How do liquid coolers keep from having condensation?

[Zcarm]

So I am trying to do a diy air conditioner for my room that uses much less electricity than the average air conditioner. My design is simple. Have a cooler filled with ice water and tubes inside of it and then a small water pump to pump water through the tubes. The tubes will be circulating outside of the case where a fan will be blowing through them and since the tubes will be cold (due to the ice water inside) it will theoretically cool my room. the only problem is condensation. Not only do I not want to deteriorate my build by increasing the amount of water being blown into the room, but I also really don't like humidity. I've noticed that no matter how humid it gets, my liquid cooler from coolermaster never seems to have any condensation whatsoever. How is it that liquid coolers are able to function without condensation and how could I use that principle to keep my air conditioner from condensating?

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

By abiding by the laws of physics

[WereCat]

Because they can't cool under your room temperature?

[Timopomer]

because they arent running lower than the room temp?

[rustikles]

(chemical engineer here) So let's back up a bit. Phase change (condensation in this case) is a surface phenomenon, as in it will only occur on the surface of an object having a difference in temperature from the bulk fluid (air with water vapor here). Your CPU cooler doesn't have condensation on it because it's never cooler than the air temperature such that there is sufficient heat transfer for a phase change (high energy process).

 

Your goal is to "use much less electricity." How do you think that ice you're planning on using was made in the first place? It probably came out of your fridge or some other cooler that uses a compressor (i.e. taking energy). What about heat transfer (losses) to the ice from direct contact with the air? I'll mention that no process here is going to be 100% efficient. That means you will actually use more energy doing what you're proposing.

 

tl;dr - No it won't be more efficient. In fact, it would make things significantly less efficient.

[Timopomer]

to make a gas condense it must have a reason to stay on that object.

 

in your case the water vapor in the air is cooling on your ice cube tubes and forming bigger droplets.

 

now a liquid cooler has warm liquid inside of it due to the way it works it wont be cooler than he ambient temp in most cases because the radiator doesnt make the water/liquid inside the tubes to get much cooler than it already was.

 

if you ran a rad so hard that temps are dropping and your cpu is idle,you might see condensation on the tubes

[rustikles]

-snip-

 

if you ran a rad so hard that temps are dropping and your cpu is idle,you might see condensation on the tubes

Not unless your coolant is cooler than the outside air (which it would never be without some kind of compressor on your AIO cooler). You can't just "transfer away" thermal energy from a lower temperature to a higher (see 2nd law of thermodynamics).

[Zcarm]

(chemical engineer here) So let's back up a bit. Phase change (condensation in this case) is a surface phenomenon, as in it will only occur on the surface of an object having a difference in temperature from the bulk fluid (air with water vapor here). Your CPU cooler doesn't have condensation on it because it's never cooler than the air temperature such that there is sufficient heat transfer for a phase change (high energy process).

 

Your goal is to "use much less electricity." How do you think that ice you're planning on using was made in the first place? It probably came out of your fridge or some other cooler that uses a compressor (i.e. taking energy). What about heat transfer (losses) to the ice from direct contact with the air? I'll mention that no process here is going to be 100% efficient. That means you will actually use more energy doing what you're proposing.

 

tl;dr - No it won't be more efficient. In fact, it would make things significantly less efficient.

 

 

As far as electricity goes, the freezer is going to be running anyways so as long as there is space in the freezer I don't think I'm using any more electricity than before. This is to save money on an electric bill, not optimal conservation of energy.

[TheKDub]

They only cool to the temperature of the room, no cooler.

 

It would only cause condensation if the cooler was somehow cooling below the temperature of the room.

[vembutech]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2028293/liquid-cooling-vs-traditional-cooling-what-you-need-to-know.html