# Would submerging pc in distilled water



## xVirusx

have a positive affect on computers cooling ?


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## DuckieHo

No, except you would destroy your system. Distilled water is slightly electrically conductive. When expossed to air and metal, it becomes more conductive.


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## RyGuy

Don't do it.


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## xVirusx

lol i wasnt.

what type of liquids would work ?


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## bdattilo

Vegetable oil would work. Kinda.


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## Dooglas

mineral oil


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## AKAeric

Can we please get a sticky that has topics which are forbidden?!

Included would be:

Mini-Fridge PC
Submerged Oil/Water PC


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## Shadowrunner340

some liquids don't conduct electricity

but still bad idea to submerge your PC


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## aaronman

Mineral Oil is actually the best because it's a very viscous liquid (compared to any other cooking oil) and it won't conduct. You just need to get a big radiator and a good pump to circulate the oil around your tank.

Don't use cooking oil though... it goes bad and starts to stink. Mineral oil will not.


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## Retrospekt

Did you get this from my laptop tea thread?









No don't do it. You can clean componenets with distilled water when they're off, and let them dry completely before turning them on. Never stick running electronics in any sort of water, distilled or not.


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## Emmanuel

Even if it's non conductive... The grease or whatever you use will get in the way, such has in PCI slots, in the CPU socket... and would reduce if not prevent a device from being connected properly, also, you would break your motherboard speaker and much more I'm sure... It's a good way to make a 100feet high fountain however (for like 10 seconds).


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## mistashen

distilled water is still semi-conductive. not AS conductive as regular tap water, since it has its impurities, but it'll still short your board. mineral oil, or cooking oil, on the other hand is non-conductive and will work, since it conducts heat but not electricity. however, i wouldnt do it, since youd have a hell of a time cleaning that rig of yours. lol not to mention the hassle of moving the pc


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## pato88

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mistashen* 
distilled water is still semi-conductive. not AS conductive as regular tap water, since it has its impurities, but it'll still short your board. mineral oil, or cooking oil, on the other hand is non-conductive and will work, since it conducts heat but not electricity. however, i wouldnt do it, since youd have a hell of a time cleaning that rig of yours. lol not to mention the hassle of moving the pc

wouldnt it leave all the computer parts sticky if you clean with cooking/mineral oil?


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## itslogz

Well after watching a video on youtube of some guys put there setup inside a aquarium and fill it with mineral something, forgot what it was, and start it up and overclock with LOWWWWWWWWW temps, i cant say it cant be done its just not a smart move

Even the PSU was summerged with all the fans barely spinning, crazy stuff.


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## cyrixMII300

distilled water still has enough amounts of Natrium and chloride in it that it would have a slight conductivity within the system which would definitely fry the system. You could probably try and use deionized water using a high efficiency micropore membrane system for continuous filtration of ions which conduct electricity allright but that costs like 10000pcs price.

I am betting that running a pc in a room with a very low wet bulb temperature would be the best bet for low temps on the cpu.

conclusion: not recommended immersion in distilled water.


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## pato88

Mineral Oil Submerged Computer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtufuXLvOok


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## Dezixn

This topic is full of fail lol.


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## pato88

After watching that youtube video i posted up there, makes me want to run a computer in an aquarium! Ive been thinking of a case mod that was different for a room ive made for me and my mates to hang out in. Computer in an aquarium.. doesnt get much more unique than that! That rules! So trying it!

peace


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## blupupher

I wonder how long the fans last submerged in oil?


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## Hellisforheroes

do it. please!


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## cyrixMII300

Quote:


Originally Posted by *blupupher* 
I wonder how long the fans last submerged in oil?

not too long is my guess. i would say probably about 48 hours maximum since they are operating at a higher density medium than allowed for.


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## kennymester

I see all these people putting computers in mineral oil but you never see any smarties actually put a rad and a pump in it. If you had a rad and a pump moving the mineral oil around it would be a fesible plan.


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## aaronman

Quote:


Originally Posted by *cyrixMII300* 
distilled water still has enough amounts of Natrium and chloride in it that it would have a slight conductivity within the system which would definitely fry the system. You could probably try and use deionized water using a high efficiency micropore membrane system for continuous filtration of ions which conduct electricity allright but that costs like 10000pcs price.

