Is Linus's Watercooling Room Terribly Designed?

[slappy_d0]

Is Linus's watercooling room terribly designed?

 

I've only seen the pics from the end of the wan show, but here are some thoughts:

 

1) If you calculate the surface area of the copper used, they basically just installed a giant copper radiator full of hot water in the the room. With low pressure they could have used something like schedule 40 pvc or even pex with less heat bleed. To make matters worse, they're talking about polishing the copper instead of insulating the hot side of the loop.

 

2) Water will flow through the path of least resistance. If there are different components in different rigs, the flow with be differently restricted. Additionally, I saw no reducers in the image for individual drop-downs from the common line. That means that all things being equal, Linus's computer in the corner will be getting less flow.

 

3) I have a 100 year old hot water radiated house. Each radiator has a restriction valve to balance the flow, which does not appear to be in the design. Coupled with the fact that they stated that there will not be individual pumps it seems unregulated.

 

I could easily be wrong as I have no detailed info of the setup, but from the pics and they way they discuss it it seems poorly designed.

 

Let me know what you think.

[Jobbe03]

I'm assuming Luke's father (Who's building the rig) and according to Luke has years of experience, knows what he's doing. 

[Enderman]

Pressure regulators would have been a good idea, but luke's father is a professional plumber and knows what he is doing. If they see some rigs arent getting enough pressure they can  always add regulators afterwards.

[Trik'Stari]

I would like to know WHY they used copper, which is retardedly expensive, instead of PVC, which is cheaper, and can hold quite alot of pressure depending on what schedule(wall thickness) you get, not to mention being supposedly chemically inert.

 

Also, I just really don't get why Linus is so dead set against AC, the fans even offered to pay for installation, and the monthly cost can't be that ridiculously expensive.

[slappy_d0]

Thanks for the "trust Luke's dad" comment, very informative.

[slappy_d0]

PVC could easily handle the pressure. If the copper isn't insulated they'll need AC anyway, but it will look cool!

[Enderman]

PVC could easily handle the pressure. If the copper isn't insulated they'll need AC anyway, but it will look cool!

Use the quote button or nobody knows you replied...

[79wjd]

I would like to know WHY they used copper, which is retardedly expensive, instead of PVC, which is cheaper, and can hold quite alot of pressure depending on what schedule(wall thickness) you get, not to mention being supposedly chemically inert.

 

Also, I just really don't get why Linus is so dead set against AC, the fans even offered to pay for installation, and the monthly cost can't be that ridiculously expensive.

Copper is cooler and a full custom loop is also cooler than AC

 

Oh, and AC can actually be stupidly expensive...although, that shouldn't be an issue in Canada because..well y'know

 

P.s. He may also be "worried" about it being regulated--California currently does this, and its been talked about throughout the US where states would regulate power on certain days/the AC would be on its own circuit and could be turned off, yadda yadda. I don't really know the details, just that some states want to (and actually do--California) regulate AC. 

[slappy_d0]

Pressure regulators would have been a good idea, but luke's father is a professional plumber and knows what he is doing. If they see some rigs arent getting enough pressure they can  always add regulators afterwards.

Good in theory, but there are no pressure gauges either, which means that when one machine starts to overheat they will be jumping through hoops trying to diagnose why. I suppose they could have a single gauge they put in line with the quick connects to help diagnose a problem, but a few more parts on the front end would go a long way...

[Jaybird]

copper looks more steampunk.

[Trik'Stari]

Copper is cooler and a full custom loop is also cooler than AC

 

Oh, and AC can actually be stupidly expensive...although, that shouldn't be an issue in Canada because..well y'know

 

P.s. He may also be "worried" about it being regulated--California currently does this, and its been talked about throughout the US where states would regulate power on certain days/the AC would be on its own circuit and could be turned off, yadda yadda. I don't really know the details, just that some states want to (and actually do--California) regulate AC. 

That just shitty, yet another reason I will never live in California. Maybe if they'd quite being hippies and build a few npp's they wouldn't have those problems.

 

Also, Window unit.

[Jobbe03]

Thanks for the "trust Luke's dad" comment, very informative.

Thanks for being a douche, I'm sure they'd rather listen to you....  

 

cunt

[79wjd]

That just shitty, yet another reason I will never live in California. Maybe if they'd quite being hippies and build a few npp's they wouldn't have those problems.

 

Also, Window unit.

window units are ugly. 

