I have an A/V cabinet with adjustable shelves that is mounted in a corner with only the front and right side exposed. The cabinet is approximately 29" high, 25" wide and 21" deep and will house a Niles ZR-6 receiver, two high def cable boxes (not DVRs) and two DVD players. The shelves are ~2" shorter than the depth of the cabinet to allow for cable mgmt and air flow.The cabinet has two doors in the front w/little to no space between the doors and the face of the cabinet when closed. One or more fans will be installed in the back of the cabinet and will vent through an interior wall into a closet that vents to the outside.

My questions are as follows:

1. In what order, top to bottom, should the A/V equipment be installed for optimum cooling?

2. The cabinet will have a slot cut in the toe kick through which air will be pulled in. How long and wide should that slot be?

3. How many and what size 'silent' fans would you recommend? Where would they be placed for optimum cooling given the answer to item 1 above?

4. I am looking for a low cost source for the fans, power supply and thermistor and was considering The Cooler Guys but they never answer their phone. Can you suggest one or more other suppliers that provide good customer support?

Thanks in advance.

Fred Berry

Fred

I'm no expert but I'll take a shot at part of your problem.
1.) Place the hottest piece of equipment closest to the exhaust fan. That way you won't have it's hot air flowing around the other pieces of equipment.
2.) As large as you can make it. If the size of the exhaust fan is larger than the input, that might cause air turbulence (i.e. noise).
3.) how many & size - haven't a clue. Placement - as close to the pieces of equipment as possible.
4.) No idea

My thought is that I would consider placing several holes in the shelves to assist in air flow around the equipment.
Maybe the first thing you should do is to get one of those remote sensor temperature units, place the sensor in the cabinet so that you can test each type of change you make. Maybe you could get away with only one fan / maybe none.

Sorry I'm not much help.
George

You will not get much heat from any of the equipment other than the receiver.

I suggest the largest exhaust fan you can fit but but a variable speed fan control on it. If you have a large fan you will be able to run it at a low speed to keep the noise down while moving enough air through the rack.

Keep in mind fan noise too, depending on equipment location etc you may need to pay a bit more for a silent fan.

Here is a link to some fans mountable to the mid atlantic equipment rack. Take a look and see if you can use them in your own cabinet.
http://www.buyrackgear.com/cooling.aspx

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=20317

Here's a link to the MiddleAtlantic paper dealing with Thermal Management in AV Racks. It's a good read and will help you figure this stuff out.

http://repnet.middleatlantic.com/COMPANY/MarketingFiles/TempInsideRacks/Thermal%20Management%203-04.pdf

CJ

A few pictures/drawings would be a lot more helpful to give better suggestions.

If you are going to run ducting through the wall and into the closet, you would be best off installing the fan at the outlet of the duct inside the closet and letting it pull air through. That way the mechanical noise of the fan is further away from the electronics cabinet/viewing room. (Assuming the duct is relatively air tight and not just a hole cut through the wall and then the cabinet pushed up against the hole.) Is the closet being used on the other side? Are you going to be blowing exhaust air onto your wife’s clothing?

Also, in these kinds of applications, for the same amount of noise, a centrifugal “blower” will move a lot more air than a regular “fan” (computer muffin fan) will. A quick look through McMaster-Carr shows a bunch of options that will give you “a lot” more air than a couple of muffin fans will provide. But without a better idea of the setup, it’s hard to say what would be ideal.

There is also a relatively cheap thermostat on their page. Specs say it works with line voltage as well as 12/24v DC. I have no personal experience with it.

http://www.mcmaster.com/#19155k16/=263v52

-Suntan

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=20317

It is interesting/encouraging to see woodworking places like Rockler starting to acknowledge electronics requirements like heat management, wire runs, etc. for their supply of goods. Looking at what is available at my local Rockler, I wouldn’t have thought they even cared about this stuff. (Although that fan setup looks a little pricy.)

In the future, I would expect these types of kits will become even more available as people are starting to wake up to the fact that quality made furniture, that looks nice in a livingroom setting, can also accommodate modern electronics. Versus the notion that computers and electronics are meant to be kept either on ultra modern looking rack setups or piled on an ugly office desk and then hidden behind a closed office door when company comes over.

-Suntan

coolerguys.com - great prices, always answeer my emails same day...

I have the 2 fan combo thermostat controlled but with Scythe 120mm fans - I can't hear them when I am less than 2 feet away and they are the only things on in the entire house! (if I had the room I would've gotten the 3 fan set - two is good but HK recevier puts off some heat so it's on the bottom, then the hk dvd player, then the DVR)

Had the fans for over a year - no problems at all.

I'd email them.... their customer service has been very helpful for me...

Hope this helps