Coolant

[danman2005]

Does antifreeze conduct electricty. I was think about using it in my water cooled computer. Also, does it corride in metal.

Thanks

[EzyStvy]

Does antifreeze conduct electricty. -> Probably no more so than WATER does.

Also, does it corride in metal. -> One of the reason every water cooler engine in the world uses antifreeze is to help Avoid corrusion.

[TwoRails]

Also, don't forget that the "special" stuff that cooler makers sell also prevents alge buildup. It shouldn't really matter if it conducts electricity or not, as you are not running it thru / on electrical components...

[enhanced08]

It shouldn't really matter if it conducts electricity or not, as you are not running it thru / on electrical components...

Agreed I wouldnt worry about if it conducts electricity or not. Even if you get the special liquid that "doesn't" conduct, it does. If there is any material that gets in the liquid that material will conduct. Its almost impossible to keep it clean enough to not conduct. That stuff is a waste of money, as long as you setup your cooling right you wont have a problem.

[David M]

Only absolutely pure water with no ions does not conduct electricity and that is impossible to find outside of a laboratory with a de-ionizer. Even if you do manage to get some deionized water, pouring the water into your water cooling system will introduce ions into the water from the aluminum and copper in your cooling system so it is not going to do you any good in the first place.

Anti-freeze does conduct electricity but that is irrelevant and is actually what you want in order to preserve the metals found in your cooling system. Antifreeze contains chemicals and a sacrificial metal which works as an electrolyte, that stops electrolysis between disimilar metals that you want to preserve such as the copper and aluminum. The sacrificial metal is usually zinc which protects the aluminum by being a more reactive metal on the Nobel scale. The copper reacts with oxidizes (corrodes) the zinc first. After all the zinc corrodes, then the copper will start corroding the aluminum. This is one reason why you have to change the anti-freeze periodically.

Ethelyne glycol is an excellent biocide so you don't need to worry about algae building up inside. If you are still worried then put a tiny amount of bleach (a few drops) in there since chlorine is the best biocide there is. Chloride ions will kill everything.

Dont waste your money on the stuff the water cooling companies try to sell you. Plain old anti-freeze sold at auto parts stores is just as good if not better. If you look around you can find antifreeze in colors other than green. I use a clear blue anti freeze sold by Cummins. Dilute the pure antifreeze down to about a 40% solution with distilled water. Do not use tap water, purified water or drinking water)

[doctorgonzo]

Why would you do this? Antifreeze is used in cars to do two things: lower the freezing point of the coolant (not an issue in PCs), and raise the boiling point of the coolant (again, not an issue in PCs). Seems like a waste of money.

[danman2005]

Well by rasing my boiling point, it will allow me some room about cooling off my coolant. If for some reason my radiators are not able to cool of the water to a low enough temp, at least the addition of antifreeze will allow more heat absorbtion before it begins to evaporate. I mostly going to use in as a backup if my pump goes out. The extra heat capacity will give me more time to spot a problem. And the antifreeze will be cheaper than buying anything from some computer store.

[doctorgonzo]

I'm pretty sure that the water in a water cooling setup does not get anywhere close to the boiling point. Computer water cooling setups are not meant to handle steam pressure, they would explode if that happened.

[David M]

Why would you do this? Antifreeze is used in cars to do two things: lower the freezing point of the coolant (not an issue in PCs), and raise the boiling point of the coolant (again, not an issue in PCs). Seems like a waste of money.

An issue with water cooling systems is algae, corrosion and sometimes lubricity depending on the pump.

Of course freezing is not a problem. The cooling system does not need all that ethelyne glycol but it does need the other things contained in anti-freeze and anti-freeze is much cheaper than the stuff the sold by the kit makers.

Well by rasing my boiling point, it will allow me some room about cooling off my coolant. If for some reason my radiators are not able to cool of the water to a low enough temp, at least the addition of antifreeze will allow more heat absorbtion before it begins to evaporate. I mostly going to use in as a backup if my pump goes out. The extra heat capacity will give me more time to spot a problem. And the antifreeze will be cheaper than buying anything from some computer store.

There is no way a water cooling system can get anywhere near 100C (the boiling point of water at STP). Mine typically never gets over 30C even during heavy gaming. If your coolant is approaching 60C then your CPU is close to a meltdown.

If your system is closed loop, you should have no evaporation. The best systems are closed loop systems. Thermal expansion is taken care of by outward flexing of the tubing.

[danman2005]

Is your processor overclocked? If it is by how much? I plan to overclock my AMD 64 and I figure that would cause a temp rise. At what temp should I stop?

[David M]

I have my FX-57 overclocked from 2.8 up to 3.1. AMD rates the 939 CPU's up to 60C. I would start throttling back before it reaches that temperature.

Setup whatever monitoring program you use (ASUS PC Probe is what I use) to set off an alarm if your CPU exceeds this temperature.