I am betting that running a pc in a room with a very low wet bulb temperature would be the best bet for low temps on the cpu.

conclusion: not recommended immersion in distilled water.

If it has any impurities then it is not completely, purely, distilled water. Pure distilled water does not conduct any electricity because it should just be H2O. Of course, whether or not the bottle of distilled water you get from the grocery store is pure.... well that's another story.


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## Emmanuel

One thing that bothers me though, the weight and pressure of the water would probably kill the HDD motor and the fans. Also, that means that if you actually want to have a CD Drive, you will have to put it out of the water because I really doubt a CD can be properly read when there is a liquid interferring between the laser and disc...


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## aaronman

I would imagine that somebody who is doing this would leave the drives out of the liquid. That's how I would do it - only submerge the mobo.


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## CyberDruid

You CANNOT submerge HDDs.


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## DuckieHo

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Emmanuel* 
One thing that bothers me though, the weight and pressure of the water would probably kill the HDD motor and the fans. Also, that means that if you actually want to have a CD Drive, you will have to put it out of the water because I really doubt a CD can be properly read when there is a liquid interferring between the laser and disc...

.....when anyone does a submerged PC, they don't place the HD or optical drives in liquid. The HD requires air to keep the head from touching the platter. Optical drive would obviously cause leaks.


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## Mikey122687

Hows 50 bottles of FLUID XP+ ULTRA


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## mistashen

it probably will leave it all sticky. my suggestion is you dont try it unless you have some old system you have lying around. =T


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## makkarin

thats the magic word...gonna see all kinds of old systems going back to early k6's submerged in different oils. Wonder how long it would take to see a help thread?


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## AmericanNightmare

I submerged my PC in beer last night as well as myself, well maybe not submerged but accidently doused.........i can report that it had no positive effect on my cooling. It did make the case a bit sticky though.


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## mxps

me and my cousin are going to experiment with some mineral oil cooling so ill let you know how we make out


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## FrankenPC

You CAN use water which is constantly circulated through a DI cartridge via a strong pump. De-Ionizing cartridges remove all of the electrically conductive substances from the water. You should make the loop airtight because airborne substances will contaminate the water causing potential conductivity. Absolutely pure H20 does not conduct low voltages at all.

WARNING: Do not try this at home. I am not affiliated with this concept and am presenting it purely for entertainment purposes.


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## Bloodrust606

Yeah, I agree with the mineral oil. If you can, don't use vegetable oil... the heat begins to chemically separate the oil and... ...you end up having to replace it often. Dun dun dun. Also, mineral oil is clear and less viscous... should be a little easier on the fans if you decide to dip your power supply in there as well. Just do us a favor... don't use distilled water. Lol, another threat not added is the potential oxidation issue and algae/bacterial growth. But those wouldn't be your primary problems. Lol. Good luck!


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## curtis1552

Try a google, easier than waiting on posts.
http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php


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## Zoidy

you mean like this?


CLICK HERE


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## TnB= Gir

From the website it provides at the end of the puget systems video.

The system under load was a different story. We started 3DMark06 looping, and watched the temperatures climb. It took a really long time. After an amazing 12 hours, *the system topped out with a CPU temperature of 88C.* Yes, that is really hot...on the other hand, the system was rock solid and didn't crash when running 3DMark06 for 48 hours at these temperatures. While you could add some radiators and pump the oil through to cool it, you realistically would not be gaming constantly for 12 hours, so these temperatures are as extreme as it gets for this system.

HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT.


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## H3||scr3am

Quote:


Originally Posted by *AKAeric* 
Can we please get a sticky that has topics which are forbidden?!

Included would be:

Mini-Fridge PC
Submerged Oil/Water PC

YES PLEASE!!!! All these kids who get these ideas I hate bashing it into their heads that its not a good idea, get water cooling or phase change, they're both way better anyways!


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## Sin316

must be real fun to change hardware in a oil submerged pc... oil all over the place lol.


