Summer on PCs

[Jason]

Even if you do cut into a coolant line, they arent that hard to repair
with just a blowtorch and some fittings, and since you only need to
hit 70F instead of 10F, odds are the thing will still function fine
even if you do a really bad job of fixing it and drop the efficiency
by, say, 25% ...

Your best bet converting a fridge into a server cabinet, however, is
to get a real server cabinet and then pull the compressor out of the
bottom of the fridge, and put in new lines for the condensor and
evaporator elements that are much smaller, but use fans. If you just
use the unmodified (except for drilled) fridge, some things to
consider:

1. put a small fan inside the fridge to keep air moving.

2. condensation on the electronics is NOT a problem in a fridge unless
it is one of those "frost free" models that includes a heater to
defrost the cooling unit. If so, disable it. Condensation forms on the
coldest parts in a fridge, and since your computer is consuming power
and disapating heat, it WONT be the computer... what you REALLY need
to watch out for is condensation on the cold parts that can drip down
onto the computer.

3. Dont overclock this way ... in fact, you may want to use a case fan
that DISABLES itself if it gets under 40F or so. Ive tried it in a
fridge modified to run as low as ~ -40 (lowest tested .. it was r134a
based, with vaccuum evaporation). It can render electrolytic
capacitors useless (and may explode them..) and the effects that speed
up a CPU may fuck up the control logic in a power supply ... also,
those temps probably render the lubricants in your hard disks
ineffective as well, in addition to dramatically increasing the energy
needed to alter the bits on the HD during a write...



> Mark Peoples wrote:
> 
> ditch the ether.  =)
> 
> link coming your way
> 
> marco




> I am currently in the process of converting a refrigirator to being
> a server cabinet for
> 9 servers in my garage.
> 
> Due to the nature of refrigerators being designed to keep cold in
> and air out,
> I am learning how to drill just the right holes to have 1 cable in
> for power
> and 1 cable out for Ethernet and still keep the integrity of the
> fridge.
> 
> That is the only thing slowing me down since I only want to cut once
> 
> without hitting any internal coils.
> 
> I tested the unit for condensation by putting in 2 motherboards
> overnight
> and then pulled them out. The freezer gets too cold for PC equipment
> but
> the bottom half is ok.
> Just to be safe I plan on putting in baking soda and some dessicant
> in the fridge
> section.
> 
> Used fridges are dirt cheap.
> 
> I'll make sure to put pictures on my website when it is complete.

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