

I really like this system and would not buy it to cool a room or lighting hood i think the ideas implemented here could be modified to apply to any thing...

Orchestra-Cl-W0097

I like the slogan "Enjoy your life with 0 dB"... =]

This could be as simple and GHETTO as just hooking up a radiator on the outside of the grow area and pushing it through copper pipe coils in the grow area...

What do you think am out of my rocker or could this be a quiet solution to heat problems...

And here is a nice (but EXPENSIVE) system for hid lighting...
Texas Hydroponics :: Grow Lighting :: Liquid Cooled Lights :: Liquid Lumens "HydroFlector" Reflector Insert

And here is a simpler and CHEAPER design for a cpu cooler...


Again probably the cheapest solution would be to build your own based on these ideas...
 

SmokerE

Well-Known Member
I don't know if you could take it as far as texas hydro, but vented hoods work really well. Maybe consider incorporating a small water pump within chilled water and some copper tubing on the intake to blow cool air over the light, kind of like what you mentioned.
 

nowstopwhining

Too many brownies
How much does it cool compared to a fan heat sink setup...

And what set up do you have... ??

=]
it dropped my temps down about 30F

My old setup is an amd 64 3800+ over clocked to 3.0ghz, 1 gig corsair ram, 74gig raptor hd (10,000rpm VERY FAST) and a 200gig hd, and an overclocked nvidia 6800ultra.

Im building a new setup right now. :mrgreen:
 

moon47usaco

Well-Known Member
@stopwhining

30F is a pretty good temp drop... What cooling system were you using... And were you only cooling the cpu or were you cooling other devices with liquid... ??

@Pboy

Give us some details if you have them...

This is getting off topic but i think its relevant to my research... Once i get my new grow box set up ill probably buy a pc cooling radiator and pump... though im not sure i might need a different pump... the pc pumps are designed to pump through those little cpu plates and i want to pump through a system of copper coil...
 

nowstopwhining

Too many brownies
@stopwhining

30F is a pretty good temp drop... What cooling system were you using... And were you only cooling the cpu or were you cooling other devices with liquid... ??

@Pboy

Give us some details if you have them...

This is getting off topic but i think its relevant to my research... Once i get my new grow box set up ill probably buy a pc cooling radiator and pump... though im not sure i might need a different pump... the pc pumps are designed to pump through those little cpu plates and i want to pump through a system of copper coil...
Hey dont waste your money on a prebuilt pc watercooling setup. I made mine, and it was REALLY easy and cost under $100. It is also far more effective than the premade systems.

I have to go to work but ill be on later and tell you where to get the stuff and how to set it up. :blsmoke:
 

TurboEscort

Well-Known Member
this is becoming interesting. might work really well for small stealth grows that want to use some high heat lights like hps and such.
 

nowstopwhining

Too many brownies
Ok heres how I built my water cooled setup....

Go to an auto parts store, autozone, napa, etc. and buy yourself an aluminum trans cooler like this:

TCI Auto: Performance Cooler (3/4 x 7 1/2 x 15)

Then get yourself a few feet of 3/4 id tubing from lowes or home depot.

Aquarium Plumbing: Lee's Vinyl Tubing 3/4" ID

Then go to the gardening section and get an inline pond pump like one of these, you most likely want atleast 300gph.

Inline Pond and Fountain Pumps

The last part you will need is a cooling block for your cpu or whatever you plan to cool (if you wanted to cool something besides a cpu they make bigger cooling blocks for video cards)

Discount Computer CPU Water Blocks-Waterblock Block CPU Water Block-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com



Then get a nice tupperware for a reservior and hook everything up like this
(this is my computer and my home made watercooling, its kind of ghetto looking at the moment though hahaha)



 

moon47usaco

Well-Known Member
Ok well i already did some research and suspect i could build a good cooling system for around $150 usd...

But what really sparks my interest is that you can add one of these babys for not that much more and get ALOT cooler... =]

I love technology and physics... =]



Oh ya if you have no idea what that is google foe "thermoelectric peltier cooler"
 

nowstopwhining

Too many brownies
Ok well i already did some research and suspect i could build a good cooling system for around $150 usd...

