A computer in mineral oil?

[poohbear1616]

Can a computer run in mineral oil?
Apparently so. http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

Pay attention to the first OS to boot up!

[heimo]

Tomshardware also did it:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/01/09/strip_out_the_fans/index.html

EDIT: Uhm. That's cooking oil.

[Snargledorf]

I have seen quiet a few of these...I was tempted to make my own until I realized that it would be a serious pain in the @$$

EDIT: Heres another example of a preaty cool looking mineral oil pc.
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?CIID=26054

EDIT: Heres a tutorial i found if you ever wanted to build your own
http://www.pugetsystems.com/submerged.php

[R13120(1<]

it's a blast!!
my buddy and i have done it 3 times now and we're working a way to get the most recent test to run at 20C so we can over clock the holy hell out of it. so far initial tests have only been met with partial success. and of course it runs Ubuntu like a pro.

[koleoptero]

Isn't mineral oil flammable?:confused:

[R13120(1<]

Isn't mineral oil flammable?:confused: google it. there are videos.. several. and no it's not.... mineral spirits, uses for paint thinner, are. mineral oil is a mild laxative and has a much higher flash point an viscosity. you can use crisco too,,

[forrestcupp]

you can use crisco too,,

The point they made about using vegetable based oils in the OP's link is that those types of oil become rancid quickly. That's why they used mineral oil.

[jpittack]

I imagine you should unhook the fans so they don't go under so much strain trying to get through liquid vs. air. That way when you take everything out, there is not need to worry about the next guy's cooling.

[rzrgenesys187]

I saw one at some point that was in a spherical mineral oil case it looked awesome, I'll see if I can find the picture

[BDNiner]

This is crazy!!! No one at my work thinks it is real. they all say that the cuircuits should short out. And wow did it take a long time for the ubuntu machine to boot. I know it was old hardware but wow!!

[BDNiner]

Shouldn't the circuits short out?? no one at my office thinks the video is real. btw did anyone notice how long it took the ubuntu pc to load. I know it was old hardware, but wow!!

[markp1989]

Shouldn't the circuits short out?? no one at my office thinks the video is real. btw did anyone notice how long it took the ubuntu pc to load. I know it was old hardware, but wow!!

im pretty sure that mineral oil is non conductive, i would love to try this, but i havn't got the money

[R13120(1<]

check out mine fishtank computing (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=695593) i don't have it perfect yet but it runs ubuntu fine. pics here (http://s250.photobucket.com/albums/gg276/r1312ock/) and you can google videos.

[Whiffle]

Oil cooled electronics isn't anything new really...they've been using it for many years for cooling transformers. Oil is not electrically conductive, and conducts heat fairly well.

[mysticrider92]

Shouldn't the circuits short out?? no one at my office thinks the video is real. btw did anyone notice how long it took the ubuntu pc to load. I know it was old hardware, but wow!!

I think that is a Ubuntu live cd. Which would probably barely run on a computer with an ISA slot...

Completely pure oil (even distilled water) does not conduct electricity, so it would not short out. But, as shown in the Tom's Hardware video, the slightest impurities would cause a short.

[BDNiner]

Yeah i looked it up on google and it is not conductive. Water though is a bad conductor of electricity. So i would not try this with water. plus there is the chance that the parts will rust with just water.

[johndc]

Water though is a bad conductor of electricity. So i would not try this with water. plus there is the chance that the parts will rust with just water.

you mean water is a good conductor of electricity. it is a poor insulator.

though distilled or synthesized water (i.e. a homogenous solution of H20) with no metallic impurities is non-conductive.

[markp1989]

you mean water is a good conductor of electricity. it is a poor insulator.

though distilled or synthesized water (i.e. a homogenous solution of H20) with no metallic impurities is non-conductive.

but it doesnt remain non conductive for very long

[johndc]

but it doesnt remain non conductive for very long

well, that depends on what the electrodes are made of.

