The BEST fan for your home 'server rack/room'

[TennesseeTony]

This post is for those who are nuttier than a squirrel turd (like me ).

I know a few of you are like me, and have a great many computer systems dedicated to crunching away at DC, and users like Pokey, have displayed pictures of their 'server rack' before.

Many of us use DC as a way to help heat the home in the colder months. But those who crunch even in the midst of summer, having heat producing computers throughout the house creates a double electric bill, one for the computers, and an extra one for the air-conditioning (except Kiska, I don't know how you do it buddy! ).

My point is that I have long envisioned making an enclosure (or better yet, a dedicated room), for all my dedicated crunchers, with (flexible) inlet/exhaust piping that can be 1.) filtered and 2.) routed to a nearby window during the warmer months. Yes, you probably need to be single to do this. For the cooler weather, just let the inlet and outlet push and pull air from inside the house to aid in heating of course.

Anyway, if you have ever thought of having such an arrangement, I have found the perfect fan for you. As always, 'perfect' things tend to be a little pricey, this one is $300. But have you ever hooked up a standard $20 box fan to a Kill-a-Watt meter? Even the low speed sucks up 60 watts or so. I have a slim window fan that has two small 8inch fans built into one chassis, and it pulls 92 watts!! And it barely moves any air to boot! That fan on your central heat and air, upwards of 300 watts, depending on age it may even be worse. If you REALLY want to be astonished at how much energy a fan can use, check out a standard sized attic fan, they use 180 to 500 watts. For a FAN.

So, we want an electrically efficient fan, but also efficient in the amount of air it can move, reliable, and not too noisy, right? Enter the QuietCool 1560. I have one, and it is louder than a 20" box fan on low, but quieter than a 20" box fan on medium.

• Low power consumption - only 30 watts, 120V AC
  
• Moves 1560 CFM
• AC/DC Brushless motor
• 15 year warranty on motor, one year other components

Mine uses 32 watts on the Kill-a-Watt. I spliced it into the central heat and air, running continuously. Used with a high quality air filter, I'm using it as a whole house air filtration unit. Costs $28 per year to run. If you ran a 20" box fan on just low, the annual cost is $52.50, so it only takes 11.4 years to get your money back! Lol, ok, so not such a great deal after all I guess, depending on how many times you have to replace the box fan when it quits on you.

And I'm procrastinating....I need to put a few more hours into remodeling before it's bedtime.

 

[Kiska]

Many of us use DC as a way to help heat the home in the colder months. But those who crunch even in the midst of summer, having heat producing computers throughout the house creates a double electric bill, one for the computers, and an extra one for the air-conditioning (except Kiska, I don't know how you do it buddy! ).

Lol I don't have the machines at home thats why! Guess where the 2 servers I used during the folding challenge is?

 

[TennesseeTony]

Old York.

 

[iwajabitw]

For cooling, especially since you gutted the walls out Tony, you could run a dryer vent out the external wall, or into the attic if the exterior is brick and hook up one of these. http://www.haieramerica.com/product/hpn12xcm Shouldn't pull much more power than a 1000-1200W powersupply. It should cool DC farm room nicely.

 

[bds71]

looks like you and I are in similar places, Tony, except I'm building my home from scratch. I'm building what is locally known as a barn-daminium - basically, a large metal building (w/foundation) with the house built inside it. the metal structure is up, and I've framed out the house and about half done with wiring. the garage portion is usable and is where I keep my vehicles and household goods while I build. I'm currently living in a fema trailer from hurricane Katrina (back in '05) that I got for pretty cheap. all on 5 acres of land I bought from my best friend

what I want to do eventually is have a basement/wine cellar (offset from the house, but accessible through stairs inside the house) where my watercooler/chiller/pumps/etc sit and pump chilled water to outlets built into the house - specifically 2 in the office, and 2 in the living rm. zero fans/noise where the PC exist and nice cold chilled water to cool everything I've yet to plumb the hoses for the PC watercooling, but I will do it before I close in the walls of course, not everything/anything has to be watercooled, but it gives me options!

 

[TennesseeTony]

That's awesome! You could probably get away with just burying a coil/grid of tubing, taking advantage of the 'cave' effect, for chilling your water system!

You could get two of the attic fans, and a couple of automotive radiators, combined with some duct work and your chilled water, and add air conditioning to the whole place. 60-65 watts for fans plus the water pump. Me likey!

 

[bds71]

picture a 50-100 gallon tank. now subdivide the tank 60/40 with small openings at the bottom for the water to pass thru - my theory is that since heat rises the water that passes thru will still be around 68F even though the "hot" side can get up to 69-70. the 60% will be the "hot" side (where the hot water comes in) and the cold side will be the fresh cool water going back out. now imagine a chiller set to 1F above ambient (around 68 here in Texas) which kicks on to keep the hot side between 68-69 (I might up it to 70 depending on how often it actually comes on). chillers cost a bit more, but are the most efficient way to cool large amounts of water quickly note: this setup will not use any radiators or fans (except what normally comes on the chiller to keep the compressor cool)

I thought about passing everything through a massive radiator (think 4 MoRA's/36x120mm w/push/pull 3k rpm fans) but ultimately, with nowhere to exhaust the hot air to, it would just heat up the room and I would lose the (heat) benefit of having everything in the basement. with a chiller/compressor set up I only pump out whatever heat the compressor puts out (and I can set the temp which is convenient).

question: I'm trying to figure out a way to use a pressure tank instead of a bunch of pumps to circulate the water thru the systems, but I don't think a pressure tank would work on a close-looped system. any thoughts?

PS: sorry for the thread hijack

PS2: sorry, all temps are F....for those who aren't American, 68F~20C

 

[TennesseeTony]

Nah, a pressure tank is for well/cistern pumps that take a second to turn on, they only provide water pressure for a few seconds, so you don't have to wait for water when you open a faucet. That's a closed system, the water isn't flowing, and you will want flowing water, so a pump is the only option there.