ice pack on a receiver?

[YourDhass]

last night as i was cranking some tunes, and my receiver was getting hot, i decided to wrap an ice pack with a cloth and set it right on top. it seemed to work just fine.. the receiver got cool but not frozen, and i didn't notice any changes in sound.

i can't really think of anything wrong with doing this...the sides have wide open space and there's no chances of dew/moisture from the ice pack the way i did it. what do you guys think? is this dumb, unnecessary, doesn't matter, or a good idea?

 

[Pyrrho]

If it springs a leak, you will have a very dangerous situation. I strongly recommend that you do not do put an ice pack on top of a receiver or any other electronic device.

 

[ReUpRo]

The vents on top should be left open since hot air rises. Maybe you can put the ice pack under the receiver with a small gap for the air flow to be unobstructed... An ideal solution will be this combined with something like a vent hood (like those over a cooking stove) mated with the top of the receiver.

On a serious note, the top vents should remain unobstructed. Get a laptop cooling solution that pushes air in from the bottom vents. If the receiver has no bottom vents, get something that pushes air into the side vents, again, keeping the top vents unobstructed.

Got to say, this has been one of the most amusing posts I've read in a while.

 

[Adam]

is this dumb, unnecessary, doesn't matter, or a good idea?

Not dumb, but not the most effective for most receivers, and probably unnecessary. Receivers tend to be designed to be air cooled and don't have a great thermal connection between the chassis (where you put the ice pack) and the electronics. So, while the chassis felt cold to you, the electronics may not have been much cooler than before you added the ice pack. Plus, something that feels "hot" to the touch isn't very hot to modern electronics, even if we're talking about the air around the electronics.

As mentioned already, if you want to help keep the electronics cooler, add some fans. More air flow equals more cooling.

 

[mike c]

try this solution ...

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/general-av-discussions/39279-receiver-cooling-search-words-pc-fan-12v-adapter.html

 

[lsiberian]

You'd need to add water cooling to the receiver for the desired effect which is simply overkill.

 

[Adam]

You'd need to add water cooling to the receiver...

If he uses real ice, he just might get that.

 

[Rickster71]

last night as i was cranking some tunes, and my receiver was getting hot,

If I may add a few thoughts and a question or two.

What receiver and speakers are you using?
If you are running 4-Ohm speakers with a receiver that can't support the load; that will cause overheating and may be your problem.

Where is the receiver located?
The coolest air in most rooms is located within the bottom two feet. All of my amps and receivers are located as low as possible to take advantage of that free cooling effect. I also have PC fans pulling air up and out of the top.

A receiver 'getting hot' is too subjective a term.
A better method is to know the actual temperature and the differential between the room's air and your receiver.

Good Luck and I hope this adds to what others have already mentioned.

 

[j_garcia]

Your receiver will let you know when it gets hot - by shutting down. Heat is a byproduct of amplification in most cases, so the receiver warming up is supposed to happen. As long as the receiver has enough air clearance around it, you should not have a problem that would require an ice pack.

 

[lsiberian]

I've heard some computer nerds will use pure distilled water to promote heat transfer since it's non conductive. I'd really love to run some liquid cooling through my setups, but I have this natural reverence for the law of electricity meeting with the cat via the liquid.

 

[slipperybidness]

I've heard some computer nerds will use pure distilled water to promote heat transfer since it's non conductive. I'd really love to run some liquid cooling through my setups, but I have this natural reverence for the law of electricity meeting with the cat via the liquid.

The thing is......distilled water (ie de-ionized water, ultra-pure water, 18Mohm water, etc.) can be an aggressive corrosive.

Water does not "like" being in a de-ionized state, so it tends to ionize materials and get them into solution, thus it is no longer DI water.

So, I see the line of reasoning from the computer nerds by using "pure, unadulterated water", but the fact is that it probably causes more corrosion than tap water and it isn't gonna be "pure DI water" for very long.

Never trust an engineer nerd
Ask a science nerd instead

You seen "Dr. Strangelove"? "I only drink distilled water and pure grain alcohol"

 

[j_garcia]

The thing is......distilled water (ie de-ionized water, ultra-pure water, 18Mohm water, etc.) can be an aggressive corrosive.

Water does not "like" being in a de-ionized state, so it tends to ionize materials and get them into solution, thus it is no longer DI water.

So, I see the line of reasoning from the computer nerds by using "pure, unadulterated water", but the fact is that it probably causes more corrosion than tap water and it isn't gonna be "pure DI water" for very long.

Never trust an engineer nerd
Ask a science nerd instead

You seen "Dr. Strangelove"? "I only drink distilled water and pure grain alcohol"

That's why you use plastic delivery methods for DI rather than metal Metal pipes will get leeched and fall apart. I worked for a chemical containment company.

 

[slipperybidness]

That's why you use plastic delivery methods for DI rather than metal Metal pipes will get leeched and fall apart. I worked for a chemical containment company.

Yup, yup. Teflon is the material of choice. The quality of Teflon that we deal with is more expensive than high quality stainless steel

That being said, I did make an assumption in my previous post on the topic that the heat transfer and liquid cooling was using metal, because that is what I have seen and am familiar with. If those "computer nerds" that Iserbian mentioned are using plastic/teflon for the water lines and the water never contacts metal, then they should be OK. But, of course, plastic won't transfer heat as well as metal, so I have to ask what would be the point.

If it were MY liquid cooled system, the liquid I would use would most likely be ethylene glycol (ie antifreeze) instead of water (I say this without knowing a whole lot about liquid cooled computers, but I have worked in industry for 12+ years).

 

[Nestor]

Some people have built PC's submerged in mineral oil:

But I digress. Another possible concern about placing ice packs on top would be condensation droplets making their way into the vent holes.

 

[j_garcia]

But I digress. Another possible concern about placing ice packs on top would be condensation droplets making their way into the vent holes.

Not just that, but adding a cooling pack to the COVER does not cool the INTERNAL components of the receiver that are actually getting hot.

 

[Adam]

Not just that, but adding a cooling pack to the COVER does not cool the INTERNAL components of the receiver that are actually getting hot.

You'd think someone would have mentioned that already.

Oh, wait...

 

[3db]

Some people have built PC's submerged in mineral oil:

But I digress. Another possible concern about placing ice packs on top would be condensation droplets making their way into the vent holes.

Can I have fries with that?

 

[herbu]

Some people have built PC's submerged in mineral oil

Get a used refrigerator, take the front door off, put your components inside on the fridge shelves. Cold beer and AVR.

 

[j_garcia]

You'd think someone would have mentioned that already.

Oh, wait...

Yeah, well

 

[YourDhass]

Receivers tend to be designed to be air cooled and don't have a great thermal connection between the chassis (where you put the ice pack) and the electronics. So, while the chassis felt cold to you, the electronics may not have been much cooler than before you added the ice pack.

As mentioned already, if you want to help keep the electronics cooler, add some fans. More air flow equals more cooling.

That makes all the sense in the world. Thanks guys for putting up with losers like myself. I was ready to take it to another level and start dropping ice cubes through the vents because the ice pack worked so well (just kidding)

If I may add a few thoughts and a question or two.

What receiver and speakers are you using?

Where is the receiver located?

Good Luck and I hope this adds to what others have already mentioned.

I'm using Ascend Sierra 1's as mains and a Denon X2000. It's a simple 2.1 system. The receiver is coincidentally within the bottom 2 feet (ish) wooooo