A Micro-A/C for a Server Closet? 76
DiZNoG asks: "I work from home and run two businesses from there. Sick of server and switch noise in my home office, I've been thinking of taking an old hallway closet that used to house the furnace (since moved) and turning it into a literal server closet for my various servers and networking gear. I have 4 servers and various networking gear and even a system for getting everything in and accessible worked out. Bonus, the room already has power and is perfect placement for my access point (already secured, thank you!) However, I am running into problems finding a small air conditioner for the size of room. It's literally 15 sq. ft. and maybe 100-125 cubic feet total. By my estimates that's something on the order of 150-250 BTUs (or less) with the hardware. Does anyone on Slashdot know of micro A/C units to keep such a small area in server friendly temperature efficiently? I did see this homebrew action, but I'm looking for much less maintenance."
Your estimation is probably wrong... (Score:5, Informative)
If you insist on AC, you probably want something like this: APC NetworkAIR AP7003 [apc.com] or more likely, some other (cheaper, but similar) portable AC unit with an exhaust hose from your local Wal-Mart.
Erm - multiply by three, not divide (Score:5, Informative)
Conversion factor: 1 KWH = 3412 BTU
Multiplying the average (not peak) wattage by 3.4 will get the BTU's per hour of cooling capacity.
cheap window AC with thermostat (Score:3, Informative)
Re:cheap window AC with thermostat (Score:3, Informative)
I have an AC like this in the office where I work. We're the desktop support group, so naturally we keep our door open so people will walk in and ask for help. This means we also air condition the hallway. For some reason, when run like this, the AC unit eventually fills up with water and starts spraying it all over our precious computers. Instead of choosing between water-free computers and a cool room, we got a fish tank pump, duct-taped some tubing on to
Re:cheap window AC with thermostat (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:cheap window AC with thermostat (Score:2)
What I meant is that for some reason the AC unit doesn't drain like it's supposed to.
Re:cheap window AC with thermostat (Score:1)
not true. you are confusing size with efficiency. you need a certain size in order to cool a certain amount of space effectively; too small and it never turns off, too large and it constantly turns on/off thereby shortening its life. you need a certain efficiency in order to save money.
it's just like buying a car and choosing the right engine for it. typically a smaller engine for better fuel efficiency, while a large
Re:Erm - multiply by three, not divide (Score:2)
Re:Erm - multiply by three, not divide (Score:3, Insightful)
Conversion factor: 1 KWH = 3412 BTU
Multiplying the average (not peak) wattage by 3.4 will get the BTU's per hour of cooling capacity.
That will give you the average cooling requirement, which will be exceeded when the system load increases, or when the systems are upgraded, etc.
Go with the peak load, or bad things will happen.
A/C units do have thermostats, you don't want to run it at its maximum capacity 100% of the time.
Re:Your estimation is probably wrong... (Score:2, Informative)
"vent hole" why? (Score:1)
Re:"vent hole" why? (Score:2)
Re:Your estimation is probably wrong... (Score:2, Interesting)
I mean, we are routing packets and not wood here, right?
Re:Your estimation is probably wrong... (Score:1)
there's probably already a chimney (Score:2)
Since the OP said that the closet used to house the furnace, there's probably already a chimney anyway. If it was an old furnace it actually lost some heat out the chimney, some of the fanciest new ones have cold exhaust, but either way, there's probably a duct ~5-6" in diameter that goes to the outside. It may have been plugged or blocked when the furnace was removed, but it's probably pretty easy to get to.
Since the servers probably don't produce all that
Four servers == one toaster (Score:1)
Re:Four servers == one toaster (Score:2)
If the AC is in the closet it has to be one of the little mobile "local" AC units that has an exhaust vent tube that goes somewhere else to take all the heat it generates away, otherwise it's just a heater. It would be a minor violation of thermodynamics to expect the AC to exhaust th
Practical and even easier (Score:2)
Re:there's probably already a chimney (Score:1)
They are likely to generate a fair amount. 4 or 5 kbtu/hr. If you use a fan, and draw air through a louvered door from a conditioned space, you will be using the main A/C to cool the make up air. So the cooling costs will be about the same (depending on the efficiency of the main A/C) in terms of power cost to run the A/C. The louvers will let most of the noise back into the room, which will negate most of the sound savings. Sound travels thru very small
Re:there's probably already a chimney (Score:1)
Louvers probably won't let that much noise back in, and a little baffling can probably take care of it if it's more than the OP wants. I've been in plen
Re:Your estimation is probably wrong... (Score:2)
As long as you're going to have a vent hole anyway, why not cut two? Put a big slow quiet fan in the top one blowing in, and an air filter in the bottom (or the other way around)?
This is the single most sensible suggestion that has been made on this thread. Use fans.
For that few BTUs (Score:4, Interesting)
Use the heat. (Score:3, Interesting)
If it was used for heating at one time perhaps you could use a fan to fee the air into the ducts in the winter months (assuming your winter months are like my winter months
Re:Use the heat. (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, what if the heat stays on for a long enough period of time, and the closet can't vent... or perhaps over time, each time the furnace fires up and shuts down, the closet warms up 1 degree or so... could be disaster.
