Winter Air Intake for COOLING

[gutshot]

I live in Northern Alberta Canada and during the winter it gets to -30C outside. I was thinking about putting a venting duct from outside to my computers intake fans.

Has anyone tried anything like this?
Is that air going to be too cold and cause damage?
Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Motopsychojdn]

Hell yeah, thats an awesome idea, just be aware of condensation potentially being an issue
theres no such thing as too cold, just some precautions you'll need to take as mentioned above,
other than that, hook it up and post pics here
Moto

 

[inzone]

It would be a good idea to not have the room too warm or humid or you will get condensation forming on the inside of the computer. If you could figure a way to have the case outside and just the front of the case inside with no air intake in the front that would be awsome

 

[scout_03]

check for humidity level of the outside air and you will have to keep computer always working to avoid condensation on the parts,also put a fan that you colud contol the speed to avoid freezing in the air inlet and for the parts around it.

 

[chesteracorgi]

The problem is not the humidity of the outside air: any air at less than 0 C will be dry. What you have to worry about is ambient humidity in the room. You may want to use a de-humidifier if your have concerns for humidity and condensation.

 

[gutshot]

The room tempurature usually is around 22C and is very dry (apartment with electric heating, I was actually thinking of getting a humidifier for my bedroom as my nose dries up when I sleep.). So I dont think condensation in the winter would be a big problem but is there any type of filter I could put on the outside end of the duct that would keep the moisture out? Or is the moisture going to come from inside?

What would the early signs of condensation be? Little water droplets starting to form? And what type of damage could it cause?

When you say to control the fans for freezing, you mean to slow them down if the parts get too cold?

Also if you know of any links to something similar to this topic please paste them for me!

Thanks

 

[Motopsychojdn]

You could have airfilters like Motorcycles and cars have at each end, that should help keep moisture out a fair bit,
**What would the early signs of condensation be? Little water droplets starting to form? And what type of damage could it cause**
Yup, water droplets, and massive damage, its water, its a pc killer potentially
Water and electricity aren't the best of friends (Gf's input of wisdom there 😛)
You should be able to minimise the condensation though, it will just require a little more thought and work than just running a vent would, but it will be safer too,
needless to say, any project like this is at your own risk and what goes bang ain't our faults 😛
(Got an older pc to use as a guinea pig maybe?)
Moto

 

[rubix_1011]

Having substantial airflow will help combat condensation to some degree. If you can keep air moving over these very sub-ambient components, airflow alone should help evaporate some moisture build-up. However, you'd need to calculate the external temperature, internal temperature and the internal ambient dew-points to see at what point you'd get condensation...I've seen some tools online that can help determine these kinds of figures.

 

[scout_03]

you could also read that about humidity they got a parts for electronic material http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humidity and this one http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relative_humidity

 

[jbernie51]

I know I'm a year late, but check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_Zp70eC670