PC in a Fridge (first Post)

[MaD.VeZ]

First off, Hi im Vez and im new to these forums.:D

I aint done much modding but decided to start with this 1. (http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/Photos/CNXT0006.JPG) works well 8)

What i want to do for my next 1 is mount a pc in a fridge and maybe add a few neons and generally disguise the fact its a fridge to make it more appealing to the eye:D
Ive already removed the door as i plan to replace the front with a perspect cover so you can see the inside.

Here`s the fridge i sourced for the job
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/Photos/MaD2.jpg

Feel free to drop any suggestions or feedback as its all welcomed8)

[maximan1]

Make it a working frige. That way you would have auto drink and computer cooling ;):)
-maximan1

[jestyyr]

Don't under any circumstances make it a working fridge.
that would potentially be a VERY VERY bad idea.
unless you have a way to deal with condensation? a little bit of condensation could turn an awesome pc into refrigerated smoke.
but as a case I am interested in seeing where you go with this.

[simon275]

I can see a few problems with this mod.

a. What are you going to do stop condensation forming on the mother board and ram and power supply which will kill the compoents.

Maybe you could build the PC in a perspex box and put it in the fridge. Use really thin prespex so the air in the box stays cooled but not to much condensation goes in. The prespex box would have to be air tight to stop the condensation but that kinda falls down on its self with how are you going to get the power vga cables out etc.

b. Secondly how are you going to route cables into the fridge as drilling a fat hole in the side of it isn't great when it comes to keeping the cool air in. This can lead to the fridge's motor burning out.

You could use really tight gromits on the holes to stop to much heat etc escaping as well as putting some insulation foam around where the cables leave the PC

------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe you could ditch the fridge motor all together and just use it as an enclousre but the problems with fridges have great insulation so you are going to have to drill big great holes to get the Heat out.

To solve this you could take the whole back of it off or what ever side will be next to a wall. as well as the motor and replace it with mesh and fans and holes for plugs and what ever else. I think this is the best solution. Or you could take the floor out of it and put mesh in as well as ditching the fridge motor.

By now you can probably tell there is nothing on TV right now.

Hope all this helps

EDIT: Dam right after posting this I noticed some had posted while I was wrighting noticed the condensation problem. At least I have a few suggestions hope they help.

[m4gnum]

I agree with the above, I hope the fridge is not actually going to be active. PCs make a lot of heat, generally fridges are made to keep cold things cold. The fridge motor would be running constantly and burn out in a very short space of time.

If you aren't going to have the fridge on, make sure that when the door opens the light comes on, and when it shuts it turns off. That would be fun.

Is that a suspended motherboard to the top right of the main pic?

[blue73]

Please forgive me for sounding like a cabbage but if the air in the fridge was circulated properly then condensation would'nt build up would it?

[b4i7]

wouldnt putting like say a clear coat of paint protect the motherboard.....you would definately want to coat all the components wiht several layers....make sure you go it all


or is clear coat conductive?

[simon275]

I didn't know it was safe to paint a mother board. Figuered it would just destory it some how. Hmm some paints would be conductive. Also coating you would have to coat everything in paint even the heat sinks otherirse they rust. This would make them less efficent and condensation would form between the heatsink and the cpu when the computer was off. And when you turned it on. ZAP dead computer. Unless you wanted to paint you cpu but that would kill it anyway I presume.

Also if you circulated fresh air into a fridge the cold air would just come out and the firdge and the motor will burn out as it is trying to cool down the world.

This is getting silly

Unless you disconect the fridge motor and put in some ventilation. This case will not work. Condensation will kill it.

[b4i7]

i would say try google-ing something along thses lines... ive heard of this kind of mod mod before



ok...so i found this
http://www.overclockers.com/articles975/

havent taken time to read through it....just looked pretty similar

[savincent]

heh, my parents have that fridge but its black. They get pretty cold. If you were to keep it all intact and just wrap your parts in like some type of air tight box, you'd have a pretty cold pc without the worry of condinsation. :)

[silverdemon]

If you wrap it up the air inside the wrap will probably get to hot, the heat cannot flow away enough if you ask me... there is a difference in getting something cold (like a fridge does) or getting heat away (like a fan or watercooling installation)...

edit: maybe you could mount the Mobo on top of the fridge and put a nice plexi case around it.. then you have your fridge, for your beer or soda, and you have a nice mod... you nee to sort out where to put the drives and psu though...

