Personal Pet project: Building a PC inside of a bar fridge (or something similar)

[smooman]

Ok so, what I am attempting to do here people is to ( as the title sugests) alleviate any and ALL cooling problems by simply building a pc within a bar fridge of some kind (possibly a wine storage case or something).

Now at the moment (other then the cost) my main concern is the humidity factor.. if liquid condenses on the mainboard.. well we all know what happens to electrical circuits when moisture is introduced. so anyhow if anyone has attempted something like this and succeeded, or has any info on this i would greatly appreciate the feedback.

Personally i am a bit of a pc buff, and i love taking apart and retooling my ol cranker pc to get that extra bit of juice out of it. When i went over this in my mind it seemed like a very provocative option.. however i decided to throw it to the pro's and see what comes out.

thanks in advance
smooman

[Strider]

If you don't overclock then regular heat sink and somekind of thermal compound is suffiecent, if overclocking is going to be done watercooling is an option. Why try to re-invent the wheel when other people (companies) have come up with great solutions? Just my opinion.


By the way - Welcome to PCMechanic!

[homer15]

i think if you could figure out some way of sealing it inside a box so that no water can condense on the inside, it'd work... or maybe get some kind of humidity controller in there...

[nocturnx]

like a mini-dehumidifier inside the fridge, yea that could work?. Or yea make the box that the pc is in waterproof. You could maybe put something in there that would absorb the moisture? Like rice, isnt that what they put in salt to keep the moisture out? Ha a box of minute rice.

[homer15]

the only thing i would worry about with sealing it up is that it'll sort of insulate it, as well. then, there's no point in even trying to cool the computer with the fridge's air.

[smooman]

now that de humidifying(sp) device sounds like a plan, however i actually havent heard of anything like that save for the type that is in a cigar humidor. does anyone have any info on an efficient one thats not tooo expensive?

[homer15]

here's a cheap one. it's less than a foot tall... i don't know how good it'd look in a fridge, though.
here's a flat one that is over a foot in diameter... it might work better, though.

[completeandutterNEWB]

problem: while the computer is on it will keep generating heat, therefore the minifridge will constantly have to be working to keep the inside cool, this could overload the motor and make it fail, and if this happens overnight while the computer is on, it will overheat and most surely fry components since the fridge itself is an insulator which will trap all the heat.
thats why you dont keep the door of a fridge open since the motor will fail.

[smooman]

completeandutternewb:

you bring up a valid point, however it opens up a whole new question. i have seen refridgerated computer setup's before, mostly on higher end graphics and server computers. now i wonder what keeps them from pulling the same overheating problem as a conventional refrigeration unit?

any ideas anyone?

Also, just as a responce to some of the other posts up there.

Yah, i understand that there are many heat solutions on the market.. alot of them specifically designed for the more heat intensive computers. almost all of them convienent and frequently cheap.... however i personally have a tinkering glitch in me that causes me to take your ordinary everyday stuff and try to make it all that much more interesting.

thats sorta what got me into the whole PC building thing in the first place. and in any case think about it for a moment... if we can overcome the hurdles of this method, the actual system would be extremely useful

[Crafty_Dus]

its a brilliant plan.i've just been pricing watercooling kits and you can pick up a bar fridge for a fraction of the cost.and the performance is gonna be incredible.most fridges have a sort of dehumidifier built in.theres usually some sort of external catch tray near the bottom(at least in my kitchen fridge there is).
very creative.very original

[smooman]

heh thanks crafty dus, yah i am planning to draw up some very crude schematics within the next few days using some of the ideas discussed here. one of the problems i have addressed and recently worked out is

- "how am i going to get all of that wiring out of the fridge to the monitor/printer/etc.

*answer A*
it would be as simple as using your everyday concrete drill! Refridgerator casings are usually comprised of a thin layer of aluminum/steel, then a much thicker layer of insulating foam followed by a final thin layer of plastic (internal coating)... all these providing little to no resistance for the powerful drill.
clean up all the rough edges with some steel wool and sandpaper, then wash with a damp cloth.

