Looking for a low boiling point liquid; liquid at room temp

[benben]

I'm thinking about utilizing a heat pipe design for use with my Athlon. What liquids could I use that that have a low boiling point but are still liquid at room temperature and are stable while not posing a threat to human health.

IE. I don't want to use a carcinogen, something that is flammable, or something that is explosive.

Flammable - "any liquid having a flash point below 100 deg. F. (37.8 deg. C.), except any mixture having components with flash points of 100 deg. F. (37.8 deg. C.) or higher, the total of which make up 99 percent or more of the total volume of the mixture. Flammable liquids shall be known as Class I liquids." Quoted from OSHA

I figure there are chemistry people here. I just had a couple of chemistry classes in college and some Industrial Hygiene classes.

Any suggestions?

[DuronClocker]

Hmm...maybe alcohol? Not sure though because alcohol has such a low density, that it won't be able to transfer much heat as in the heat pipe idea. Maybe something like automobile air conditioner refiller. Its the stuff that helps air conditioners get so frickin cold. Uses the same principal of changing phases. Stuff is dirt cheap at an auto store...then again it can kill you if inhaled directly. But hey, they trust it in air conditioners, and the fumes could get blown right into our faces from our car vents if a leak were to happen!

[deltree_windows]

salt water. but that will corrode anything metal

[MuFu]

Liquid Paraffin? Maybe bp is too high though, I dunno... :-\

MuFu.

[Todd a]

I've heard heatpipes made out of amania and I think they had to presurize (or depressurize) it to get it to work good. The queastion is how much better is a heatpipe then just a good heavy rod of copper at transfering the heat?

[Jerboi]

Originally posted by benben
I'm thinking about utilizing a heat pipe design for use with my Athlon. What liquids could I use that that have a low boiling point but are still liquid at room temperature and are stable while not posing a threat to human health.

When you said liquid at room temperature, I'm assuming under ordinary pressure. Other refrigerants mentioned by other posters are only liquid at room temperature under pressure.

IE. I don't want to use a carcinogen, something that is flammable, or something that is explosive.

This is actually a very hard demand. I'm afraid it's not going to happen.

non toxic=alcohol, petroleum based stain remover and butane.

They're all highly flammable

non-flammable: methylene chloride and chloroform. They're both toxic.

non-flammable and non toxic: Freon 113, the best overall industrial precision cleaner. Very volatile, very inert, not flammable and very low toxicity. EPA controlled substance with going rate of $450/gallon

Any suggestions?

I don't think you can easily make a practical heat pipe at home. To test the concept, I'd get an almost empty *canned air* with just a tiny bit of liquid left at the bottom. Hold the top and dip the bottom in hot water. Feel how quickly heat is transferred.

If you could put some of this liquid in a copper tubing and hermetically seal it, it will work more or less. The greatest problem lies in hermetically sealing a tube. THis is not something a typical consumer can do.


Edit: AH! vB code screw ups..

[grover]

I believe freon, and other refrigerents will work- you'll just have to get them at the right pressure to work in the temp rangs you want

[Jerboi]

Originally posted by grover
I believe freon, and other refrigerents will work- you'll just have to get them at the right pressure to work in the temp rangs you want

Careless manipulation of compressed gas can lead to Ka*boom!.

You need to research the refrigerant property and mathematically calculate the proper fill amount.

[benben]

At the bottom of this page is an offer to build custom heat pipes. I was thinking they would really customize upon request.

I'm not going to be touching the stuff myself until I install.

[Jerboi]

Originally posted by benben
At the bottom of this page is an offer to build custom heat pipes. I was thinking they would really customize upon request.

Probably... be prepared to order with a corporate letter head in eye popping quantities.

[grover]

Yeah, that seems to be the kind of place that builds a hundred thousand heat pipes for Dell's new line of laptops, and not so much one for your overclocked PC

[evetsrim1]

There is a benchmark comparison of liquids on Overclockers.com dated August 10, 2002.

[Dacs]

AFAIK H20 boils at lower temp at lower pressures.

[ol' man]

Use a freon type fluorinated alkane. Even brake cleaner may work. It is a non flammable as normal temps solvent. Others would be something more like compressed air as it is a fluorinated alkane also. It has a much lower BP though!

If you use this you will need a good bucket of dry ice and put the end with all the compressed air in the dry ice somehow. i have been poindering this for awhile. On the other end I would then solder it with a soldering gun sealed good. That is lower heat and it has not open flames. Perfect for this. Once you take the whole apparatus out of the dry ice it will heat to room temp causing a equilibrium. Once you get air flowing across the fins of the heat pipe radiator then it will work like you want it too! It is not that hard and I really dislike anyone telling another that something is too hard and to not try it! One thing you need to do though is make sure your evaporant is not flammable. I think the compresssed air or freon is the way to go in a dry ICE bucket while soldering!

This pic below is how I would do it~!