Using baby oil for a oil sumerged PC?

[DavidVioMC]

To start this off, this is strictly a enthusiast build, this is not a way to cool down the PC or anything like that but more for decoration purposes. Few months ago I built a small form factor PC with parts from my parts bin and used it to plug it in to my TV in living room to watch YouTube/Netflix on it, sometimes I use it to stream gameplay from my gaming pc via steam in-home streaming when I have friends around, that's what that PC is stricly used for, no games or software gets run on it except steam for streaming and Google Chrome. Since I think it's ugly just sitting there in a old case since the PC is a 10 y/o small form factor ITX, I want it to sumerge it in oil inside a fish tank that I had around. The whole PC fits inside including the PSU but I'm not going to sumrerge it since I'm pretty sure it will generate more heat than the CPU so I'm going to keep the hardrive and PSU out the tank. The fish tank is only 5L so I don't need a lot of oil, and it's propably about 4.5L with all the parts inside anyway. Since this is just for decoration, I'm looking for cheap ways to fill it up since I don't want to spend a lot on oil for a PC that pretty much only its used for as a TV box. I did re-search and found that baby oil is the cheap stuff that you can go with, but certain baby oils have stuff in them that can cause damage and apprently the cheaper it is, the less stuff it has so I went to my local Tesco's to look for it's branded baby oil and it only has two ingredients; Paraffinum Liquidum and Parfum, maybe someone knows if it's ok to use it, and this stuff is only £1.50 for 500ml so I can easily fill up my tank for £12. I also heard cooking oil is a cheap alt but apprently it breaks down too quickly and starts to reek after some time and I don't want to deal with that, and I'm also looking for clear oil if possible. If you guys have any idea please let me know. Thanks

 

[COLGeek]

Pure mineral oil is the way to go. Don't use anything else.

 

[SkyBill40]

Mineral oil or not at all. Don't make a costly mistake.

 

[dudio]

First time I've heard of this insanity, but it's true!

( Mechanical, electrical and industrial
An electrical radiator that uses mineral oil as a heat transfer fluid
Mineral oil is used in a variety of industrial/mechanical capacities as a non-conductive coolant or thermal fluid in electric components as it does not conduct electricity and functions to displace air and water. Some examples are in transformers, where it is known as transformer oil,[8] and in high-voltage switchgear, where mineral oil is used as an insulator and as a coolant to disperse switching arcs.[9] The dielectric constant of mineral oil ranges from 2.3 at 50 °C (122 °F) to 2.1 at 200 °C (392 °F).[10]

Electric space heaters sometimes use mineral oil as a heat transfer oil. Because it is noncompressible, mineral oil is used as a hydraulic fluid in hydraulic machinery and vehicles. It is used as a jute batching oil, cutting fluid, and lubricant. Spindle oils are light mineral oils used as lubricants in textile industries. )


Oil will absorb heat, but it won't displace it easily. Be nice to get a 'propeller' to move it around, and add coloured beads for Freaky Fridays.
'Parfum' is a generic name to a scented additive, and does certainly not guarantee conductive properties.
Biggest thing if you went for it would be the quality and purity of the mineral oil.

 

[DavidVioMC]

Pure mineral oil is the way to go. Don't use anything else.

Mineral oil or not at all. Don't make a costly mistake.

First time I've heard of this insanity, but it's true!

( Mechanical, electrical and industrial
An electrical radiator that uses mineral oil as a heat transfer fluid
Mineral oil is used in a variety of industrial/mechanical capacities as a non-conductive coolant or thermal fluid in electric components as it does not conduct electricity and functions to displace air and water. Some examples are in transformers, where it is known as transformer oil,[8] and in high-voltage switchgear, where mineral oil is used as an insulator and as a coolant to disperse switching arcs.[9] The dielectric constant of mineral oil ranges from 2.3 at 50 °C (122 °F) to 2.1 at 200 °C (392 °F).[10]

Electric space heaters sometimes use mineral oil as a heat transfer oil. Because it is noncompressible, mineral oil is used as a hydraulic fluid in hydraulic machinery and vehicles. It is used as a jute batching oil, cutting fluid, and lubricant. Spindle oils are light mineral oils used as lubricants in textile industries. )


Oil will absorb heat, but it won't displace it easily. Be nice to get a 'propeller' to move it around, and add coloured beads for Freaky Fridays.
'Parfum' is a generic name to a scented additive, and does certainly not guarantee conductive properties.
Biggest thing if you went for it would be the quality and purity of the mineral oil.

Thanks for your guys feedback. The reason why I'm considering baby oil is because I found this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eub39NaC4rc with 2.3m views and in the description the guy said this:
"1 YEAR OLD 20 AUG 2011 and everything still works great SUPER reliable ZERO maintenance
1x 5 year old pc with cooling and noise issues
1x £20 fish tank from pet shop
42x 500ml bottles of johnsons baby oil"

Apprently this guy had zero problems for a year with baby oil, and he used the more expensive baby oil which I also seen in my Tesco store but it has more stuff in it and it smells more so I assume it has more "Parfum" since the tesco's one barely has a smell. And yes, there will be movement in the case, I got a heatsink with push pull config on it and I also have a fisk tank water filter that I'll use to filter any dust or any another rubbish that may get in the oil and also have movement in the tank additionaly I'll have a row of 6 50mmx50mm fans on top that will blow cool air onto the oil, which I think should be enough to keep the PC cool running Google Chrome and it's not even on a lot, maybe about 4 hours a day. Would I be able to possibly test the conductivity of the baby oil? I have a multi-meter so I can buy a bottle and see if it will show that electricity is flowing thru baby oil? I know there's a function on it like that since I used it before but Im not sure if it will detect anything really low.

 

[SkyBill40]

While there may be many videos on YT that make valid claims supported by evidence and long term testing, there are also no shortage of them that are complete nonsense and full of fabrication to fit a narrative.

I think Dudio has made it quite clear for you. Don't cheap out and have it wreck your setup even if the overall component cost is low. Any money spent will be considered as wastes if you do this baby oil thing and it fries your setup.

 

[USAFRet]

A LOT of mineral oil systems end up with a statement of:
"Yeah, is was sort of fun as a hobby experiment, but never again"

And for ever success you see on utube, how many fail videos never got created?

Things to consider:
-Capillary action drawing the oil up through the HDD cable, and peeing out. (yes, this happens)
-How to cool the actual oil. Oil is slow to heat up, but also slow to cool. Just having some fans blowing at the top surface probably won't be enough.
-Maintenance. Changing/replacing parts just gained a whole new level of complexity.
-Mobility. Pick the right spot now, because you can't move it later.
-Lastly....why? Just because it is currently in an ugly case does not require a whole oil tank thing. Just get a prettier case, or hide it in a cabinet.