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## SandGlass

An important thing to consider is that ions from the metal do eventually dissolve into the de-ionized water, and any dust, oxidation, or grease used has the potential to contain electrically conductive particles. In the short term, if the PCB does not structurally fail due to water, in the long term you have the contaminants to worry about.


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## Strider_2001

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *RyGuy*
> 
> Don't do it.


but if you must do it....make sure you take video of it and post it here for our viewing...


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## BulletSponge

Mineral oil PC's look and sound cool until you decide you want to upgrade a component in one.


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## lmarklar

it would be awesome to build a mineral oil computer as say, I dunno, a media center or something, something that you're not going to need to upgrade really. Use an old system that you can just trash later. Put it into a custom acrylic tank in the living room hooked up to the entertainment system....

Friends come over. WTH??? Oh, don't worry about that, I'll feed it later









If you do build a mineral oil PC.. .make sure you use bulk head connectors to isolate the oil though. Otherwise you'll end up with oil wicking down the cables and leaving a mess all over the floor. If you have a significant other they just might shoot you...


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## trodas

Quote:


> some liquids don't conduct electricity
> but still bad idea to submerge your PC


Well, distilled water is non conductive. The catch is, that it must be *VERY* pure to not conduct. What get you is, that anything contamining the water - off your mainboard will go.
Quote:


> De-Ionizing cartridges remove all of the electrically conductive substances from the water. You should make the loop airtight because airborne substances will contaminate the water causing potential conductivity. Absolutely pure H20 does not conduct low voltages at all. WARNING: Do not try this at home. I am not affiliated with this concept and am presenting it purely for entertainment purposes.


I dubt that they can work that well, because there will be TON's of stuff going off from averge PC. Just classic TIM under the heatsink could be a killer to the project.

Reaching and keeping absolutely pure H2O is a challenge that is IMHO too much for home user w/o endless budget and perfectionist mind.
But sure it would be "one of kind", if this project ever get done. I cannot imagine washing the components to such purity, that not even ions remain on them, much less optimistic I'm about longetivity of the pure water state. IIRC some ionization happens even as result of light passing thru water, if I'm not mistaken, so... Probably next to impossible.

Hopefully somebody took the challenge and prove me wrong


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## ldsh

If I remember well, in water (even pure one), there is a chemical equilibrium between H30+ and OH- .
This equilibrium gives the PH of the water by the relation PH = - log_10([H30+]).
Water at ambient temperature having a PH of 7, that gives a concentration of [H30+] = 10^-7 mole/L.
As this is pure water, there is an equal amount of [OH-] ions.

This quantity is really small (1 mole of water is 18 grams, so this quantity is in the order of 3,6 µg of ions as 2*10^-7 moles of water gives 10^-7 mole of each ion), but is still there even if you don't have any dust in your water. The effect is a really slow corroding of what can be, thus providing the water with foreign elements.

This quantity increase with the temperature. At atmospheric pressure, it ranges from 10^-7.4690 at 0°C to 10^-6.1325 at 100°C.

So even if you prevent any dust to come in the water from the outside, the water itself will tend to make some from what it touches, hopefully it will takes some time for the effect to be noticeable.

Distilled water would however be a good idea to use when tempting things like the waterproofing experiment http://www.overclock.net/t/1540031/showme-s-motherboard-cpu-ram-waterproofing-experiment . The use of distilled water still reduce the risk of short circuit over tap water.


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## AidanofVT

In theory, if you could keep the water totally pure forever it would work. But that's not gonna happen.

People have used mineral oil as a cool science-fair style project, but in reality it doesn't work very well performance wise because it's a closed thermodynamic system, and because oil doesn't conduct heat as well as water.


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## BinaryBummer

Sure would have a positive effect. Due to plenty of research by others that by submerging it in distilled water will indeed cool it. As it fries all power will go off leaving you pc at the mere ambient temperature of the liquid.


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## Wihglah

Has someone posted Linus's video yet?

Youtube - search for "linustechtips mineral oil"

can't do it now, I'm at work.


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## [ShowMe!]

