3 years ago, the CWH team took on a mineral oil PC project. We a built full functioning PC submerged in mineral oil and even decorated it with some Star Wars Lego pieces. In a recent YouTube Video, we took apart the PC to see how the parts have held up. To watch the full servicing video check out the video below.
Cleaning Up The Tank
To service the PC we had to drain out the oil by using a siphon. This took a bit of time to but we wanted to be patient to avoid spilling any oil when lifting the tank. If you have ever worked with a mineral oil PC, you understand how difficult it is to clean up any oil spills. With that out of the way, we wiped down the tank using a paper towel and began to assess the parts after 3 years.
Condition of PC Parts
Most of the PC parts came out in good condition. The parts that had nothing wrong with them are:
- Motherboard
- SSD
- Memory
- Video Card
- CPU
- Wireless Wi-Fi Module for Internet
- CPU Fan
The only part that needed to be replaced was the power cable as it became really stiff. The stiffness is due to insulation dissolving and breaking down due to the cable being submerged in the oil.
Adding New Lego Pieces
We also added some new pieces of Lego to the PC. After changing around the placement of the previous Lego and adding a few new pieces, it made the PC feel brand new again. We glued the bottom of the Lego and let that dry into place. The final step was adding new mineral oil. The mineral oil we siphoned out had started to accumulate some dust particles so we thought it was best to refill it with new mineral oil.
Overview
The PC held up extremely well over the last 3 years. All the parts stayed in good condition besides the wire supply. If you are thinking of making your own mineral oil PC we recommend changing the power supply cable every 2 years to avoid the stiff cables.
Would you add any Lego pieces to your set up? Which ones would you use? Let us know in the comments below!
