Has Anyone Ever?

has anyone ever used solid pvc or copper piping as their tubing in a wc system. obviously it would be cumbersum but i think it would look amazing. what would be advantages/disadvantages of using this as a system performance wise...i know it couldnt be transposed to other systems, but do you think it has potential to be "more efficient?" also general thoughts comments welcome...


PS
first time poster, long time viewer

I have seen projects that have incorporated running pvc or copper outside of the computer loop as a way to cool multiple systems, but nothing in the way of replacing the computer loop with pvc or copper.

Although you could conceivably use copper or pvc pipes it would make for far more work than any benefits that it would provide. Copper and pvc aren't flexible so going around corners or around other hardware would require cutting smaller pieces and connecting them. You would also have to find a way to secure the piping to the pump, radiator, blocks, etc in a way that would prevent leaks but not be permanent should you need to swap something out.

And even if you did all this I can't imagine it will provide any benefit with temps. It would remove the potential for any leaks caused by a weak point in the tubing, but that is the only benefit I can think of.

I distinctly remember a British guy that plumbed the entire system with copper pipe, with impeccable solder joints and polished (and I assume waxed or sprayed with poly.) to a thing of gleaming redish copper beauty. It was truly a work of master craftsmanship. Wish I could find a pic.

Performance wise - not worth the trouble unless it was something you wanted to do just for the sake of doing it.

Would make one hell of a Steam Punk mod.

Here's the start of a similar project. There rest of it might be there somewhere too.
http://www.procooling.com/index.php?...ticles&disp=35

I saw at least one of these completed back in the day. The builder posted before and after temps, but the copper didn't make any difference. It did look good, though.

If you used all straight pipe and elbows, you'd probably get slightly lower cooling performance because of the restriction.

like this? http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1431806

need to go through the thread to get the pics, he swaped hosts halfway through.

I've seen someone do that, but I can't find the pictures. Pretty neat idea, but very time consuming.

This guy used some copper piping to make a big "radiator patio." lol I think that's a little bit much.
http://hackaday.com/2009/08/26/foundation-cooling/

truely amazing work on the cyprium case, and yeah i was thinking along those lines. seems like he has the water loop built through the case. i thought about that and thought that would be too difficult/time consuming. so i was thinking about just having the tubing routed in straight lines up and over to the rad, res, blocks, pump, etc. if i ever came into some money or something, then i would totally make a case out of copper tubing

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.asp?m=100476008&mpage=1 is a Classified with copper tubing painted red. http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/1431/cimg0752k.jpg is a pretty good shot of the finished system.

I wouldn't expect the performance to be noticeably different. Depending on exactly how you handled corners, it could be better or worse. Where you might have a nice smooth curve with regular tubing, you'd probably have a 90° corner, which probably wouldn't flow as well. However, copper is thinner than regular tubing, so you should be able to get more ID with the same OD, so you could move more water in general.

oh gawd, that would be a PITA. but who am I to pass judgment on another's madness?

If mandrel bending was used instead of elbows the restriction wouldn't be enough to worry about.