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Minimum insulation necessary for a TEC chiller?

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The actual cooling part of the cooler is not hook to the cpu socket right? It just uses a chiller instead of a radiator if i'm correct. What I would do is find a small heat soruce and attach it to the cpu block, away from your motherboard and such. Then run the loop for awhile and see where and how much condensation forms. If you could of course. Also you would need a heat soruce that would be close to what the cpu puts outs. I am having the same train of though as Erocker is having as you may not need any insulation at all.
 
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Isn't the TEC just hooked into the resevoir or do you have it mounted on the block now? I don't see any reason to insulate the motherboard if you're just cooling the water.

The actual cooling part of the cooler is not hook to the cpu socket right? It just uses a chiller instead of a radiator if i'm correct. What I would do is find a small heat soruce and attach it to the cpu block, away from your motherboard and such. Then run the loop for awhile and see where and how much condensation forms. If you could of course. Also you would need a heat soruce that would be close to what the cpu puts outs. I am having the same train of though as Erocker is having as you may not need any insulation at all.
The TEC is in a custom Chiller:


As I said in my original post, the current dew point in australia, is around 19C. That means, that if anything is below 19C, dew/condensation will start to form. And because this is a TEC, it will take it colder then 19C. This means the condensation will form on the tubing and the sides of the waterblock.
 
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As I said in my original post, the current dew point in australia, is around 19C. That means, that if anything is below 19C, dew/condensation will start to form. And because this is a TEC, it will take it colder then 19C. This means the condensation will form on the tubing and the sides of the waterblock.

Wow, no shit, so there's a lot to insulate. Have you found any type of insulation for the tubing? Something like the stuff they put on home plumbing pipes to stop sweating/heat loss... it'd have to be flexible.

How cold does the liquid get coming out of the TEC unit?
 
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Why not try running the loop for a while on its own to see what kind of water temps you get and how much condensation you get. :)
 
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What Erocker said. Apply some sort of heat to the cpu block and run the loop by itself and see where the condensation builds. The heat from the cpu might be enough to combat most of the condensation and keep the temps in the cpu block and tubes from getting low enough to condensate.
 
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Wow, no shit, so there's a lot to insulate. Have you found any type of insulation for the tubing? Something like the stuff they put on home plumbing pipes to stop sweating/heat loss... it'd have to be flexible.

How cold does the liquid get coming out of the TEC unit?

Why not try running the loop for a while on its own to see what kind of water temps you get and how much condensation you get. :)

What Erocker said. Apply some sort of heat to the cpu block and run the loop by itself and see where the condensation builds. The heat from the cpu might be enough to combat most of the condensation and keep the temps in the cpu block and tubes from getting low enough to condensate.
I was looking at getting some foam tape, just for bits that get condensation. From the person I am getting it from, he was getting 15C on the block, I will probably get less, as I wil have a pump/res combo, which has a custom pump block, and I will have a better block. I am currently not able to do anything, as I am away from home. I just wanted to find out now, as if I needed anything special, it would be cheaper to order it where I am currently.
 
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At the very least you will need to insulate the CPU skt area/CPU block. Shouldn't need much, those products i mentioned earlier should suffice. And yes to insulating the tubes, it will improve efficiency and reduce unwanted condensation...

:toast:
 
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At the very least you will need to insulate the CPU skt area/CPU block. Shouldn't need much, those products i mentioned earlier should suffice. And yes to insulating the tubes, it will improve efficiency and reduce unwanted condensation...

:toast:
By insulating the cpu block, you don't mean putting dielectric grease in the pins? I really didn't want to go to that extent... i'm not going sub zero.
 

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Not that I know much about these setups but is it possible to run the hot water from the cpu block through the TEC (to cool it off) and then to the radiator (to warm it back up to ambient) so condensation is a non-issue at the cpu block?

If it will work that way then the only area that would have a condensation issue would be the discharge of the TEC..... which should be easier to isolate from the other hardware.
 
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Not that I know much about these setups but is it possible to run the hot water from the cpu block through the TEC (to cool it off) and then to the radiator (to warm it back up to ambient) so condensation is a non-issue at the cpu block?

If it will work that way then the only area that would have a condensation issue would be the discharge of the TEC..... which should be easier to isolate from the other hardware.
Thats a very interesting idea, though it has 2 problems, it technically renders the TEC pointless, and the radiator would probably warm it too much in the current weather.
 
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By insulating the cpu block, you don't mean putting dielectric grease in the pins? I really didn't want to go to that extent... i'm not going sub zero.

I can't say for sure :eek: That why i suggested having a look at the TecCooling subforum @ that other place...

Wish i had a definite answer for ya :ohwell:
 
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