# ventilation in equipment cabinet



## steve1234 (Sep 13, 2007)

I'm not an expert, so take this for what it's worth.....

The air needs to flow through the cabinet (inlet and outlet). So just blowing air into the cabinet without an outlet would not be that efficient just as blowing air out of the cabinet without an inlet. 

My understanding is the answer is based on the position of the inlet, outlet and fan. I'm currently remodeling my house and have the same issue. My stereo stuff is going in the lower part of a built in cabinet. I am running a duct out the back of the cabinet and up through the wall and vent out the top of the cabinet. The lower opening for the duct will be placed near the top of the stereo component bay. My fans will be in the back of the cabinet blowing out. The front of the cabinet is my air intake. My theory is the warm air near the back of the cabinet will be forced out into the vertical duct. Warm air rises to help the flow up the duct. This will also draw the cooler air from the front of cabinet which will pass over the stereo components. The warm air rising through the duct will create a convection flow aided by the fan. In my scenario blowing air from the duct into the cabinet would not be nearly as efficient.......make sense??


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## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

http://www.sportsimportsltd.com/19ramocofans.html
http://www.activethermal.com/System_2_Family.htm


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## renfrey (Oct 1, 2007)

Or you could go totally hardcore and actually cool the cabinet.

Get yourself a thermoeletric device (search on ebay for thermoelectric), a heatsink, and a quiet fan. Do a little reading on the net on diy thermoelectric coolers. Hook them up with power (usually 12 or 24v) and link to a trigger in your stereo and presto....you have yourself a really really trick cabinet for your equipment, which has its own AC unit.

This is the same technology that is used in the little electric coolers you can buy in most large stores.

A while back I bought a couple from partsexpress. They were recovered from used electric coolers, and had heatsinks already attached. I had good intentions to build a cabinet incorporating them....but never got around to it.


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## Randell Tarin (Jan 19, 2008)

I had to do a custom build for my equipment and created a cabinet that would take advantage of natural convection.

The back of the cabinet is open at the bottom back about 6". This does two things: 1) It allows easy access to the back of my receiver and 2) It allows for cooler air to enter the cabinet.

The shelf right above my receiver has about a 2" clearance with the front of the cabinet and is flush with the back.

The shelf right above this has about a 2" clearance in the back and is flush with the front.

The next shelf up is like the first, it is flush with the back, but the back is open behind it. 

As the air is heated by the components, it rises and goes out the top and, in the process, draws cool air in through the bottom.

It works like a charm and I don't have to have a noisy fan running all the time.


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