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Cooling Help in a Closet Equipment Room

1) I need cooling solution/suggestions.

2) Some way to make my rack swivel, or get a new one.

Well, one solution down, (move equipment to a dedicated room) and two to go. I am having an electrician wire the room in 2 weeks, which leaves me this amount of time to decide how best to cool the room. With just 5 pieces of gear in a 10 x 8 x 3 room (closet really) and NO VENTILATION now, one would not consider this a problem since this room is usually much cooler than the rest of the house. The associated gear, California Audio Labs CL-2500 series of equipment (4 items) and the Monster AVS-2000/5100.
The amp is fine in stand by, but the processor is too hot to touch, even in standby. Now granted, I have it sitting IN a Salamander rack and can move it to the top, I think I am going to move the amp to the top, and yes, I will need t have a custom top made to hold the depth of the Cal amp, leaving the SSP below. I will remove the sides of the rack and have no back to it. I can get great spacing since I have an S20 and S30 on top of each other, and may also use the S40 in there somehow. So spacing will not be an issue for ventilation.

Now, this sight, www.activethermal.com I pulled from other threads that talk about cooling a closet, but it is a fan that sucks hot air out of the room (which I can install) and have the hot air vent out of the closet to the outdoors, seems easy enough. Now, since the Cal gear runs warmer than most gear (due to the Class "A" circuity?) I would like to cool the room if possible/necessary. a) If cooling, what would one suggest, b) if not cooling, but moving air, would a fan(s) be fine?

My other question is since the closet is about 3ft wide, is there such a think like a large LAZY SUSAN I can put under the rack to make it swivel (cable and equipment swaps) and if so, where would one find such a thing? IF NOT, suggestions for a rack that does swivel?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Dan
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porschecab OP
336 posts
 
Slipknot1,

It is sounding like I will head to a large LAZY SUSAN (about $8) and will bolt it to a piece of wood which will sit on the carpet, and the other side will bolt to the bottom of the Salamander rack. This seems like a very inexpensive solution. I need to do some more research yet.

Now, cooling. It sounds like I have a couple of options.
One, I need some type of heat release to the outside, no matter what. I need to find something that will suck the hot air out (mounted high, right?) but needs to prevent dust/dirt etc from coming inside. I need to figure out if I can VENT into the closet from the living quarters, down low in the closet) which will carry air from inside the living room, up through the equipment, and out the hot air release thing. I am concerned that I will not be able to let air INTO the closet without it looking horrible with some type of 'vent' which would force me to go to fans that push air, but not cool.

Am I seeing this correctly?

Dan
john_l
782 posts
 
Buy one of those stand alone ac units at frys!
jameswei
883 posts
 
When I put in a new bedroom, the builder tried to convince me that an air "return" duct wouldn't be necessary if I had a half inch gap under the door. He said it was common practice for small bedrooms, bathrooms, and large closets. Since this wasn't a particularly small bedroom, I insisted on a return duct anyhow, but a door gap could work pretty well as a ventilation intake for a closet.

There are all sorts of exterior vent caps for kitchen stove exhausts, bathroom fans, and clothes dryer exhausts. Many of them are designed with a spring loaded trap door that opens when the fan blows air onto it. Some also have special shapes with turns that act as traps for foreign material. They also have screens to prevent insects and pests from getting in.
swampwalker's avatar
swampwalker
5,138 posts
 
Can you change the door to a louvered door (could actually be a half-louvered door, lower half) and then put in a small exhaust fan mounted high (hot air rises) behind a dryer type vent? You could use one of those wood stove circulating fans or a dedicated exhaust fan- wait a minute how about a combined light/exhaust like you would use in a shower and that vents thru the ceiling in a flexible duct to a hinged vent cover. Plumbers put them in every day; just snake it the short distance thru the ceiling to the outside wall.
jadem6's avatar
jadem6
1,074 posts
 
If you have forced air, I've designed a number of home theater rooms that I put a return air louver in the equipment closet. This would require a louvered door. Swampwalker has a good idea if you have hot water or steam heat.
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