Better to just flat out vent it to a storage room or somewhere that is can freely blow, and feed
Re:Use the heat. (Score:2)
We went with this package (Score:4, Informative)
Here's an idea (Score:1, Redundant)
my thoughts (Score:1)
In the winter, just vent the heat towards the room you spend the most time in.
In the summer, take in air in near ground level (if not prone to floods!) and venting it up and out by convection or just out the nearest wall if fan forced. A steady flow of air, even if it's humid and 90F will keep your servers pretty happy so long as the amount of air is sufficient. A muffin fan won't be enough, but a 6'' duct fan should do the trick.
A more "green" solution
Re:my thoughts (Score:2)
Re:my thoughts (Score:1)
Heh, seriously though if he's serving up terabytes maybe it's time to colo anyway.
Re:my thoughts (Score:2)
Re:my thoughts (Score:1)
bollocks (Score:2)
Re:my thoughts (Score:2)
I would be cautious about this solution, depending on the local air quality. Air conditioning isn't just for temperature control.
Re:my thoughts (Score:3, Insightful)
Find BTU/hr of your equipment (Score:1)
then get an a/c unit sized that big.
Instead of an aircon... (Score:3, Informative)
Maybe a small, portable A/C unit? (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm assuming that the through-the-window models won't help you, but one of the portable ones might. To pick one at random, consider this portable A/C unit [sears.com]. The advantage of something like this, as opposed to the window fans [smartbargains.com] that some others have suggested, is that it should come with an exhaust hose that you can channel to either the furnace's exhaust pipes, or to some other appropriate outlet elsewhere in your home. Something like that ought do do exactly what you need here.
Re:Maybe a small, portable A/C unit? (Score:2)
Tubwarmer! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Tubwarmer! (Score:3, Funny)
I do, Sir Tubwarmer, have a segmentation fault.
Re:Tubwarmer! (Score:1)
When that hot humid air from the server room hits the bottom of the cooler bathtub, and circulates around in there, you're going to get a nice crop of fungus growing, which will eat the wood, and ultimately, send your friend's wife, naked and wet, crashing through the floor.
Good idea to recover the heat, but without a dessicator, you'd be better off dumping the heat into living space, where the much larger room size will help mitigate any moisture problems.
Re:mnb Re:Tubwarmer! (Score:1)
This might work (Score:2, Interesting)
A/C Unit (Score:3, Funny)
http://www.hvacportablesystems.com/images/210airc
Check the RV market.. or vent it (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, you could vent it instead. Use just enough fan power (blowing into attic or out or whatever) to create a very small negative pressure - you don't want to AC the world. If you should need heat elsewhere, block off the vent, reverse the fan, and leave the door open. My dual AMD rig provides a nice 5 F. boost in the room it lives in.
RV air conditioner (Score:2)
Use the existing ductwork (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Use the existing ductwork (Score:1)
The catch is making sure your furnance fan cycles even when no heating/cooling is going on, check into controlling your furnance via computer interface. One could setup the system that the furnance fan is tripped based on the server closet temp!
Ductless split AC system (Score:2, Interesting)
I've done this in my house... (Score:4, Informative)
First I tried one of the portable units. Two caveats with them:
1. Get one that has TWO ducts, these suck in air through one to cool the condenser ("outside") coil, then blow the hot air out the other. I got one that had just one, which means it uses some of the room air to cool the condenser. Problem is, in my closet, that meant enough air was being sucked into the closet from the rest of the house that the unit effectively never shut off. Not desirable.
2. Be careful where you vent the exhaust. Many models now have a pump that dumps the condensate over the condenser coil to help increase the cooling. This means the exhaust air can be VERY humid, and you probably don't want to just dump that into your attic. (Oops... I did that...) Especially if it's cool outside (thus the attic is cool) you may wind up with a lot of water collecting in the insulation. So vent it outside!
I decided I wasn't happy with the way the portable worked, so I actually installed a mini-split. WAAAY too big for the room (it's 9000 btu and the room's about 6ft square) but with the application of some extra controls (I work for an HVAC controls company) I managed to keep the runtime reasonable.
You may be able to find smaller units - some people have suggested RV units, that might work better. Just be sure to get "low ambient" options if you live where it gets below 60 degrees outside, and you expect to need it during the winter. Otherwise, you'll be replacing the compressor after the first winter. Basic low ambient items are some heat tape wrapped around the compressor and a pressure switch that cycles the outdoor fan.
If your heat levels aren't too bad you might get away with just a bathroom exhaust vent in the ceiling. I bought a combo light/exhaust fan and replaced the closet's light. Installed a line-voltage thermostat on the wall, and now the exhaust fan comes on if the closet gets too hot. Make sure the closet door has a decent gap at the bottom to allow air in. Unfortunately, my heat load was high enough that the fan pretty much ran all the time...
