Electric conductivity of oil?

On Holiday · 6 Jun 2013 at 00:29

Not a troll thread I promise.

Would a PC work if it were submerged in used car oil?

andythelandy · 6 Jun 2013 at 00:35

Technically yes, oil has very very low conductivity, i wouldn't recommend car oil but it has been done with mineral quite succesfully, look here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eub39NaC4rc

Brookert · 6 Jun 2013 at 01:40

The real question is, why would you want to?

On Holiday · 6 Jun 2013 at 02:34

All shall be revealed soon!

Hades · 6 Jun 2013 at 07:06

Why used oil? It will contain contaminants and be very dark in colour. New oil may be better.

Dogbreath · 6 Jun 2013 at 08:30

It would work with new oil (for a while anyway), but old used engine car oil is loaded with carbon and acidic byproducts from combustion so I suspect conductivity is rather higher.

Orionaut · 6 Jun 2013 at 08:49

Dogbreath said:
It would work with new oil (for a while anyway), but old used engine car oil is loaded with carbon and acidic byproducts from combustion so I suspect conductivity is rather higher.

I am not sure what the electrical properties of motor oil are off hand are but I would not assume it is a particularly good insulator. Motor oil contains many additives which are metallic compounds which may not be particularly good for compact electronic circuitry.

While "Simple"electrical devices (Solenoids etc) are OK exposed to oil (Auto box solenoids etc) vehicle ECU's can be damaged by oil getting into them. (It is not uncommon! Oil creeps along the wiring loom and gets into the boxes)

GravyMonster · 6 Jun 2013 at 09:02

Plus used motor oil would be highly carcinogenic. Not a good idea.

Django x2 · 6 Jun 2013 at 09:18

If you were to get an ATF oil, that would have zero conductivity (as the other thing you would have to worry about in a PC would be magnetism), normal car oil is probably not ideal for that either.

You want something like this I would think:
http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-60247-millers-oils-millermatic-atf-dm.aspx

bledd · 6 Jun 2013 at 09:28

Mineral oil will have far less stink to it!

GeX · 6 Jun 2013 at 10:24

Mineral oil for this, used engine oil is an awful idea.

Sasso · 6 Jun 2013 at 11:09

yes it more than likely would work.... should you use used car oil? nope.jpg

as said, you can use mineral oil (look at vids on youtube of pcs submerged in fish tanks

), but car oil...not too sure of the additives...let alone all the gunk/particulate that would be in the used stuff xD

MooMoo444 · 6 Jun 2013 at 12:55

Surely if even it had the tiniest bit of conductivity, it wouldn't work as the gaps on circuit boards are minute?

Dogbreath · 6 Jun 2013 at 18:24

MooMoo444 said:
Surely if even it had the tiniest bit of conductivity, it wouldn't work as the gaps on circuit boards are minute?

Even the fibreglass PCB material that the tracks are on has a tiny bit of conductivity, completely perfect insulators are rare.

Something Else · 6 Jun 2013 at 19:29

Mineral oil is your best bet.

We use it in a variety of equipment at work as insulation. The voltages I work with require the oil to insulate over a 2.5mm gap at 30kv the oil often passes 60kv average which is the max the machine goes to.

Lakeland · 6 Jun 2013 at 22:49

An oil cooled pc has been done before, not engine oil though.

Used engine oil will have very small pieces of metal in it from the engine which would obviously be conductive.

What about submerging a heatsink in oil rather than the whole pc?

Biohazard · 6 Jun 2013 at 22:59

I suspect this is an electronic device going into the crankcase, or somewhere in the oil train, not a PC project.

Skeeter · 6 Jun 2013 at 23:02

I wonder if the OP is not actually thinking of putting used oil in a PC, but is thinking of putting a small PC in oil in a car? Like a Raspberry Pi in an oil reservoir?

No idea why though.

Dogbreath · 7 Jun 2013 at 07:50

Biohazard said:
I suspect this is an electronic device going into the crankcase, or somewhere in the oil train, not a PC project.

In which case the conductivity of the oil would be a pretty minor problem compared to the temperature of the oil.

Biohazard · 7 Jun 2013 at 11:42

Dogbreath said:
In which case the conductivity of the oil would be a pretty minor problem compared to the temperature of the oil.

Not so much the oil temperature but just heat, oil is really only exceptionally hot around the piston crown, skirt and bore, oil is cooler in the head for example but a lot of heat is generated there in itself.

Electronics can cope with several hundred degrees, they just need to be industrially insulated.