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Re: [Amps] Water cooled 160 meter amplifier..

To: Gary@ka1j.com
Subject: Re: [Amps] Water cooled 160 meter amplifier..
From: Roger <sub1@rogerhalstead.com>
Date: Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:49:35 -0500
List-post: <amps@contesting.com">mailto:amps@contesting.com>

Gary Smith wrote:
> On the water cooled computer I used for recording in 
> my home studio, I did something different after 
> watercooling for the last 8-10 years. Instead of 
> having a radiator from a car heater with fans 
> quietly blowing air through the fins as I always had 
> done, I realized I was doing this in the basement 
> with an eternally cool floor.
>
> I bought 100' of tygon tubing on ebay and ran this 
> around the floor of the basement, against the wall. 
>   
To me, Tygon is preferable to copper and one whale of a lot less 
expensive. As for the heat transfer, It's not nearly as efficient as 
copper, but as you have already seen, that can be made up for by just 
using a longer tube.  Tygon tubing is tough, flexible, and relatively 
inexpensive. A great place for it is in the sump or weep tile where it's 
quite a bit cooler than along the outside edge of the basement floor. 
But most of the time I could use the heat in the basement any way.

73

Roger (K8RI)
> At the distal end I ran the tubing into an Iwaki 
> water pump which I also got on fleabay. The outflow 
> went back to the computer and the two tubes were 
> side by side on the floor. No fan and the only sound 
> was the water pump which was whisper quiet to start 
> with.
>
> In just a matter of feet the tubing had dissipated 
> the 300 watts worth of heat and 10 feet away the 
> tubing felt cold. Absolute silence for the 
> recording.
>
> For the most concerned, one could use copper piping 
> but the Tygon (or equivalent) will be just fine.
>
> This would be an excellent approach to watercooling 
> as you mention with your amplifier below.
>
> Gary
> KA1J
>   
>   
>> In regard to water cooling....I built a small water manifold which 
>> screws on to the tube in place of the very inefficient air cooler...My 
>> home brew cooler has a solid copper center for good heat sinking....I 
>> had good advice from Roger K8RI and Tom DJ5RE regarding hose length from 
>> the amplifier to the water reservoir and water cooling in 
>> general....Rule of thumb 1 meter per 1000 volts...I am using two 3 meter 
>> clear vinyl water hoses...The hoses have two copper joiners at the 
>> reservoir bonded together and earthed through a 1ma meter to measure 
>> leakage current through the water lines...Initially leakage is 320ua 
>> cold and 500ua at 40C...I have been doing all my testing with 10 liters 
>> of pure water at this stage..
>>     
>
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