[Slatter]

Ok, I have already tried this and it worked. I was aware of the condensation so I took steps before the experiment.

You have to have a large amount of Silica Gel present inside the chamber for atleast an hour before you turm on the refrigerator.

If you don't have that much time make sure that you make a filtration system with the silica gel inside and a fan such that the air gets circulated through the silica gel.

The problem is that once you have removed all the moisture, and have truned on the refrigerator, you cannot open the door anymore, without having to de-moisturise the chamber all over again.

If you can come up with a design where you keep the USB, optical and hard drived outside the fridge and everything else inside, you should be able to attain some massive cooling.

Just remember to check the opertating temperature of all your components.
Most electronic component will work upto -40º C. And there are fans that are specially designed to be installed inside fridges.

So..... Good Luck
we be watching... eagerly

[maximan1]

Ok, I have already tried this and it worked. I was aware of the condensation so I took steps before the experiment.

You have to have a large amount of Silica Gel present inside the chamber for atleast an hour before you turm on the refrigerator.

If you don't have that much time make sure that you make a filtration system with the silica gel inside and a fan such that the air gets circulated through the silica gel.

The problem is that once you have removed all the moisture, and have truned on the refrigerator, you cannot open the door anymore, without having to de-moisturise the chamber all over again.

If you can come up with a design where you keep the USB, optical and hard drived outside the fridge and everything else inside, you should be able to attain some massive cooling.

Just remember to check the opertating temperature of all your components.
Most electronic component will work upto -40 C. And there are fans that are specially designed to be installed inside fridges.

So..... Good Luck
we be watching... eagerly

Wow you've really done your research!

[simon275]

My gosh Slatter that is an excellent Idea using silica gel. I would have never thought of that.

Yeah it absorbs a good chunk of the humdity in the fridge.

If you open the door to mess around in side. You can take the gel and rejuveinat it as it will be staturated. You can do this by putting it in an oven at like 150 C / 300 F.

Yeah I can see how this could work. Ever just having some silica gel proiduct in the fridge. Or. Having a ventilation system like by having a peice of tubing with fans at either ends and the gel sitting in the tube.

I reckon you would need a fair bit of it for use in a fridge. More than just a few of the satchels.

It's good to see there is some inovation on the on the forums in the realm of using new materials and technologies.

EDIT: Do you think MaD.VeZ the orginal poster is even reading these posts anymore or it is just us playin around with different ideas?

[MaD.VeZ]

Wow ppl thxs for the response and all your helpfull comments:D
Yes it will be a working fridge, the idea is to help cooling of components ect.
Appoligies if i dont post more than once a week, i only Mod on weekends.I should also mention i dont rush so i dont expect it finished to much before christmas:eek:

Ok well i had already thought about the condensation and as slatter said silica gel seems to be a good option.
My m8 said i could get a small dehumidifiyer(think thats what they are called) or some kind of moisture removing device, not sure about that though?

I think im going to keep it without the door and make a kind of double glazing plexi front(thx 9mm for the idea).Im not a big fan of having the mobo ports at the back of the pc(im always changing printers and cams ect around), so im going to fit the mobo on the lefthand wall of the fridge(inside) with the ports facing out!

Somone mentioned clearcoating the mobo ect..well i thought vaseline would work a little better but im aiming to remove the moisture.

My main concern is the psu with it having a 240volt input and whether to put that in the fridge or find space for it in the back!

Not much else to say spent this weekend cleaning 2 years worth of dust and grime from the back.Im going to look up the minimum operating temps of all my devices tonight. Hopefully next weekend ill make a start on the mountings for the mobo ect.

And just to make things intresting. it was mentioned that a could use the small freezer at the top to cool a radiator for water cooling, or maybe make the freezer part into a kinda radiator, just a possible at the moment.

[MaD.VeZ]

http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/Photos/CNXT0006.JPG the suspended mobo pic for m4gnum.

[m4gnum]

Thanks

[isunktheship]

My friend modded a computer like this, and it's insanely risky...