Dielectric Silicone Fluids
http://www.clearcoproducts.com/dielectric-silicone-fluids.html

*Prepare to shell out truck loads of $$$!*

Quote:


> Low Temperature Dielectric Silicone Fluids (-80°C to 220°C) are clear, colorless and odorless linear Polydimethylsiloxane fluids that are characterized by their high dielectric strength, low viscosity, low viscosity-to-temperature coefficients (little viscosity change at low temperatures), low pour points, stability @ low temperatures, and compatibility with virtually all surfaces including metal, rubbers and plastics. The PSF-2cSt and PSF-5cSt are widely used in Freeze Drying and heat transfer applications that require a fluid with low viscosity and low pour point.
> 
> Wide Temperature Dielectric Silicone Fluids (-50°C to 230°C) are clear, colorless and odorless linear Polydimethylsiloxane fluids (CAS# 63148-62-9). They are characterized by their dielectric strength, high flash points, high thermal stability, high resistance to oxidation, low vapor pressure, and compatibility with virtually all surfaces including metal, rubbers and plastics.
> 
> High Temperature Dielectric Silicone Fluids (25°C to 300°C) are clear, colorless and odorless phenyl-class silicone fluids. They are characterized by their high dielectric strength, high flash points, high thermal stability, high resistance to oxidation, low vapor pressure and compatibility with virtually all surfaces including metal, rubbers and plastics.


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## Randomdude

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *ldsh*
> 
> If I remember well, in water (even pure one), there is a chemical equilibrium between H30+ and OH- .
> This equilibrium gives the PH of the water by the relation PH = - log_10([H30+]).
> Water at ambient temperature having a PH of 7, that gives a concentration of [H30+] = 10^-7 mole/L.
> As this is pure water, there is an equal amount of [OH-] ions.
> 
> This quantity is really small (1 mole of water is 18 grams, so this quantity is in the order of 3,6 µg of ions as 2*10^-7 moles of water gives 10^7 mole of each ion), but is still there even if you don't have any dust in your water. The effect is a really slow corroding of what can be, thus providing the water with foreign elements.
> 
> This quantity increase with the temperature. At atmospheric pressure, it ranges from 10^-7.4690 at 0°C to 10^-6.1325 at 100.
> 
> So even if you prevent any dust to come in the water from the outside, the water itself will tend to make some from what it touches, hopefully it will takes some time for the effect to be noticeable.
> 
> Distilled water would however be a good idea to use when tempting things like the waterproofing experiment http://www.overclock.net/t/1540031/showme-s-motherboard-cpu-ram-waterproofing-experiment . The use of distilled water still reduce the risk of short circuit over tap water.


Commendable memory, if I say so myself.


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## mistersprinkles

Big expensive supercomuters use fluorinert. Good luck getting your hands on it, or affording it.


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## ethanh100

distilled water alone is non coductive, jsut like pure H20. When water is exposed to air and other materials it will take minerals into the water which will make it conductive. Mineral oil will not absorb any conductive minerals or substances therefore making it non conductive and safe to have electronics in. Even if you were somehow able to eliminate air from distilled water, the water will take in the metals on the components of the pc making the water conductive.


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## Cannon19932006

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *blupupher*
> 
> I wonder how long the fans last submerged in oil?


a long time, the mineral oil lubricates them.


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## Cannon19932006

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *H3||scr3am*
> 
> Quote:
> 
> 
> 
> Originally Posted by *AKAeric*
> 
> 
> _Can we please get a sticky that has topics which are forbidden?!
> 
> Included would be:
> 
> Mini-Fridge PC
> 
> Submerged Oil/Water PC_
> 
> 
> YES PLEASE!!!! All these kids who get these ideas I hate bashing it into their heads that its not a good idea, get water cooling or phase change, they're both way better anyways!


"cooling experiments"

And then you recommend they just do well established methods of cooling.








Stuff like this is perfect for this forum.


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## ssgtnubb

Why would a thread that is 8 years old ever see the light is beyond me. Guys we like to keep things current, rule of thumb is if it's over 6 month's old stay away, stay far away as the smell is deadly.


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## Sora1421

oh my god. I remember this idiotic thread when i first joined! holy necro....


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## Duality92

Has an 8 year old thread just been revived? :/


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