[W-L]

My only guess for using cooper over PVC would be for durability, cooper can last between 75-100 years depending on the grade of pipe but won't shatter when hit or impacted like PVC, a better solution may be using PEX waterpipe overall. One benefit i see with using cooper is it's inherent antimicrobial properties which can help prevent algae growth since they are using an open loop system from what has been said currently. Other than that I'll be very interested to see what they say in their build log of the waterloop.

[Faceman]

I would like to know WHY they used copper, which is retardedly expensive, instead of PVC, which is cheaper, and can hold quite alot of pressure depending on what schedule(wall thickness) you get, not to mention being supposedly chemically inert.

 

Also, I just really don't get why Linus is so dead set against AC, the fans even offered to pay for installation, and the monthly cost can't be that ridiculously expensive.

Copper transfers heat a lot better.

 

Also, because of Linus' occupation, he probably gets all of or almost all of the water cooling components for free.  Not to mention, it is an amazing opportunity to create unique content that is sure to get lots of traffic.

[Trik'Stari]

Copper transfers heat a lot better.

 

Also, because of Linus' occupation, he probably gets all of or almost all of the water cooling components for free.  Not to mention, it is an amazing opportunity to create unique content that is sure to get lots of traffic.

I guess, but I just don't think it's actually going to work. If the ambient temperature outside the room is higher than the temperature inside the room, then the rad is going to get that hot, and push heated water into those pipes, which will ultimately radiate that heat into the room as well as the cpu components.

 

Edit: At least during the summer that's what will happen, winter, they'll have no problems at all with cpu temps lol. Other than the pipes freezing and condensation issuess.

[Faceman]

I guess, but I just don't think it's actually going to work. If the ambient temperature outside the room is higher than the temperature inside the room, then the rad is going to get that hot, and push heated water into those pipes, which will ultimately radiate that heat into the room as well as the cpu components.

 

Edit: At least during the summer that's what will happen, winter, they'll have no problems at all with cpu temps lol. Other than the pipes freezing and condensation issuess.

I'm sure they placed the outside radiator in the shade.

[Trik'Stari]

I'm sure they placed the outside radiator in the shade.

They stated they did, but it wont matter if the ambient air temp is higher than the ambient air temp in the room.

[W-L]

I'm sure they placed the outside radiator in the shade.

 

They did say they put in between the houses where there will be on direct sunlight hitting it but it will still condensate from the hot and cold during the winter or in the worst case scenario freezing occurs. 

 

I feel they should have done an exterior glycol loop to prevent freezing and a separate normal interior loop with a heat transfer unit or block to eliminate any issues they may have since it still gets below freezing in Vancouver seems risky running cooper pipes on their exterior of the house with radiators.

[Flight1sim]

Copper is cooler and a full custom loop is also cooler than AC

Oh, and AC can actually be stupidly expensive...although, that shouldn't be an issue in Canada because..well y'know

P.s. He may also be "worried" about it being regulated--California currently does this, and its been talked about throughout the US where states would regulate power on certain days/the AC would be on its own circuit and could be turned off, yadda yadda. I don't really know the details, just that some states want to (and actually do--California) regulate AC.

I didn't realize that California had an AC regulation!! We only use it like 5 times a year tho

[slappy_d0]

I'd like to see a winter conversion where they put the rads in the basement to heat the house and pipe it to a reservoir in an insulated attic.

[mc141]

Heres a question no none asked that i saw. How they gonna keep it from exploding in the cold and 2 if the water gets that cold wont it damage cpu gpu after a while. Finaly I think this is a waste of money he probably could get an ac for less money.

[slappy_d0]

Heres a question no none asked that i saw. How they gonna keep it from exploding in the cold and 2 if the water gets that cold wont it damage cpu gpu after a while. Finaly I think this is a waste of money he probably could get an ac for less money.

Interesting thought, they will definitely need to regulate both temp and flow. You do not want to thermal shock anything with really cold either, which means running the pump24/7.

 

There is also the exchange rate to get proper efficiency from the radiators. If you take the thermostat (blockage) out of a car, even if the fluid is not too hot it doesn't have the time in the radiator to dissipate the heat...

[tedgp908]

Luke's dads who is making the system is a plumber that has years of experience,

[slappy_d0]

Luke's dads who is making the system is a plumber that has years of experience,

 

Why do people keep saying this? I have no doubt of his plumbing expertise. Balancing a multi-radiator system is a furnace installer's job. I have simply stated that from vague pictures that it seems to have little control and insulation. Great, he's a plumber, now address the concerns I and others have listed.