Keeping things cool in an insulated, airtight cabinet

ShadowBlade

Diamond Member
Feb 11, 2005
4,263
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Hello,

I've got a P3 desktop running as a router, a 24-port cisco switch and a couple of home theater components which are all fairly new set up in my den. Most of the stuff I got in the winter, and they have an unanticipated side effect: the ambient temperature in the room is nearly unbearable in the summer.

My first thought, and in my mind still the best route, is to construct an insulated, airtight cabinet to house these components (this would also cut down on the noise). However, I'd imagine if they can heat the room to that degree, they might just burn up in my proposed environment.

The sound reduction isn't critical, but it sure would be nice. There isn't really any place else in the house to move this stuff as I don't have a basement, thus making it nearly impossible to run wires anywhere else, and I certainly don't want to add any fans to the cabinet itself.

Anyone have any input or suggestions?
 

Syzygies

Senior member
Mar 7, 2008
229
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I have the same issue in my study. We cool our house at night (with ~60 $2 computer fans from Newegg in arrays in each window, there's a tipping point where with enough fans the air does change frequently) but we don't use A/C in the afternoon, and my office is the hottest location in the house, despite the shielding effect of solar panels over that part of the roof.

I've done this before, but I'm better prepared for this summer: My custom MountainMods Pinnacle case has every fan (including the power supply) blowing in, except the top fans blowing up and out. I'm routing the air through a dryer hose out the window. At 5V they don't empty the house of cool air, they just keep my office from warming up.