Ok Guy! here is what I found out:
aluminium is fairly corrosion resistant so it should not leech itself in any kind of measurable amounts into the water- however; it will eventually and a first sign you would have to replace it.
But a lot of heat sinks are powder coated and from what i can tell from some quick research, it is inert, so no problems there. all systems go and whatnot.
BUT:
Thermal Performance and Temperature Rise Above Ambient
Especially for cooling with natural convection, the hotter a heatsink becomes, the more effectively it dissipates heat. The thermal resistance of a heatsink decreases with an increase in the heatsinks temperature rise above ambient.
As a guide to the thermal resistance of a heatsink at a temperature rise T °C above ambient:
R(T)=K(T) x R(80 °C) (1)
Where R(T) is the heatsink thermal resistance at T°C above ambient,
R(80°C) is the heatsink thermal resistance at 80°C above ambient,
K(T) is a temperature correction factor read from the graph below corresponding to the temperature rise of T°C
Please note that the thermal performance at different temperature rises, varies from heatsink to heatsink and that the correction factor K is useful as an approximate guide only.
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So basically the heat sink will perform better the hotter it becomes- which is not that hot in your case- around 20 degrees C, yes?
Sorry the graph didnt translate across,
So if you end up giving this a go be very careful and please let us know if it works or not.
Cheers,
Rhys.