I would just keep a tub of water in the fridge, and then keep the computer next to it. then i would water cool everything i could in the computer, and use the fridge as the reservoir/beverage holder. this way there is no condensation, and you get a few of the same effects.

you could also make the water cooling system easy to switch from fridge reservoir, to portable reservoir, ie: a normal water-cooled computer. This way is you have to hit up a LAN you don't have to bring a fridge!

The silicon is a good idea, but once again; very risky. It's totally up to you, but I would rather not blow hundred's of dollars in parts and have a fairly OC'ed machine, than make a very risky but very OC'ed machine.

[Slatter]

My friend modded a computer like this, and it's insanely risky...

I would just keep a tub of water in the fridge, and then keep the computer next to it. then i would water cool everything i could in the computer, and use the fridge as the reservoir/beverage holder. this way there is no condensation, and you get a few of the same effects.

you could also make the water cooling system easy to switch from fridge reservoir, to portable reservoir, ie: a normal water-cooled computer. This way is you have to hit up a LAN you don't have to bring a fridge!

The silicon is a good idea, but once again; very risky. It's totally up to you, but I would rather not blow hundred's of dollars in parts and have a fairly OC'ed machine, than make a very risky but very OC'ed machine.

Dude I have tried the cooling of the water in the reservoir trick. What happens is I get water droplets forming on the tubes, res walls and everywhere else you can think of. The only thing left for me to do was the get the covered tubing from the phase change coolers, which I never got. So now I just have a copper tube filled with Methanol that I stick in the freezer and then I drop that in the reservoir, gives me a good 10° C drop in temp which is very good for up purpose.

[maximan1]

http://www.kikboxes.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=20&PN=1

[b4i7]

if you wanted it to be able to still be used as a fridge ...wouldnt you just have to seal off the computer inside of it....so that you can open the door

[MaD.VeZ]

Ok well things are on hold for a week or 2. i have done a scetch of what im aiming for and taken a photo for a better idea.:rolleyes:
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/Photos/FridgeWC.JPG

http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/Photos/CNXT00122.JPG

And also im planning on running the fridge with the old mobo in the pic inside,just for a day or 2, to see what sort of levels of condensation and heat will build up.:eek:

Well ill be back modding again when the weather cools down a little here in the UK.;)

[MaD.VeZ]

Just a little update:)
After reading through all your replies i decided to put a little more thought in to this mod!

A big concern as somone pointed out is the heat from the pc fighting the cold from the fridge, in turn making the fridge work all the time and using more electric and reducing the life of the fridge.
Well i have a plan:D I thought if i could isolate the 2 thermostats into seperate compartments within the fridge then i could have a little control over when the fridge and freezer turns on. In theory the freezers thermostat will be enclosed within the coolant reservoir, and after a few tests (without the pc in) that thermostat seems to cut off at around -1C* -2C*. Were as the fridge thermostat seems to have a range of 5C* - 12C* with adjustment from the dial inside, so if i can isolate the fridge thermostat and make that area within these temperatures its all good, and i can have the area around the pc any temperature it needs to be!!

Also i tried a little plexi bending as i intend to make the reservoir from plexi shaped to fit around the freezer.

Heres my first attempt!! it got a little
to warm and started to bubble..
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/Photos/CNXT0010.JPG


the second attempt went a little better.
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/Photos/CNXT0012.JPG

well thats all for now.

[Slatter]

http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/Photos/CNXT00122.JPG


Question: Are planning to stick the optical drives in the fridge as well?

[MaD.VeZ]

Question: Are planning to stick the optical drives in the fridge as well?

I havent decided if im even going to have an optical drive as the computer will be networked. I thought about it though and will probably mount it in the door/front, at the top left next to the reservoir. they were in the pic because i was figuring out the best position for the mobo and needed somthing to lift the psu for cableing views. The psu`s home is still not decided either. I am considering killing the fridge cooling all together and just using the freezer element to water cool the mobo, gpu ect!

[simon275]

Nah it would look sweet with a fridge door on it. What type of grpahics card is that two vga plugs? Weird. I'm happy to see you went ahead with this mod. Sorry if i seemed a bit over zealous earlier on I just didn't want to see this mod come to a damp end.

[Slatter]

Why don't you run a few temperature and moisture tests before you start modding? Then you will know exactly whats possible and whats not.

Thes rest of us have a lot of concern and even more ideas. Like Simon275 said, this is one of the most interesting mod projects in long time and we would all hate to see it come to a grinding halt.

