Cooling my computer room...

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fobtastic

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Jul 29, 2004
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So my computer room/bedroom is way too hot, and I always end up going to bed sweating. This is despite the fact that my house has a central AC system. I would get an air conditioner just for my room, but all of them need to exhaust out of a window. Unfortunately, the windows in my room do not open. Anyone have any potential cooling solutions for me?

Currently, I have a fan in my room but all it does is circulate the warm air and drown out my TV's audio.
 
well, there doesn't seem like much you can do...

a). You have windows that won't open? Are they painted shut? Get some tools and figure out a way... there has to be a way...

b). If your window cant open, go to lowes and find one that will... you can then buy the AC there too...

c). The only other thing to do is to turn off any electronics (computer, TV, etc.). THat will keep a room hot. I remember back in the day, the first time i moved out of my parents house, I moved into a really shity house that had no heater... it got cold enough that a glass of water onthe kitched counter would start to freeze. So what did I do for my bed room? I turned on a pentium 60mhz box, a 486 box, 2 monitors... it didn't make the house a comfy 80 degrees or anything... but I rmember sleeping so much better...
So turn off what you are not using...

d).. move somewhere else...

:D
 
this is meant for cooling a boat/tent/RV but if your room is small enough this should work

http://www.kooleraire.com/index.htm

you'll need something to power the +12V car adapter, but i'm sure you can pick up something at Radio Shack that'll do the trick .


and if you have a couple hundred dollars to throw around

http://www.air-n-water.com/portable-air-conditioners.htm

features a ton of other small "portable" AC's. cheapest i saw was $370 though.. just point the intake/exhuast hose out your door.
 
I had the exact same problem, my computer room was WAY WAY hotter than the rest of the house. The first thing I tried was to install a ceiling fan, that helped some and made much less noise than the box fan I was using. Even after doing that it was still WAY hotter than the rest of the house. I brought in my outside thermometer and it was running about 83 degrees. So I put my thinking cap on and after a few days, realized that in effect my computer was a space heater.

I had 5 80mm fans, and 1 120mm fan blowing the warm air out from the case. I also had 5 80mm fans sucking air into the case. It sounded like an airplane. I decided that could definately be contributing to the room temperature since I was moving massive air across all of the hot parts, then blowing that air out into the room. So I removed several of the fans and ended up with the following: 2 80mm exhaust fans, 1 120mm exhaust fan, and 1 80mm intake fan. I figured the exhaust fans could still pull sufficient air through the many many holes in the case. This made a HUGE, need I say it again HUGE difference in the room temperature. I checked my outside thermometer and it was only about 75 degrees now. A little better, but still not great. As a side benefit, the case temperature was also lowered, probably because the air coming into the case was not 83 degrees anymore.

Then, we had to have a new furnace put in and I told them that I had a problem with a couple of the rooms would be a very different temperature than the rest of the house. When they put the new furnace in, they added a air-return in each bedroom. This totally fixed the problems. However, if I still had all those fans I think the problem would still exist.

Just my experience here, YMMV
 
Easy way to fix that problem.. I used to have the same issue.

Get vent redirectors. http://www.espenergy.com/wall_air_deflector.htm

Then, make sure all your vents are exposed with nothing in the way. Move any dressers, desks, or your bed out of the way.

Then, keep your door to your room open. The air conditioning has to recirculate the air throughout the house to be efficient.
 
Do they have those for the type of vevnt that are on your ceiling, and blow down? That may help!
 
Any window will open, you just need the right size hammer...

Position a box fan outside the room so that it blows cool air from the rest of the house into your computer room. Put it on the floor so the cool air comes in through the bottom half of the door, pushing the warm air out through the top half.

 
Soldur said:
I had the exact same problem, my computer room was WAY WAY hotter than the rest of the house. The first thing I tried was to install a ceiling fan, that helped some and made much less noise than the box fan I was using. Even after doing that it was still WAY hotter than the rest of the house. I brought in my outside thermometer and it was running about 83 degrees. So I put my thinking cap on and after a few days, realized that in effect my computer was a space heater.

Just my experience here, YMMV
Click to expand...
Heat doesn't magically go away. If it turned out that your room was cooler afterward, then your chassis was just holding onto more heat inside.
 
Apparently there was some magic at work here then, my case temperature went down dramatically after the rearrangment. Let's debunk the magic....

Since I'm on air cooling, the cooler air in the room reduced the ambeint case temperature. Think about it, if you are running a computer in an 85 degree room, the ambient case temperature will be higher than the same computer in a 70 degree room....
 
Soldur said:
Apparently there was some magic at work here then, my case temperature went down dramatically after the rearrangment. Let's debunk the magic....

Since I'm on air cooling, the cooler air in the room reduced the ambeint case temperature. Think about it, if you are running a computer in an 85 degree room, the ambient case temperature will be higher than the same computer in a 70 degree room....
Click to expand...

my wife and i are cheap so in the winter we never set the heat higher than 70. my computer runs cooler when the ambient temperature is 65. (only a degree or two though, b)
 
What do you use for a display or displays?

This summer has been very warm and i've found the computer area to be uncomfortable even when the rest of the place was cool'ish. Well, the main source of heat in the room was my 21" CRT (ViewSonic Professional series). I've since dumped it and moved to 20" wide LCD and the room is *much* more confortable. I can game or edit images for extended periods now without breaking a sweat...
 
Soldur said:
Apparently there was some magic at work here then, my case temperature went down dramatically after the rearrangment. Let's debunk the magic....

Since I'm on air cooling, the cooler air in the room reduced the ambeint case temperature. Think about it, if you are running a computer in an 85 degree room, the ambient case temperature will be higher than the same computer in a 70 degree room....
Click to expand...
Certainly the air from the room going into the case would be cooler, but there would be less of it going in and it would be moving slower through the case, giving it a longer period to equalize in temp with the parts inside (incidentally lowering the efficiency of sinks). I just can't see it happening - reducing overall case flow results in lower temps?
 
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