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Cooling for small room

D

`danny

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
384
Hey all,

I am trying to figure out a solution to better cool my room (yes I still live at home with my parents, only until school is over with though). My room is roughly 10x12 and I am currently running a Q6600 server build with a PIX firewall in an 8U rack. I have a floor fan in front of the rack to push cold air through and that seems to work ok. However my room is one of the hottest in the house and I am trying to find ways to better cool it. Even with the AC on, the blinds shut on the one window, and the lights off it still gets hot with/without my equipment on. I am wondering if any of you have experience with portable AC units and if they are effective for example in my particular case. I have tried putting several fans in my room and all they seem to do is move the hot air around. Any suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated. My budget for solving this issue is about 400 dollars.

Thanks.
 
way to suggest a $3.6k unit for someone to cool their bedroom at their parents house with a $400 budget...


I ran a $400 portable AC unit in my bedroom a few years agofor about a month and ended up returning it because it had to run hard constantly to cool the room, with just a few computers on. I dont remember the specs of the unit, but it was probably about the same as anything else in that budget. Another problem with them, is that it has to exhaust some nasty heat out of a large (4-5") hose, that goes to the window, even the hose's surface heat warms that area without some sort of insulation.

Later I ran several old servers in a closet, which made the room way too hot, luckily the ceiling of the closet had an access panel to the attic,so I slid it to the side enough to make room for one of those twin fan window fans, and just ran it on low all the time, that was nice because it pulled all the heat off the back of the rack, up and straight out of the room.
 
What's the home AC system like? How far is your room from the AC unit? Do you have a return vent in your room?

If the old air (hot in summer, cold in winter) can't get out, then the new air (cold in summer, hot in winter) can't get in. If the hot air can't get out of your room, then the cool air won't be able to get in. Adding a duct fan to the AC and/or return vent might improve the airflow enough to keep things cool.

My room in my parents' house was the furthest corner from the furnace/AC, so I can relate. Recently they had some work done, and were told that the whole upstairs didn't have enough return airflow, which is why the upstairs was always cold in the winter and hot in the summer. They had to run an 18" or so duct directly from the furnace to the middle of the upstairs to improve the airflow.
 
My room is pretty far from the thermostat (Down stairs and on the side of the house). I do have a vent in my room for the AC but the airflow is very weak and doesn't cool my room much.
 
What is your situation in regards to your windows? I.E. are they standard windows that open up, or do they swing out? If its a regular window you could just get a standard 5000btu window air condition until for probably 100 ish dollars since its the end of the season. This would work fairly well.

At the end of the day you need to realize if your running the server all the time you'll have to have cooling either running all time, or intermittently. This may or may not be ok with your parents on the power bill, as it will draw a decent amount.
 
Is there anyway you could just move the server to another place in the house? Since it's a server (and not your desktop) there shouldn't be any reason you need it right in front of you. Even right outside the door to your room would make a huge difference. Seems like moving it and running cat6 to it would be far easier/cheaper.
 
Just something worth noting... a lot of the folks in here will recommend that you spend your money on something to get rid of the heat, but a better way might be to prevent it in the first place.

The vast majority of the heat produced by your server and other PCs comes from the power supply. If you've got a huge honkin' overpowered power supply, it's going to be generating extra heat that you don't need to generate. The load on the power supply matters too (if it works harder, it generates more heat, obviously) but in general the more efficient the unit is, the less heat it will generate.

Sounds like you will need a decent PSU, but it might be worth looking into spending part of that budget on a more efficient PSU. Hardocp has some great PSU reviews. ;)

I'll leave it to the rest of the guys to recommend a good heat removal solution.
 
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Electrofreak said:
Just something worth noting... a lot of the folks in here will recommend that you spend your money on something to get rid of the heat, but a better way might be to prevent it in the first place.

The vast majority of the heat produced by your server and other PCs comes from the power supply. If you've got a huge honkin' overpowered power supply, it's going to be generating extra heat that you don't need to generate. The load on the power supply matters too (if it works harder, it generates more heat, obviously) but in general the more efficient the unit is, the less heat it will generate.

Sounds like you will need a decent PSU, but it might be worth looking into spending part of that budget on a more efficient PSU. Hardocp has some great PSU reviews. ;)

I'll leave it to the rest of the guys to recommend a good heat removal solution.
Click to expand...

Sound advice but depending on what else is in the room it might not make a big enough dent. Its definitely worth it when building a new server or upgrading, but not sure if it would be the most practical solution here.