[markp1989]

well, that depends on what the electrodes are made of.

if you started with distiled water, and submerged a computer in it, i assume that metal on the motherboard etc would break down in to the water, i havnt studied science in a few years so correct me if im wrong

[johndc]

if you started with distiled water, and submerged a computer in it, i assume that metal on the motherboard etc would break down in to the water, i havnt studied science in a few years so correct me if im wrong

no you are right as far as the typical guts of a PC go...

I was referring in general to other scientific processes in which this doesn't happen, where gold or other inert metal electrodes are used, they do not oxidize or bond with hydrogen/oxygen, and so the water remains uncontaminated.

but yes, you're right: submerging any sort of PCB (especially one containing lead solder) in distilled water will eventually short it out.

[BDNiner]

you mean water is a good conductor of electricity. it is a poor insulator.

though distilled or synthesized water (i.e. a homogenous solution of H20) with no metallic impurities is non-conductive.

No i think i am right, water is a poor conductor of electricity, and it can only let electricity pass through if there are charged particles in the water. So that is why you add salt to make water a better conductor of electricity.

[johndc]

No i think i am right, water is a poor conductor of electricity, and it can only let electricity pass through if there are charged particles in the water. So that is why you add salt to make water a better conductor of electricity.

Yes, but you contradicted your original statement when you said:


So i would not try this with water.

It was this statement that made me think you had meant to say "insulator" instead of "conductor".

But whatevs... it's only water, after all. And none of us are planning on submerging our PC's anytime soon.

[executor]

this is the way super duper big computer is cold down :)

but in the video the fan is stil ther they will not last long ?? the density.of the oil.

[cookieofdoom]

It definitely works with vegetalbe oil (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIt6MgJeli8) quite nicely. My friends and I tried it a while back. We didn't care if the machine wouldn't work a few days later, it was going in the trash anyway. We want to see if we can overclock an old system in mineral oil.. maybe make a mineral oil cooled web server or something.

[ashaiba]

http://img189.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=imag0043j.jpg


this is my mineral oil mod i built this week, enjoy. works perfectly fine and the temperature of the cpu and gpu are about 70C usually

[Exodist]

Shouldn't the circuits short out?? no one at my office thinks the video is real. btw did anyone notice how long it took the ubuntu pc to load. I know it was old hardware, but wow!!
All Oil unless a conductor is added is NON-conductive. Thus electricity will not travel thru it.

[cascade9]

Oil-cooling is do-able, but the only reason why I would set it up would be major dust issues

It looks cool, but so does water cooling, and phase change cooling.

[lethalfang]

http://img189.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=imag0043j.jpg


this is my mineral oil mod i built this week, enjoy. works perfectly fine and the temperature of the cpu and gpu are about 70C usually

Haha, let us know if it lasts over a month. :D

[Rainstride]

Haha, let us know if it lasts over a month. :D

I built one, his oil pc will probably out last you air cooled pc (just so look as he did it right). oil is way better than air, the only problem is it can be messy and you have to do it right or your screwed(you will be cleaning for months). also, upgrades can make a mess;). for anyone thinking about doing this, DO NOT use vegetable oil its very dangerous and the oil goes bad easy. use mineral oil.

[handy]

I have a brass automotive heater element which I think would easily make a perfect radiator for a mineral oil submerged/cooled computer.

It just needs to be flushes out.

They shouldn't be hard to find at auto wrecking yards for anyone who needs to add more cooling, they should be a cheap & effective radiator, add fans if/when required.

[clanky]

It is possible to use direct water cooling with electrics as well, you just need to be reallysure that the water is de-ionised, I used to work on a ship which had a variable frequency drive for a 10MW motor which ran at 3kV which and cooled directly (i.e. the water touching the live bits) by de-ionised water.

It wouldn't be practical for a single PC, but if you had a series of servers it might be, the only problem we had was that if we added water to the system it took about 6 hours to bring the conductivity back to zero, but I am sure there would be ways round that.

As another aside mineral oil is a generic term for oils which come from the ground rather than a specific oil type, the 3 types of oil are mineral vegetable and synthetic, of the 3 synthetic oils are best for just about every application, but are the most expensive.