is oil cooling safe?

C

craig7

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Aug 6, 2011
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ive been looking into liquid cooling for about a month now and i just recently heard about oil cooling. you basically just put your motherboard in an aquarium and fill it with non-conductive oil. apparently it works pretty well and it seems easy to do but i want to know if its safe. it seems like if the oil is non conductive it would work fine as long as you keep certain parts dry such as the hard drives.

so.... is it safe?
what oil should i use?
will my fans work in the oil? (just to circulate it all)
 
No, the fans won't work. It's been done as a proof of concept, but I don't think anyone ever seriously considered using it for day to day use. Air or water cooling is plenty effective now.
 
also my specs:
MOBO: intel dg41ty
RAM: 4gb mushkin enhanced ddr2 with frostbyte heatsink
GPU: gigabyte radeon HD 4870
PSU: corsair cx500
HDDS: seagate barracuda 80gb, samsung SP0411C/R 40gb
CPU: intel core 2 duo e6300 @1.86GHz
 
Short answer: Yes it is safe, if you do things correctly.

Using oil to cool your computer will definitely work. What you need to do is make sure you remove all moving parts from the oil. This includes fans on your cpu, gpu, PSU along with case fans. DO NOT PUT A MECHANICAL HDD IN OIL. Depending on how much oil you plan on using and how much you plan on overclocking will determine whether or not you need active cooling via some
external source such as a radiator. Keeping the oil clean is probaably your #1 priority because dirt and dust will lower the thermal properties of the oil and possibly create a short if something conductive gets loose.
Check out pugetsystems. They sell oil cooled kits and supplies.

Also be aware of how heavy your system will become because oil is very heavy and remember ALL your warranties will be void as soon as you submerge it.
 
mmmmmdonuts said:
What you need to do is make sure you remove all moving parts from the oil. This includes fans on your cpu, gpu, PSU along with case fans.
.....
Check out pugetsystems. They sell oil cooled kits and supplies.
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Click to expand...
That pugetsystems link is pretty interesting. The version 3 of their setup used dual 5870's. They mentioned leaving the fans on though. Said on their version 1, the fans ran strong after 2 years without issues.
 
Works fine, been doing it for years, I am super cooling the coolant and use the mineral oil to stop condensation on the components.

comp1.jpg
 
If you do use fans I would make sure that they were low speed. I doubt that a 4000 RPM fan will spin well in the oil.
 
always seemed like a HUGE pain in the arse.

Not only do you have to worry about keeping the oil clean and free of contaminants, but you if you ever have to pull it out for repair, it's going to be really messy. You're also kissing your warrenty support goodbye. Air and/or water cooling is good enough
 
drescherjm said:
Equalize temperature. There was discussion above whether or not fans would work at all.
Click to expand...

I dont see how a fan designed to operate in air would be very useful for the even dstribution of heat in a liquid enviroment
 
This doesn't seem to be that much more effective than water cooling. Just easier but tons of mess and releasing your warranties to the wind...

I think I'd stick with WC. Even if it is a pain in the arse...well worth the investment! ;)
 
after reading the articles from pugetsystems it seems like it would be a fun project to do but the problem with having an fluid that condenses is it tends to get in the weirdest spots. and then is a pain to clean up. Unless the container is 100% sealed it seems like you would run the risk of having the oil to clean up. I think i'll have to give it a shot with one of my older systems. It could be interesting to play with. just imagine going to a big lan party with your aquarium and then pulling out like 20 gallons of farm laxative mineral oil and filling your case with the stuff. that would get some gawkers.
 
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