A water-cooled computer fogs up, the otherwise transparent panels are soaking wet. This makes the owner uneasy and he seeks advice on Reddit. In the end, the explanation is applied environmental physics and reassuring.
How can a PC fog up? In a subreddit for PC enthusiasts, the insecure user posts two photos of an obviously wet PC. Fortunately, it appears that the panels are only wet on the outside due to condensation; inside, no significant amount of moisture seems to be accumulating.
The exact explanation for this case follows below, but ultimately it always boils down to warm, humid air meeting a cold surface. Here, the water condenses and forms a film, as can be seen here with the PC in question. This phenomenon is often visible in everyday life on windows or other surfaces – but usually not on a home PC case.
Perhaps even more unusual than a damp PC are USB sticks protruding from walls in public spaces. What’s that all about?
Warm and humid versus cold in Southeast Asia
How did the side panels fog up? The poster of the story claims to live in Southeast Asia, specifically Indonesia. He likely has a refrigerator as well, but he doesn’t live in it, as Reddit user OG_Zephyr inquires. But he and his wife prefer to keep it cool: They installed an air conditioning (AC) unit in their bedroom and gaming room.
Do you live in a refrigerator?
Reddit user OG_Zephyr
This cools the room to around 20 degrees Celsius. However, the rest of the apartment is usually around 30 degrees Celsius and, accordingly, very humid. Now, according to the additional details provided by the inquirer, his wife turned off the AC in the morning after getting up and directly opened the door and left it open.
As a result, a lot of relatively hot and humid air entered the bedroom within a short time and enveloped the gaming PC. However, it was still relatively cold on the outside from the night in the cold room, and so the condensation water collected. Experts say: The dew point temperature of the air mass was undershot.
Is the moisture dangerous for the PC? Generally, a PC should not get wet – neither outside nor inside. But as long as the water only appears on the outside of the case in this form, nothing worse than rust on metal parts should occur. This is also repeatedly pointed out in the comments on Reddit. (via reddit.com)
But water on the circuits can cause short circuits and thereby permanently damage components. However, that is not the case here. In general, PC components or the case should not come to this extent cooler than the surrounding air – rather warmer. This is especially true when using air cooling.
When using water cooling systems like in this Reddit experience report, the case is likely to heat up less. Nevertheless, such an extent of condensation is unusual.
The world of gaming PCs and what’s inside them is vast, and we at MeinMMO have many stories about mishaps, triumphs, or in a special case, complete overestimations of the capabilities of one’s own system. One user claims to own a true hell machine, but he is mistaken and is corrected by the knowledgeable community.
