Need suggestions for getting the heat out

[McQualude]

Ok, I think I have an idea, but it's kind of out there. I'm thinking
of a flow through system, where the case is completely sealed except
for the intake and exhaust. If the heat is as bad as you say it is,
I would put a vent made of dryer venting tube through the exterior
wall, with an exhaust fan near the outside that pulls air through the
case, taking the hot air directly outside. You could even cap the
end of the exhaust with one of those dryer flappy endcap things.

Here is my rendering of the whole project

http://members.tripod.com/Trains99/gram.jpg

Not too far out, this is what I would do if the computer wasn't on the
front side of my house.

It also occured to me that I could vent it to the crawlspace which would
prevent having a stack in the room. The crawlspace is large and vented,
heat vented there would have a negligable effect. I would need a fan to
draw the heat down, but it would still have better aesthetics.

After reading the comments on hot air returns, I think that is probably
the ticket as this room is really insulated against the rest of the
house.

 

[McQualude]

Strange that no one was able to answer the question you asked, so
I'll give it a shot. Venting the heat to the attic can be a
worthwhile solution, however, there are a few things you should keep
in mind.

Thanks Dave for a useful reply. I may actually try adding a hot air return
first since this room is insulated against the rest of the house and if
that doesn't help, add the vent stack because I know my wife will oppose
the vent stack.

 

[McQualude]

(e-mail address removed) (Don Taylor) said:

I started wondering about evaporative cooling recently. Perhaps
spray a fine mist of water into air being sucked into the heatsink

Don you're reinventing the wheel. My previous system used evaporative
cooling using a water block and large open reservoir. There are fancier
setups that turn the water returning from the CPU into mist or run the
water through rain-type shower heads and fans blow air across the warm
water that can reduce the water temperature below room ambient.

Once you get over the fear of using water to cool a computer and take the
necessary precautions (test, test, test before applying power), water is
much quieter and extremely efficient at removing heat from the case. One
advantage is that the water carries the heat with it out of the case so
your case temperatures drop dramatically. (assuming you have an external
reservoir like I did)

 

[Al Dykes]

(e-mail address removed) (Don Taylor) said:


Don you're reinventing the wheel. My previous system used evaporative
cooling using a water block and large open reservoir. There are fancier
setups that turn the water returning from the CPU into mist or run the
water through rain-type shower heads and fans blow air across the warm
water that can reduce the water temperature below room ambient.

Once you get over the fear of using water to cool a computer and take the
necessary precautions (test, test, test before applying power), water is
much quieter and extremely efficient at removing heat from the case. One
advantage is that the water carries the heat with it out of the case so
your case temperatures drop dramatically. (assuming you have an external
reservoir like I did)

If you don't leave the system on all the time a tank of water
in a closed system can absorb lots of heat, getting warmer
over time.

Back of the envelope calculation;

A computer that is using 200 watts is making 680BTU of heat.

A BTU raises 1 pound of water one deg F

An 8 gallon tank of water (64 pounds) will get about 10DegF warmer
each hour of operation. Overnight the tank will cool down to
room-ambient. Starting from 72F, that should be good for a couple of
hours of operation.

A tropical fish tank (with the fish, of course) is perfect, since
these fish have to be kept warm, anyway. The tanks have
thermostat-controlled heaters. When your PC was runnning the tank
heater would never cut in.

YMMV.

 

[Charles]

Build the Computer in a refrigerater.