But what really sparks my interest is that you can add one of these babys for not that much more and get ALOT cooler... =]

I love technology and physics... =]



Oh ya if you have no idea what that is google foe "thermoelectric peltier cooler"
Only problem with peltier cooling is that is causes ALOT of condensation...You have to wrap and seal everything

what they do is transfer heat from one side of the pad to the other, theres alot of math involved with peltiers depending on the heat being generated you have to have a certain watt peltier, if the wattage is too low it can actually make things worse.
 

moon47usaco

Well-Known Member
I thought that if the cool side were conducted properly it would not cause that ice or condensation... Plus in a grow situation that is not that bad... Its not like having it in and near circuit boards and power sources...

Keeping the module away from the light and using conductive material to cary the cooling across the heated areas should be easy enough...

Im not positive though i think i will buy a module to play around with...

Im thinking worse case scenario just making a double sided heat sink and fan setup... Putting the hot side out and the cool side blowing cool air in...

Any way more research is needed... =]
 

nowstopwhining

Too many brownies
I thought that if the cool side were conducted properly it would not cause that ice or condensation... Plus in a grow situation that is not that bad... Its not like having it in and near circuit boards and power sources...

Keeping the module away from the light and using conductive material to cary the cooling across the heated areas should be easy enough...

Im not positive though i think i will buy a module to play around with...

Im thinking worse case scenario just making a double sided heat sink and fan setup... Putting the hot side out and the cool side blowing cool air in...

Any way more research is needed... =]
if the cool side is being conducted properly the temps will be MUCH lower than room temp which causes condensation on the cooling block and water lines. But yeah like you said thats no big deal in a grow room.

ive got a really good idea of how water cooling could be used to cool a grow room let me draw it up for you.
 

nowstopwhining

Too many brownies
Ok listen the fan would blow air over the ice cold copper tubing and then the air would be directed into your grow room. if you dont understand anything I drew ask me. It should be pretty simple and it should definitely work!



You would need two cooling blocks one on the cool side moving water through the copper tubing. Then another cooling block on the hot side moving air through the radiator.

in my drawing I forgot the two inline pumps and reserviors that would be needed for each set of lines.
 

moon47usaco

Well-Known Member
Thats great... Although i do not have the money to spend on a set up like that right now it is exactly what i had in mind...

On a cheaper note and design one could make one of these pretty easy with two fans, one large (heat) heat-sink and one smaller (cool) heat-sink and a Peltier sandwiched in between... Witch is what these are but they are fairly expensive to buy pre built... Probably a $50 set up at most if you DIY...

Add a thermostat and you have a fairly effective and inexpensive ac setup...



But the setup you detailed here would be optimal for hid cooling IMHO... =]
 

nowstopwhining

Too many brownies
Thats great... Although i do not have the money to spend on a set up like that right now it is exactly what i had in mind...

On a cheaper note and design one could make one of these pretty easy with two fans, one large (heat) heat-sink and one smaller (cool) heat-sink and a Peltier sandwiched in between... Probably a $50 set up at most...

Add a thermostat and you have a fairly effective and inexpensive ac setup...



But the setup you detailed here would be optimal for hid cooling IMHO... =]
I didnt even think about what your saying but yeah that would work too...Man we got some good brainstorming going on :mrgreen:
 

moon47usaco

Well-Known Member
Well at 1st i was concerned with just liquid then i realized it would cost more then i wanted to spend right now so you understood what i was getting at...

Finding out about the peltier just made it possible to keep it cheap... =]

Or use both... Depends on you needs... Im rambling... =]

Good stuff thanks for sharing... =]
 

Pboy

Active Member
i dont get what you wanna cool the lights if so the sink has to be attched with thermal grease to a light but i dont get the point..and you can just run water pipes through hoping that it will cool the room and another thing is a in a pc you stil need fans blowing the heat that isnt picked up out of the case, it would be the same with a grow room/box. liquid cooling is intended to take heat away from a certain spot that get extreme hot i dont get how you can use that with a grow room/box
 

nowstopwhining

Too many brownies
i dont get what you wanna cool the lights if so the sink has to be attched with thermal grease to a light but i dont get the point..and you can just run water pipes through hoping that it will cool the room and another thing is a in a pc you stil need fans blowing the heat that isnt picked up out of the case, it would be the same with a grow room/box. liquid cooling is intended to take heat away from a certain spot that get extreme hot i dont get how you can use that with a grow room/box
did you look at my drawing???
 
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