I’m considering punching some holes in a small refrigerator and making the whole thing into a Bitchin[sup]TM[/sup] case mod for a PC: see, the PC would be cooled, but there’s also room for a few sodas or beers! Now, I don’t want to be hasty or stupid or anything, so I wanted to ask a few questions about refrigerators that I’m woefully ignorant of.
HVAC Dopers: I’m planning on drilling a hole for peripherals like my keyboard, mouse, and so on. I’d really like to make it a three- or four-inch diameter hole and make a PVC housing “octopus” whose tentacles connected to the internal PC; on the outside, there’d be one three-inch circular jack for all of my plugs. The PVC would be filled with spray insulation, sanded and painted to look nice. What side of the fridge do I bore into, and what can I expect to run into as I punch through the fridge wall or ceiling (steel, aluminum, foam, asbestos, kryptonite, soylent green)? Bonus: Can I get away with boring a 5 [sup]1[/sup]/[sub]4[/sub]" bay into the door or the side?
HVAC or Overclocking Dopers: I only want to do this project if the cooling makes a little bit of sense. Will a small refrigerator have enough muscle to keep a 1.4GHz PC cooler than room temperature? When I buy a tiny fridge, are its BTUs on the box? How many BTUs of heat will I likely need to remove per hour? If I run the whole thing off a 350W power supply, can I assume that I need to dissipate 350W of heat?
Chemist, Meteorologist, Housewife, or otherwise qualified Dopers: Condensation may be a problem, but the way I understand it is that moisture from the air that’s in the fridge is the culprit, and if the air in the fridge is sufficiently dry, condensation won’t be a problem. Can I prevent condensation by turning down the temperature and/or strategically placing bags of dessicant like silica in the fridge? Will opening the door once or twice a week for a soda totally ruin my careful planning?
Computer and Devil’s Advocate Dopers: are there any parts inside a normal PC that can’t tolerate the temperatures in a fridge? Ignore frost or condensation and discuss temperature problems (e.g.: will my hard drive bearings start to stick?).
On the condensation thing; what I personally would do (if I were feeling brave) would be to isolate the bit that keeps the soda cold from the bit that houses the PC, maybe by cutting a rectangular hole in the middle of the door, then setting a sealed metal box into it, with its own insulated front door, so you open the little door to the compartment for soda, or open the big door (in which the little door is embedded) if you need access to the PC.
Most electronic parts are rated for 0 to 60 deg C. I’ve stuck quite a few things in the freezer before just to test them, and most solid state circuits will work fine well below 0 deg C. Mechanical things like a drive might start having some problems though.
I picked a random hard drive off of Seagate’s web site and it listed it’s operating specs as 0 to 60 deg C, and I’d expect most hard drives to have a similar operating range.
5 deg C would keep your drinks nice and cold and also would be warm enough for all of the computer components. Most mini-fridges have a freezer of sorts up at the top, so you won’t want to install your components too close to that.
The only major caveat is that batteries, such as the one that backs up your CMOS, are not happy in the cold. You may want to mount the CMOS battery external to the refrigerated interior, and run wires back to the mainboard through a small hole or something. Otherwise, you may find that your CMOS settings won’t stay put.
I can’t see how you can possibly prevent condensation. The air outside is warmer than the inside, so the air outside can retain more moisture. As soon as you open the door and there’s a flow from the ouside to the inside, you are going to get condensation. It’s inevitable.
Your only solution would be to isolate your components in a sealed container within the fridge. (I’m thinking a large tupperware box here, that wouldn’t look out of place.) It’d also be a smart idea to put it at the top of the fridge rather than the bottom; less drips risks.