cooling oil DIY project

tjpark1111 · Post by **tjpark1111** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:25 pm

Unheard of to me before, and they actually even say that motor oil will perform even better, minus you probably can't see the components too well since it's dark black, and it will smell BAD. Linky:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/09/ ... _the_fans/
For the freaks of silence at silentpcreview, I think this may be the most efficient/best choice for optimal heat dissipation, and absolute silence. Watercooling is good but it doesn't give cooling to hdds, motherboard components, etc. Phase change is a bit too expensive and it too only cools the cpu/gpu. It'd be awesome to see someone at SPCR do this.

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 1:53 pm

It's been done many times before -- by SPCR members and others, years ago. Just try a google or SPCR forum search on appropriate terms.

hvengel · Post by **hvengel** » Mon Jan 30, 2006 4:22 pm

Radio operators use a device called a "dummy load" as a substitute for an antenna for tuning and testing. This is used when they need to run their transmitters but do not want the signal to end up on the air.

For high power rigs this is typically a large 50 ohm resister that is placed in a 1 gallon paint can that is filled with oil. This has been common practice since before WWII.

The prevailing wisdom is that hydraulic fluid is the best oil to use since it has the best heat dissipation characteristics of any of the easy to obtain oils. I think one of the reasons for this is that is has a very low viscosity which promotes convection currents that will carry the heat away from the source. These dummy loads will handle as much as 2 KW for short periods of time (<15 minutes) with out over heating.