PSU water cooled?

[Spacehonkey]

I'm wasn't sure what forum for this post so I figured I'd play it safe & post it here. I'm currently in the brainstorming step of designing a future case mod & have a few questions about water cooling & PSU modding.

Is it practical to water cool a PSU?

How hard is it to water cool a PSU?

If a PSU is water cooled would it be possible to scale down the overall size of the PSU since there is no fan to take up the space?

By the way I have never used a water cooled rig or cracked opened a PSU before so any info would be helpful.

[Zephik]

All I'm going to say is this. Don't make your own LC'd PSU. Buy it.

Silentmaxx/Alphacool PSU (http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=22_320_319&products_id=4570)

Probably the cheapest one out there. That I know of at least.

[Crimson Sky]

How about a forum about cooling like this one?

[Crimson Sky]

/sarcasm

[Spacehonkey]

Why not do it yourself? That's what these forums are all about!

1st.) A safebet for any ?????'s is "The Rookie's Nook." Any and all questions will most assuredly get addressed there.

I know for sure that if want a good guide as to dissassembly of a PSU, look up DaveW's workfiles. I know he has a lot of pics and step-by-step as to how he dissassembled his, and mounted it into a side panel (? -im not 100% and I am in the middle of a webinar session, so I can't really pull links.)

As to what to watch out for, I believe it's the capacitors. They hold a charge for a while even after the PSU is unplugged. I don't know the time involved in how long it takes that charge to trickle out, but I know that if you touch one the wrong way, you may need a diaper change! :S So be careful of those. (they look like batteries so to speak).

Thx for the tips. I wasn't sure which forum to post this because it was talking about water cooling(ICE BOX) & modding a PSU(MOD TALK). I was planning on making it myself since my entire case will be built from scratch. My design calls for a slimmer PSU. I'll search around the forum for DaveW's worklog.

[Guardian]

I wouldn't support making you're own, Don't forget, Those capacitators and stuff can kill you. If I ever pop open a powersupply, I'm always carefull of what I touch.

Just my $0.02 and my be careful warning.

[Spacehonkey]

Well I'm pretty much going to have to open up my PSU at some point. I plan on reading all the PSU tutorials I can get my hands on first.

I just thought about something. :think: What about a brand new PSU having a charge? If no one has ever plugged the thing in it shouldn't be dangerous, right? So I wouldn't have to worry about frying myself.

[Guardian]

Factory Tested.

[Spacehonkey]

Use some rubber gloves when handling it, and be really careful not to touch anything you don't have to.

Rubber gloves oh yeah that would be a good idea.

Is there any safe way to discharge the voltage in the capacitor?

[xmastree]

What about oil cooling? Install the PSU into a sealed box, fit a couple of pipes, then fill it with transformer oil and run that through the cooling system.

[public_eyesore]

I say do it yourself that would be really cool. Just make bloks the same size as the ones on the already on the psu.

[simon275]

One way I have seen a PSU been water cooled. Is by taking of the cover and putting a water cooling block designed for hard drives on top of the heat sinks in the PSU. It is safe and easier then submergence cooling. Also wait a few mins between unplugging your PSU and messing around in side it.

[Spacehonkey]

I would like to keep the PSU size down. That's why I was looking into a alternate form of cooling. My plan is to slim the PSU down so it can fit into the drive bay area. I know it's possible because DocNitrous did it with his X3O2 mod but he used a normal cooling fan & only a 250w PSU.

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6943

I was going to use at least a 500w PSU so I thought I would need a better cooling system since it's going to be in such a tight spot.

[DaveW]

I know for sure that if want a good guide as to dissassembly of a PSU, look up DaveW's workfiles. I know he has a lot of pics and step-by-step as to how he dissassembled his, and mounted it into a side panel (? -im not 100% and I am in the middle of a webinar session, so I can't really pull links.)

Sorry, i think you've got me confused with someone else. I took a PSU to pieces, modified it, and a short while before re-assembling it, realized that 400watts just wasn't enough to power my rig. Plus, it was a generic PSU and therefore horribly inefficient.

If you want to look up PSU's, Slytherock is the man. His first big mod here was to merge 2 PSU's into one in order to increase the power in his comp.

-Dave

[Bucko]

Here is a link to a guy who made a water cooled set up, including PSU.

http://www.vonslatt.com/proj-cc.shtml

It uses convection rather than a pump to have the water flow.