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mc86
Joined: 20 Sep 2008
Posts: 765
Location: pittsburgh, pa
TV/Projector: ECP 4500 (Vidikron box), ECP4500+, wanting 07MS/07MTS, evaluating pc soft-blend
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 Link Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:21 pm Post subject: cooling down my rack closet |
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Hey guys - I saw something on Kal's awesome basement project that got me to thinking.
| kal wrote: |
A cold air return was installed beside what will eventually be the home theater equipment rack:
Kal |
So my rack is in one part of a little closet located in a corner of my basement. The closet has an uninsulated, epoxy coated concrete floor and well insulated exterior walls (sealed foam outside studs + r13 pink stuff). The front of the rack is just behind a pocket door (that conceals the rack from main area). The rest of the closet (and the back of the rack) is accessed via a normal 30" door. Getting to the back of the rack is a PITA, but I accepted that as the alternative choices weren't great.
In a bonehead move I figured that closet would stay naturally "cool" around 65deg perhaps by itself as there is no air handling to/from the closet. That is, I figured heat would escape out the pocket door and life would be good. However, I keep that door closed most of the time. And -- go figure -- now the noisy rack fan turns on (I have a thermostatic regulator on the rack fan) and recirculates hot air in the room until I open the door a while. Idiotic move on my part.  I know -- ~1500W with nowhere to go is called a space heater. Ducting the rack fan (I think) would be impractical -- and it is VERY noisy.
So, I have both a supply duct and a cold air return running directly over the room and I could easily branch a 4" line off of either. Am I better to run a snout to the top of the rack that:
a) is from the cold air return (always sucking hot air out, drawing make-up air into the closet - along with dust) or
b) run a supply duct into the closet (pressurize the closet with filtered air). I'd have to accept the room will get hot air in the winter months, but the basement is always cold in the winter anyway...so maybe not a problem. I suppose I could put a actuator on the supply duct for when the furnace kicks on -- our furnace fan runs 24/7 to filter and recirculate air.
Thoughts?
Matt
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ecrabb
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Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah
TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010
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| Link Posted: Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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My vote is for A. Get the heat out. If you put a small vent in the bottom of the door... Say some kind of a slot, or even just the door gap itself, that may be enough to pull cool air in off the floor, and it shouldn't pull that much dust in with it, and what does will probably flow with the air right into the return to be filtered with the rest of your return air.
Putting supply air into the closet isn't really going to accomplish much without good ventilation, and as you mentioned, a good part of the year, you may as well just close the vent, as you'd be putting hot air into the closet.
SC
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CIR Engineering
Joined: 25 Aug 2008
Posts: 4264
Location: Chicago USA & Berlin Germany
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| Link Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 1:58 am Post subject: |
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+1
craigr
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dturco
Joined: 06 Feb 2009
Posts: 3779
Location: Eastern Shore Maryland
TV/Projector: Runco DLP VX-3000i Marquee 9500 parts doner
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| Link Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 12:00 pm Post subject: |
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Absolutely choice "A". Get the heat out.
_________________
Firefly rules. Can't stop the signal.
http://www.hulu.com/firefly
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mc86
Joined: 20 Sep 2008
Posts: 765
Location: pittsburgh, pa
TV/Projector: ECP 4500 (Vidikron box), ECP4500+, wanting 07MS/07MTS, evaluating pc soft-blend
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| Link Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 2:15 pm Post subject: |
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Glad I asked. The fan switches on when the mechanical thermostat gets to 85F, so I know it is getting about that hot next the top of the rack. I'll put an iButton temperature logger inside my rack for the next few weeks to get some baseline data. It will be a few weeks before I make the time to cut a hole in the ceiling/run a 4" flex duct, etc.
I've been surprised the fan on my amp (kenwood KM-X1) has never kicked on...I need to check if it has shot craps or simply has a really high setpoint. I'd have guessed they'd use a 3-wire monitoring fan, but perhaps not...
Matt
BTW, here is a messed-up use of these loggers...
http://www.hamstertracker.com/ITW.html
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dturco
Joined: 06 Feb 2009
Posts: 3779
Location: Eastern Shore Maryland
TV/Projector: Runco DLP VX-3000i Marquee 9500 parts doner
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| Link Posted: Fri Jun 29, 2012 7:53 pm Post subject: |
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| mc86 wrote: | Glad I asked. The fan switches on when the mechanical thermostat gets to 85F, so I know it is getting about that hot next the top of the rack. I'll put an iButton temperature logger inside my rack for the next few weeks to get some baseline data. It will be a few weeks before I make the time to cut a hole in the ceiling/run a 4" flex duct, etc.
I've been surprised the fan on my amp (kenwood KM-X1) has never kicked on...I need to check if it has shot craps or simply has a really high setpoint. I'd have guessed they'd use a 3-wire monitoring fan, but perhaps not...
Matt
BTW, here is a messed-up use of these loggers...
http://www.hamstertracker.com/ITW.html |
Matt if the closet is near the outside wall, couldn't you just vent it to the outside with a dryer type vent? Those types of vents have flap doors or louvers to keep the outside air from coming back in.
Just a thought.
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Firefly rules. Can't stop the signal.
http://www.hulu.com/firefly
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