We have a single-room household A/C (Score:2)
Re:We have a single-room household A/C (Score:1)
My experience (Score:4, Insightful)
I keep the house at 75-80 degrees, the closet has louvered doors, and heat has almost never been a problem. I ran into an issue once when something was wrong on the AMD and it would go to 100% CPU long enough to set off the alarm on the ASUS motherboard, but other than that, all 1/2/3 machines (at various times) have been humming along for over 3 years.
As for you, you might want to tap into the house's main AC and run a little 2-4" pipe for a bit of cooling, but that's as far as I'd go. I've had to replace a fan or two along the way, and one HD died, but that was an old (at the time) 6.8 GB IDE drive that probably had no business being in a 24/7/365 machine in the first place, so heat probably wasn't even the cause of that anyway. I haven't seen any more failures in that closet than I have with any other machine anywhere else in the house.
Laws of thermodynamics dictate that you can't put a window unit in there or anything (assuming this closet is not against an exterior wall)--that would heat up the rest of the house. IF you need cooling, run a duct from your existing AC. If you don't have AC at all, then a couple 6"-8" fans should move enough air. Assuming you don't have an airtight closet (louvered doors highly recommended!) you could have one or two fans drawing air up through the closet and exhausting into the attic.
Basically, think of the whole closet as being one giant computer case and plumb accordingly. And of course it wouldn't hurt to hit Radio Shack for a $20 digital indoor/outdoor thermometer to keep an eye on things.
I've got an idea... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I've got an idea... (Score:2)
Moisture wouldn't be a problem, would stay cool, the machines own cooling fans would keep the air circulating and minimize hot spots.
Plus you could keep some cans of beer in there too just because!
Forget AC (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Forget AC (Score:3, Funny)
Although you can probably do without the activated charcoal air filters and high pressure sodium lighting for your application.
Oh, and make sure you don't have any male servers in the closet - you don't want them to fertilise the females.
Re:Forget AC (Score:2)
Tie in to existing system? (Score:2)
Re:Tie in to existing system? (Score:2)
Be sure to also put in a filter so you're not returning dirty air to the house AC.
Thermal shock / condensation problem (Score:2)
This is not a major problem in a typical computer room because opening and cl
will it work? (Score:2)
Maybe a wine room AC system? (Score:2)
Down side is the price.
Super Simple (Cheap!!) solution (Score:3, Interesting)
Get an extra ATX power supply. Doesn't need to be real powerful or anything. Then purchase a couple of computer case fans. I'd get the 5.25" kind, because they spin slower and will last longer while still putting out a decent CFM rating.
Cut a hole about 1' from the bottom of the closet door. Mount a fan so that it blows the air in here. This is your intake. Put a filter on it if it makes you happy.
Cut another hole about 1' above the higest piece of equipment in the closet. Mount a fan so that it exhausts the hot air from the closet.
Connect both of the fans to your power supply and then set the power supply on a nice wood shelf. Connect power supply to the UPS that your equipment is running on.
Given the small load that you discussed, I would think that this setup would have you totally covered. You _MAY_ need to go to two sets of intake fans, but you should never need more than one exhaust.
Don't just set an AC in the closet, as that will actually raise the temperature.
Indistrial Electrical Enclosure Cooling Unit (Score:2)
You are way off on your heat load calculations. You should look at the electrical service in the closet. For electronic equipment, very near 100% of the electrical power ends up as heat. If you have one outlet rated at 15 amps then figure your max heat load to be:
15
Liebert has something like that. (Score:2)
It fit in a 2' square suspended ceiling, in place of a ceiling tile. It had a little output, about a 4" hose, blowing cold air.
No unit outside the building, not a split system. Not much wiring, not much power. It was weird. Blowing cold air into a server closet I was in. It made little noise. All self contained. Low capacity. I wondered what they did with the heat. Nothing it seemed.
Weird.
Liebert is of c
Re:Liebert has something like that. (Score:1)
Most buildings now use "plenum return" air, meaning there aren't return ducts to the main A/C units, they just suck air from above the ceiling. Each room has a grille in the ceiling that lets air from the room get back above the ceiling. This means the little A/C unit is effectively just dumping its heat into the air going b
Re:Liebert has something like that. (Score:2)
At home you could just get a $49 thermostatically controlled attic fan from Home Depot, that would take care of the problem of excess heat.
Hmm. Wonder where I could find one of those little Liebert units. Have to watch for a high rise being torn down.
Haier (Score:2)
I have crappy AC in my office, so I had to get a rigged AC system.
Haier has one that is about 30" tall, foot deep, two feet wide, maybe $350. Best part is, it evaporates the condensate in the exhaust so you don't have a drip pan to empty (like some other portable AC units or a wall unit). You do have to vent any cooling unit, so that will always be a problem. You can't just cool a room using electricity, the work is going to generate heat somewhere and that has to be vented.
Refridgerator (Score:2)
Re:Refridgerator (Score:2)
"Fridge" isn't short for refrigerator, it's short for Frigidaire, a early refrigerator brand name created from "frigid air".