A question to the OP would be what else is in the room generating heat? Laptops, Desktops, stereo/tv, etc.... the more details the better. I would imagine you have a ton of stuff in there which is why its so hot.
 
Very good points Electrofreak and KarFai.... As a cheap, interim solution I would recommend a 20" box fan placed in the open window pointing out. This will help exhaust some of the hot air in the room as it seems that the airflow for the room is pretty stagnant.
 
KarFai said:
Sound advice but depending on what else is in the room it might not make a big enough dent. Its definitely worth it when building a new server or upgrading, but not sure if it would be the most practical solution here.

A question to the OP would be what else is in the room generating heat? Laptops, Desktops, stereo/tv, etc.... the more details the better. I would imagine you have a ton of stuff in there which is why its so hot.
Click to expand...

Definitely a good point... there's a lot of stuff that can generate heat, I hadn't considered that.

I just know that when winter rolls around, I turn my PC around the other way and put my feet up on a stool so that the PSU exhaust blows on them. Mmmmm... toasty! :D
 
Well I live in Minnesota and winter seems to be knocking on the door :). My server has a very reputable power supply (Thermaltake Toughpower 650W) and it is almost always luke warm to the touch (So I doubt that it is causing all the heat). The server is has a very low load average (According to the UPS the server + PIX firewall only use up 150W). I am going to see if it is possible if I can find another location for my server in a cool corner somewhere. If not I am just going to put a fan on my window constantly blowing hot air outside. Thanks for all your opinions!
 
Well, the heat has got to be coming from somewhere.

Sounds like you're on a second floor... my younger brother is in the same situation at my father's house. The room gets hotter than hell during the summer, there is no central air (cmon, it's western NY :p).

If you've got 2 open windows in the room, put a fan in one window blowing in, and a fan in the other window blowing out. Stick your server / heat producing equipment in front of the window blowing out.

If you are on a second floor, a lot of heat comes up from downstairs too. Making sure the room right beneath you is reasonably cool can help too.
 
I'm actually on the lowest level of the house (I apologize for not stating that earlier).
 
something like this It vents outside, its portable so you can take it with you when you leave and its less then $400
 
KarFai said:
What is your situation in regards to your windows? I.E. are they standard windows that open up, or do they swing out? If its a regular window you could just get a standard 5000btu window air condition until for probably 100 ish dollars since its the end of the season. This would work fairly well.

At the end of the day you need to realize if your running the server all the time you'll have to have cooling either running all time, or intermittently. This may or may not be ok with your parents on the power bill, as it will draw a decent amount.
Click to expand...

IMO

WIN !!!!!

Your computer equipment is exactly like having a space heater of the same wattage running in your room all the time. Fan in window would help but to blow air out you have to suck air in from somewhere else. Window AC would apply thermal transfer just where it is needed - your room.

Actuall the new small window 110VAC ones are not too bad. few bucks a month and soon he will not need it.

Typcially all that is needed to install is 2 small metal clips on the outside window sill. So easy to remove and take with you, just fill the screw holes in the window sill with wood filler or caulk when you leave so water does not stand and rot the window sill. Would not hurt to run it by your dad before you buy one. It is his house.

el cheapo option if you have the classic double hung casement window is to get 2 small window fan units and put one at the top blowing out and one in the bottom sucking in but on a hot day it would be counter productive to the home central AC.
 
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since nobody else is going to point it out.... its freaky that everyone here has/had the room at their parents house that was the farthest from the ac unit? creepy.....

'danny..... i have some suggestions......

1. if the room is always hot you can leave it that way and get some pet lizards.... they love heat.....
2. if you have a shed in the backyard and willing to run cat5 and power to the shed it would be an awesome place to hang out in the winter... specially if you have noisy siblings and want some quiet......

3. this is likely the route you will go.... its less than 30$

get this connect one end to the out flow on the system that is warmer either psu or back vent.... then hook the other end up to a piece of plywood or cardboard with a hole cut out to fit the hose... make sure the plywood or cardboard fills the gap from the open window.....a garbage bag works wonders to weather proof the plywood/cardboard.....

the plastic dryer vent lines are cheaper and you should be able to find them at any hardware or appliance store for under 15$..... as you said ... you don't plan to live there for too long and this approach dons't have a 300$ commitment.....
 
Maybe a window unit is in your price range? , they seem to be a good cooling solution and you could just move the rack closer to the window
 
tiny window ac unit would probly solve this problem.cheap to buy cheap to run. use it for a week to see if it works, worst case is you can return it. portable units CAN be ok IF you buy a good one. those are expensive. they are also friggin huge for what they can do. plus they dont work near as well as the window versions.
 
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