Fish Tank PC Submerged in Oil

[andrethegiant]

Hello all and welcome, I'm just going to get straight to it. My computer maintenance class has the idea (thanks to our awesome teacher) of building a pc inside of a fish tank submerged in mineral oil. Of course this build is purely aesthetic and for fun. None of this has been confirmed but it has been done before. None of the parts have been picked no plans have been made, but if this were to become a reality what is your opinion on it and how would you go about it. If this dream does come true I will be sure to post he finish product, but don't expect it to be anytime soon.

 

Thank you, and leave your thoughts below.

[TheKDub]

Hello all and welcome, I'm just going to get straight to it. My computer maintenance class has the idea (thanks to our awesome teacher) of building a pc inside of a fish tank submerged in mineral oil. Of course this build is purely aesthetic and for fun. None of this has been confirmed but it has been done before. None of the parts have been picked no plans have been made, but if this were to become a reality what is your opinion on it and how would you go about it. If this dream does come true I will be sure to post he finish product, but don't expect it to be anytime soon.

 

Thank you, and leave your thoughts below.

 

Ask slick about it, I'm sure he knows plenty about fishtank pcs

[79wjd]

Don't plan on being able to remove and reuse any of the components. Getting the oil out of them is impossible. 

[Trik'Stari]

I think there is a company that makes a kit for this.

[harrynowl]

@Slick

 

and you probably want puget systems.

[Sors]

The one thing to remember is, DO NOT put the Hard Drive inside the oil.  :lol:

[TheSLSAMG]

Ask slick about it, I'm sure he knows plenty about fishtank pcs

I recall talking to him in Teamspeak about it.

 

He messed up the motherboard for it from the oil and EVGA sent him a new one.

[TheSLSAMG]

The one thing to remember is, DO NOT put the Hard Drive inside the oil.  :lol:

Unless it is one of those helium filled 5TB/6TB HDDs, they are air sealed AFAIK.

[NoctHorn]

The one thing to remember is, DO NOT put the Hard Drive inside the oil.  :lol:

Or just use a solid state drive.  Those work in mineral oil (right?)

[Imaginaerum]

I don't think you want to submerge a fish tank in oil, but submerge your computer in oil which is housed in a fish tank. Or some other glass container.

[mariohead123]

Or just use a solid state drive.  Those work in mineral oil (right?)

I believe so

[79wjd]

I think there is a company that makes a kit for this.

boring. 

 

Or just use a solid state drive.  Those work in mineral oil (right?)

yes. 

[Kleptor]

I don't think you want to submerge a fish tank in oil, but submerge your computer in oil which is housed in a fish tank. Or some other glass container.

Thank you Captian Obivious   

[Grrizz]

Some things to watch out for:

- Don't submerge mechanical HDDs (as mentioned).

- Try to keep the back panel connectors above the oil because if they are submerged you can get wicking/siphoning of the oil through the cables.

- Make sure the oil is circulating in the tank or you will end up with hot spots.

- Bare in mind that once the heat has moved from the components to the oil it still needs to get out of the oil so depending on the components you use and oils surface area you may still need a radiator to cool the oil.

If you need to clean the oil off the components later you can use warm water with detergent and a soft brush (taking special care around sockets, particularly Intel ones with the pins in the socket) or better yet a quick dunk in isopropyl alcohol, just make sure its THOROUGHLY dried before using it again and remove the BIOS/UEFI battery before cleaning. Also the oil will tend to dissolve thermal interfaces so you will need to replace that (CPU, GPU, VRMs and anywhere else it might be used) once you take it out of the oil.