Buy yourself a heap of cable extensions for all the ports and string them through the new hole.

finally apply some primer to the hole area to fully clense of all materials and use sealent putty, wrapped around the cables, to reinforce the insulation that was previously removed.

possible faults: hard to upgrade, will result in multiple holes in freezer.. better for a system that will never be changed.. possible sealent problem with movement of cords over time.

*Answer B*

create a "junction box" for any and all cabling that might be connected to the innards that will be accessable to the outside world.

this is done fairly simply with parts from your local radio shack and some good ol fashoned study. most PC cabling isnt extremely complicated when you really look at it, and alot of the cost you pay for at the markets for cables is really for the fancy plastic molding around the cable rather then the cable itself.

simply buy the proper connectors from (insert local electronics store here) in pairs, get yourself a handy dandy hobby kit box (plastic aluminum, whatever) cut the proper holes in the box for the sizes of the connectors..wire them up... and viola, instant connection between your oh so frigid pc and the outside world.

place your new junction box in the hole you would have created *specifically fitted* for the box squeeze the sucker in , seal it up nice and tight (ala sealent putty or other measures) and there you have it!.

*possible problems*: this particular solution is ment for those who are fairly secure in their technological prowess.. some basic electronic knowledge is required and may be out of the league of some of the less tech savvy of us out there.

(might be a bit overkill with the concrete drill but it would provide the proper drill bit size could also be done with a hand drill and many holes or an electric saw of some kind)

any feedback or ideas are very much appreciated.

[gbirke]

Hate to shoot your idea down, but it probably wont work. I was an appliance tech for a few years. I had one call on a full sized fridge that wasn't cooling well. I took a temperture measurement and found it would only go down to about 55 degrees. The problem ended up being that the switch for the lite inside the fridge was bad and the lite didn't turn off when the door was closed. If a 40 watt lite bulb can raise the temp. to 55 degrees in a full size fridge, a computer would probably really heat up a small one.

[completeandutterNEWB]

and the motor of a full size fridge is definatly a whole lot more powerful than one of a mini fridge
so thats why i'm saying that the fridge motor will blow and you'll have yourself a fried computer

[nocturnx]

Hmm then lets drop the mini-fridge idea and move to mini-freezer?

[smooman]

sure but... dont they work on the same principle?

[Tophinator]

well it is possible but your going to have a heavily modded fridge. Your gonna have to get a heavy duty compressor for one. Maybe rip one out of one of those meat locker cooling units. And depending on how the fridge is designed your gonna have to go with some heavy duty fan motors as well. After your done with the project the thing is going to use up so much power that your electric payement is going to be the size of your phone number.

What I would suggest is not to make something insulated. Its a good idea in theory but it would be much more efficiant to just run the freeon(or what ever they use these days) through tubes that are actually connected to the computer components like water cooling systems on computers. But instead of having just a radiator you will have a compressor to cool the fluide and a radiator to dispense heat.

[smooman]

yes.. unfortunately i beleve that this idea may have been shot down. ah well dont worry team ill come up with something else

[enhanced08]

i was thinking on the same lines as you at one point and posted a similar thread. after much thinking and talking i came up with this idea. get a watercooling system and put water tank and fan in a fridge. this way the water will be much cooler than the air, wont run the fridge 24/7 and also keep the mainboard dry. you would even be able to keep a few drinks in the fridge with the extra space saved

[Jaggannath]

This is prolly a dumb question, but it's been niggling at me for a while now, and I don't want to start a new thread because I don't know how to reference the post, but...
What is that thing in your sig. block enhanced??

[enhanced08]

its my pcmech folding stats, folding is a program put on your computer which helps find cures for diseases and such, you get points which go towards the pcmech team. you can get more info on it here or in the distrubted computing area of the forums.

[the hot rod]

if u do that there is a possibley that u might burn your frig. u going to make the motor in the frig work to hard. no u can just put a air condion in the comp make no diff i seen that before. name coolness