Hey folks,

Do to some poor planning on my part (mostly related to hvac stuff), the ceiling height in my equipment room is about 10" lower than I had planned. It's still about 7'4, but it means that things are a bit cramped.

I want the rack up off the floor, so I built a platform for it. This provides some level of protection against minor flooding, but also allows me to dress up things a tad with some baseboard and moulding.

The result, however, is that I only have 2-3 inches of clearance above my MA Slim5 43u rack. Directly above the rack is a 22" x 6" custom vent boot which is connected to an inline Fantech exhaust fan which resides in another portion of the basement. The fan is controlled via a Cool Components thermostat with remote sensor which will sit near the top of the rack.

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My question is, given the less than ideal circumstances -- what would be the best way to deal with cooling of the rack itself?

1. Close it in as much as possible (both side panels, rear door and panels on the front) and force ventilate it using the MA Fan kit at the top?

2. Leave the panels off all together and use some strategically placed rackmount cooling to push warmer air out into the room where it would then get picked up by the exhaust fan?

3. Try to McGuyver the top panel -- cutting in a larger opening to perhaps match the size of the vent above?

4. Some other solution I haven't yet thought of?

I already have purchased all of the Middle Atlantic racking -- Slim5 43u rack, matching middle rail kit, vertical cable lace bars, vertical power strip, side panels etc so I want to try and make this work (rather than going to a smaller rack).

As a measure of backup, I did rough-in for a dedicated split should I need one in the future. I'm hoping to avoid the expense now however.

Thoughts?
 

Without knowing what will be in the rack, it's impossible to know. If it will always have open sides, I wouldn't worry about cooling. If that ceiling vent will usually provide for removing warm air, it won't be a problem- convection will do the job, but not if the side and back panes are in place. If you do enclose it, open the top, use fans and make sure the bottom of the rack has vent panels and the fan can move enough air. Still, it's hard to say without knowing if it will have network gear or a be full of inefficient audio amplifiers.

It'll be mostly an RTI based automation/distributed AV setup. I was mindful when choosing gear -- using class d amps where possible etc.

The only exception will be the gear for the dedicated theater -- I'll be using some beefy amps for there -- but then again, they won't be in use all of the time.

My guess is you will only need some cab-cools or similar.

If the room heats up you will need to cool the room.

How big is the room?
How hot does it get?
How many BTUs of equipment are you trying to dissipate?

In many cases, a split A/C unit would do great job of handling this sort of dilemma.

1) Stop using the Slim 5. NEVER EVER use it.

2) You need to close the sides and back, and force vent with an intake fan panel in the bottom 2-3 spaces (FP2/3 or QFP2 suggested). If you already have something drawing out the top, you don't need another panel to pull.

3) For this to work, you're going to have to make sure the front of the rack is fully sealed. That means custom rackshelves, tight fitting rack mount equipment, or the security plexi panels over gear you can't do that to. You want to ensure cold air comes in the bottom (and nowhere else) and chimneys out the top (and nowhere else) - somewhere else causes a "short circuit" and defeats your cooling.

PS Stop using the Slim5 immediately.

77W is right. If you're going to ventilate a rack, that means you're going to create a pathway for air to go into the rack and go out of the rack and provide a means to make the air do that. For ventilation that you do on purpose, you need closed sides and back and openings specifically placed for air to come in or go out.

Let's assume you'll have sides. OT, but: sides, because of their cost, indeed make the Slim5 not a great choice. Moving on... you were going to force the air out of the top of the rack. Do it just as you would with a foot of ceiling space; just be aware that there will be a bit of resistance to air flow.

I think I have a much cooler idea, mostly because it's silly and outrageous yet will work. Do your purposeful forced ventilation as you had planned. Open up the ceiling above the rack. Make and install a sealed duct between the rack's upper opening and the ceiling opening. Some shiny aluminum would be just the corny Robbie-the-Robot touch. Somewhere else a couple of feet away, along the same joist space, open up the ceiling to let the air escape. Increase your forced ventilation to overcome the resistance this route offers. Insulation between the joists is a difficulty, but if the cellar is going to be kept warm for TV watching, there's little reason for heat insulation in its ceiling.

Take a look at what Middle Atlantic recommends:

[Link: middleatlantic.com]

Thermal management white paper is most informative.

You have an exhaust fan up top. Drill or cut out a hole in the top.

Seal up the rest of the rack. Side panels and a rear access panel or a rear door (not sure whats available for slim5).

Seal up the front with RSH shelves.

Front bottom of the rack use a 2U vented panel or front rack fan.

If budget wont cover this just cut the top out and leave the sides and back open. Looks like plenty of room in there so you might be okay. Hopefully that room doesn't turn into a junk drawer with crap stacked allover it.

I'd place the 4 fans blowing up at the top of the rack and dress the room-facing side with the optional panel and leave the wall side bare. Assuming you can space out your gear place comp coolers from MA or CC on the gear to blow across the chassis and out the rack either to the back or sides. That AD-8 keeps itself cool and it sounds like you just need to kill a rack space or two on a unit to cool your amp. I wouldn't close up that rack since you have a nice closet space to dissipate heat. This is also assuming that you're pulling air out of the room in the space above the rack.

I see no reason for concern with this rack. It is wide open. You are using cool running and self ventilated equipment. Is that vent pulling air out? That's what is needed.

Mac's re-wording of my post makes it so much clearer. :P

That vent is pulling through a chimney that is the whole room versus just the rack if you don't seal it up. You want to be cycling air through the rack, not ventilating the room. The room will survive.

I can't be expected to read things before commenting on them!

Simple:

1. Replace the platform you built with the Slim-5 skirted wheel base. This will drop the rack a bit lower and yield more space between the top of rack and ceiling.
2. Add the Slim-5 fan Kit to the top of the rack.
3. Doubt you will have any issues in your Ventilated room.