Air Conditoner blowing directly into a PC's components?

[D13H4RD]

Yep. After seeing this pic, I couldn't help but laugh.

But that got me thinking; Is it actually viable and is there any risk of damage from, say condensation?

 

Being that I use my laptop in an air-conditioned room with temperatures around 73 degrees F and that I tend to live in tropical climates and that said laptop has a cooling pad with fans positioned directly under the vents, I was curious and I searched up. Found this;

Quote

No, there is no risk of condensation.

 

Here's an illustration: picture yourself taking a hot beverage outside on a cold winter day. No condensation, right? Now, picture yourself taking a cold beverage outside on a hot and humid day. Tons of condensation, right?

 

Your computer is like the hot beverage and the cold air from the air conditioner is like the cold winter day.

 

You could even just compare a hot and cold beverage on the same hot and humid day and again, there won't be any condensation on the hot beverage because the surface of the cup is warmer than the temperature of the air. Therefore, none of the moisture in the air can condense onto it.

 

In other words, this is 100% safe. If you want to be sure, then test this using any object in your house. Stick it in the path of the cold air and leave it there. You'll never see condensation on it. The only way you could get moisture to condense onto a warm object - or even one at room temperature, is by blowing warm or hot steamy air at it. You're blowing cold air onto warm or semi-warm objects, so condensation is impossible. Well, you could make something in your case become just as cold as the air coming out of the air conditioner, and then you could take it outside as fast as you can run and then you might see a LITTLE bit of condensation, but only if that thing is still cold enough by the time you get outside.

 

Not to be too redundant, but in order for condensation to be possible on your rig, your rig would have to be significantly colder than the air coming from the air conditioner, and the air coming from the air conditioner would have to contain enough moisture to condense onto your rig. However, that would result in frost because that's about how cold your rig would have to be! So, hopefully you can see how safe this is now.

 

If you still need assurance, then start learning about what the Dew Point is. The Dew Point is determined by the temperature and how much moisture is in the air. The more moisture, the higher the Dew Point. The reason it's called the "Dew Point" is, that's the temperature point where dew begins to form, meaning where moisture condenses so much that you now have dew drops on everything. This is why clouds form: moisture from the warmer air mass is condensing onto relatively cold air mass because there's enough moisture contained in the warm air mass. You'll never see moisture condensing onto warm air. It just can't happen because it evaporates. That's why fog goes away when the sun comes out.

Source: http://www.overclock.net/t/1407430/guiding-air-conditioner-vent-into-pc-safe

 

Not sure how very valid is that although someone with a WRT cert did verify his claims.

 

Quote

With a humidity of 58% and an air temperature of approximately 73°F, the only risk would be doing this on a hot and humid day, opening the windows for an hour or two, and then turning the A.C. off. The parts that are still cold will get some condensation because the humidity level will definitely be higher than 58% and the temperature will be higher than 73 as well. Although, the condensation will probably be a very thin layer (like fog), kind of like how eyeglasses form a thin layer in the winter ("fog up") when coming inside, or when it's extremely hot and humid out and you get out of your car after having the freezing cold A.C. blasting you in the face.

 

In other words, there won't be any "sweating", and since you won't be opening the windows (unless you like the hot and humid air), there won't be any condensation either. Like I said, put a glass of water in your room and then put a bunch of ice cubes in it and watch for condensation. This should simulate taking the A.C. away from the PC, but only for the parts that are not generating their own heat or being heated by anything nearby. If there is any condensation at all, then it'll only last for a couple of minutes.

Still don't think you should be blowing insane amounts of air-conditioned air directly from the vent onto your components, but that's my advice.

 

For me, I keep a reasonable temperature and since my laptop is usually in medium-high loads, condensation shouldn't be much of an issue because heat.

 

Thoughts and am I doing the right thing?

[Dujith]

It is very unsafe imo  While that whole story might say its not, its only half of the story.

When its blowing nothing will happen. Now if it stops cooling or you just turn it off. All of a sudden you have cold components in a warm environment.

Guess where the water in the air is gonna find a nice place to settle  

 

 

[D13H4RD]

2 minutes ago, Dujith said:

It is very unsafe imo  While that whole story might say its not, its only half of the story.

When its blowing nothing will happen. Now if it stops cooling or you just turn it off. All of a sudden you have cold components in a warm environment.

Guess where the water in the air is gonna find a nice place to settle  

 

 

It was actually mentioned in a later reply.

 

As for me, I maintain a reasonable temperature and only shut off the AC when my components are still warm.

[Cameron_99]

i guess if your cooler failes on you and you really gotta finish that Call of Duty session before going to Best Buy, its a decent band aid. I would clean out the case and components really well afterwards.

