Closet Rack Cooling Advice

BIGmouthinDC said:

you could just cut an inch or less off the bottom of the door if you didn't want to look a grill messing up the appearance of that beautiful wood door. A one inch gap at the bottom is about the same as a 4x8 hole in the door. Looks like you might already have somewhat of a gap at the bottom now which is common so you just need to make it a little bigger. I would install your other two parts of the plan, and see if you need more of a gap to keep the closet cool. It is generally against code to run an exhaust fan into the attic space. You should connect it either outside, a return duct or another exterior exhaust duct. If you tap into a bathroom exhaust you should install back flow preventer dampers for obvious reasons. You should worry about lint from a laundry exhaust duct. The easiest is just take it directly outside, The most energy efficient is to connect it to a return air duct.

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bpfunk said:

I could use a bit of guidance as to the best way to cool my AV rack. The rack is placed in a laundry room closet with 3 AC receivers, network hardware, Control4, some Apple TVs etc. Thoughts so far:

-Cut hole in door to install ventilation grille
-3U triple fan intake on the bottom of the rack
-inline duct fan in the closet ceiling venting into a large open attic or somehow connect to existing exhaust fan duct from laundry room

Let me know if any easier/better suggestions...photo attached. thanks for the help.

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mhutchins said:

One counter argument in support of the grille is that you could then filter the air before it enters the equipment closet. The filtration would be further improved if you added a threshold or automatic door bottom to seal the bottom of the door and thus force all of the incoming air through the filter. I agree with Big that a good option would be to tap into a return line for the exhaust air so you are not sucking outdoor air into the home anytime you cool the equipment closet.

Mike

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