[MaD.VeZ]

Well im still hoping to run a few tests but ive only got air cooled sytems at the minute and dont think it would compare well to a water cooled setup?please correct me if im wrong, im a newbie with the water cooling.

I should get the time this week to fit some temporary mobo brackets to the side as i dont want any water droplets from the freezer dropping directly on the mobo from the freezer.The thing im having difficulty with is getting the vga cable through the door. I think i will cut a hole in the door and make a tempory seal around a few neccesary cables like vga, power and keyboard, i hoped to save the door but its prob the easiest way for now.

I also feel that this will be mainly trail and error and i expect to loose a few parts along the way, i have 2-3 mobos and 2 graphics cards all old but they work and will do for job.
Im still waiting for some spare cash for a few things like cpu water block and a decent temperature monitor/display before i can get any real ideas of what temps will be reached, but that shouldnt be more than a month away and until then ill keep worikng on what i can.

Simon275 the Graphics card in the pic is a Matrox 550i or somthing like that.

Slatter dont worry. I have no plans of giving up on this mod unless bankruptcy or death get in the way. Its been nothing more than an idea for over a year so now ive started i aint stopping till i got a pc in a fridge:)

Thats all for now.Vez out..

[Slatter]

Its been nothing more than an idea for over a year so now ive started i aint stopping till i got a pc in a fridge:)

This idea has been the back of the head of every single modder from the moment they realize that heat and computer components do not go together. The rest of us are either too inep or simply not gutsy enough to try and pull it off. We are al here for ya mate. Just keep on modding.

P.S. The suspense is killing me, whats in store next?

[Slatter]

where the hell is everyone??????

[MaD.VeZ]

Appologies for not posting sooner only had a bit of bad news and things have been moving real slow for a while!!!!:( Ive been told i have 3 months to move house as the landlord is selling the premises..as u can imagine its a little chaotic here at the moment with 10years of stuff to sort through. but not to fear i will back modding within a couple of weeks once the majority of clearing is done.. If nothing else ill have a lot more room to work then, and maybe a little more spare cash to move things on a bit!.Vez out...;)

[MaD.VeZ]

Well a little update from this weekend.

First off i tried several different ideas as to how to fit a mobo in for testing. I wanted to avoid anything to permenant just yet and also avoid any drips falling directly on the mobo from the evaporator plate.I eventually decided to use the existing door as a mounting point as it wont be used in the finished mod.

Well this is how it went:-

1. The Victim
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/MaDChillin/doorstart.jpg

2.the Tools and saftey gear:D
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/MaDChillin/anglegrinder.jpg

3.Pre Cut
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/MaDChillin/door2.jpg

4.At this point i expected it would just fall off..how wrong was i:redface:
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/MaDChillin/door3.jpg

Well heres where the batteries in my camera died and it was too late to go get some more:( .
In words i took a hammer to it and bashed the hell out of it , then spent an hour or so cutting the foam lining from the door to fit the mobo bracket in. it went better than i thought althought the GPU card is a little close the the evporator plate.

6.So far
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/MaDChillin/door5.jpg
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/MaDChillin/door4.jpg


Hopfully should be ready for some testing in a week or 2. im going to order a water block and temp display this week.
i was thinking of these :-
Cpu water block (http://www.watercoolingshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=26_66&products_id=427)
A temporary temp display until i find 1 i like (http://www.watercoolingshop.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=191)
i would apreciate some feedback on these 2 and maybe the shop if any1 has used them?

Secondly i had an attempt at making a reservoir after some pressure from a m8 and a new blow torch arrived. it didnt go well but will do for a prototype:rolleyes:

1.An old pc case seemed just the job to form the 90* i wanted.
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/MaDChillin/res2.jpg

2.Didnt go too bad at first
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/MaDChillin/res1.jpg

3.But the disater struck and i got carless with the heat and bubbled the surface trying to get the corner married up correct:( .
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/MaDChillin/res3.jpg

Well i learned from it and have decided on a jig idea instead of bending by hand. I have a good friend who works in an engineering shop and he supplied me with these:-
http://usera.imagecave.com/madvez/MaDChillin/galv1.jpg
they should make a nice corner jig and also inspired some more design ideas.

Well thats all for now...Vez out...:)