[D13H4RD]

For me, I'd just say you can use it in an air-conditioned room.

 

Just don't blow directly onto the components. If you want super-cool temps, why not get a phase cooler?

[D13H4RD]

6 minutes ago, L.Lawliet said:

Because its expensive.

Anyway about the condensation..there will be a condensation if the temperature is lower than the ambient..

That thing there is dumb really...maybe its a jff meme

 

Yeah. Whenever I use my laptop though, it's usually around the same temp I set my AC at.

[AshleyAshes]

You all know that most datacenters do EXACTLY this, right?  I mean, it's  much CLEANER setup but it's this.  It's air conditioned air blown into one end of a rack and warm air exhausted out the other side of a rack.

 

[Drak3]

I've considered this, but I'd rather to cascade or passive custom loop first.

[D13H4RD]

7 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

You all know that most datacenters do EXACTLY this, right?  I mean, it's  much CLEANER setup but it's this.  It's air conditioned air blown into one end of a rack and warm air exhausted out the other side of a rack.

 

I’ve never been to a data center before, but this is very interesting.

[Brio]

2 hours ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Yep. After seeing this pic, I couldn't help but laugh.

But that got me thinking; Is it actually viable and is there any risk of damage from, say condensation?

 

Being that I use my laptop in an air-conditioned room with temperatures around 73 degrees F and that I tend to live in tropical climates and that said laptop has a cooling pad with fans positioned directly under the vents, I was curious and I searched up. Found this;

Source: http://www.overclock.net/t/1407430/guiding-air-conditioner-vent-into-pc-safe

 

Not sure how very valid is that although someone with a WRT cert did verify his claims.

 

Still don't think you should be blowing insane amounts of air-conditioned air directly from the vent onto your components, but that's my advice.

 

For me, I keep a reasonable temperature and since my laptop is usually in medium-high loads, condensation shouldn't be much of an issue because heat.

 

Thoughts and am I doing the right thing?

 

My concern with a setup like this is less about condensation and more to do with dust management and aesthetics. My computer sits directly beside the air vent for my room (out of necessity rather than choice just because of where I can put my desk.) and I find it gets significantly dustier there after about a month than it does if I were to rearrange my room. So blowing directly from an AC unit unfiltered into a rig might be a bit much unless you kept up with maintenance.

[Drak3]

10 minutes ago, Brio said:

 

My concern with a setup like this is less about condensation and more to do with dust management and aesthetics. My computer sits directly beside the air vent for my room (out of necessity rather than choice just because of where I can put my desk.) and I find it gets significantly dustier there after about a month than it does if I were to rearrange my room. So blowing directly from an AC unit unfiltered into a rig might be a bit much unless you kept up with maintenance.

Air conditioners are filtered on the input. Better filters than those on PC cases.

[michaelocarroll007]

2 hours ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

Yep. After seeing this pic, I couldn't help but laugh.

 

But that got me thinking; Is it actually viable and is there any risk of damage from, say condensation?

 

Being that I use my laptop in an air-conditioned room with temperatures around 73 degrees F and that I tend to live in tropical climates and that said laptop has a cooling pad with fans positioned directly under the vents, I was curious and I searched up. Found this;

Source: http://www.overclock.net/t/1407430/guiding-air-conditioner-vent-into-pc-safe

 

Not sure how very valid is that although someone with a WRT cert did verify his claims.

 

Still don't think you should be blowing insane amounts of air-conditioned air directly from the vent onto your components, but that's my advice.

 

For me, I keep a reasonable temperature and since my laptop is usually in medium-high loads, condensation shouldn't be much of an issue because heat.

 

Thoughts and am I doing the right thing?

 

I would just put the deskop near the AC and or laptop in your case. And the PC should pull in the pretty cold air in its fans anyhow. If your PC cant stay cool this way then IDK what you have or doing wrong.

 

Just set the AC to 60 it should stay at 60- in that corner of the room. no GPU/CPU should be overheating at this temp Otherwise its your Paste or Coolers fault not room temp

[Al_net]

Ok, first of all, having an air conditioner blow potentially moist air molecules towards expensive pc components is a very bad idea.  I agree that there will not be any condensation on the metal heat sinks and stuff, but still... cold air can be humid or moist and can cause damage to components.  I personally attached a huge fan blower fan to my PC.  A little smaller than the one in Linus's video about attaching high volume of air blowing fans cooling a PC.  It turned out well.  Not practical due to the loud fan though.  

 

Conclusion:

I personally do not want to ruin my PC components only because I wanted to blow cool air into my case.  It's really on you.  I wouldn't risk it.