Can I repurpose an AIO radiator for a water dispenser?

[38034580]

I want to make a cold water dispenser. Can I use the radiator as the coolant?

[SupaKomputa]

Yeah any radiator will work the same.

It wont cool any lower than ambient though.

[Dutch_Master]

Not gonna work: the heat difference isn't big enough. Buy a commercial unit. First, it's safer (by a considerable margin!) and significantly more hygienic.

Just now, SupaKomputa said:

It wont cool any lower than ambient though.

Which kinda defeats the purpose of said cooler

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Cooling

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Probably not...? The radiator itself isn't cooling anything. Its the block on top of the die which does the cooling. Heatsink is just for radiating heat away and making coolant run cooler. The temp difference between die and ambient air is so significant (like 50C+) that it makes sense.

 

What you seem to be asking is to cool some significant waterbody, like 30L. Using radiator doesn't really aid in that. You would need something to push air to that waterbody. Or have peltier element acting as cold plate and maybe something to circulate water in order to keep it cool overall.

 

I don't know how commercial units actually work, but with general technical knowledge (and using them), I would say that there's smaller tank where the water is cooled. So cold water you get doesn't come directly from the canister on top. How that smaller tank is cooled, probably with peltier or some more efficient method.