Setting up hallway coat closet to use as a media closet. I will have cable box, router, receiver, xbox, and PS3 in the closet. What is the best solution for ventilating the closet to prevent the components from overheating? Would a bath ventilation fan be sufficient? Perhaps there is a better solution? TIA

Assuming that they are put in there spaced out like on shelves or something with no fan obstruction I would think they'd be fine by themselves. Just don't stack them into a tower to be safe.

If the door will be closed most of the time I WOULD add ventilation regardless of how you stack the equipment. That collection of equipment probably generates/dissipates in the range of 500W. A bath ventilation fan would do the job but every one I have heard is ridiculously noisy.

I would look for an A/V cabinet ventilation kit or make your own equivalent from computer parts.

Remember that if you have fans that exhaust air, you need to be sure there is sufficient area for air intake.

[This message has been edited by SpicewoodAg (edited 8/15/2012 8:44a).]

None of those things put out a ton of heat really, so I think you'd really be fine with no ventilation.

If you really want to put something in there though, a standard exhaust fan would be perfectly sufficient.

Can you put an air conditioning vent in the ceiling? If so, put a vent in the door and you are virtually guaranteed to never have to worry. But that may also be overkill.

My Scientific Atlanta DVR ran pretty warm. XBOXs are known to have heat related problems. A receiver that has 5 channels of amplification could need to dissipate 200W or more of electricity.

A DVR, XBOX, and PS3 are essentially mid-range computers. Any of them could idle at 25W, and go higher when active. Only the router in that list is a low wattage unit.

quote:

---

A bath ventilation fan would do the job but every one I have heard is ridiculously noisy.

---

Go to Home Depot, they have a big fancy chart and rating system in the bath vent fan section that has them rated by noise level. I bought one for a bathroom remodel last year that is virtually noiseless, and still moves a decent amount of air.

Parents have a similar set up in their house using a hallway closet that's about 5x5 and it gets HOT! They leave the door open because there's a door to the room they can close (ps3 fan is loud), but if that's not an option you will need ventilation. I'd consider one low that pulls air into the closet and one high that pushes hot air out.

Building on tfunk02's idea, you might be able to get away with a vent in the door near the bottom to pull air in (passively) and an exhaust fan in the ceiling.

99cent, are you serious? Every one of those things generates pretty good heat. Considering that closets don't have AC vents in them, it's gonna get pretty darned hot with no ventilation.

There is really no reason to use a fan to pull air into the closet. One intake and one exhaust fan moves the same amount of air as one exhaust with an intake vent of the same size.

In other words push/pull fans move the same amount of air as one fan.

General rule of thumb is the intake area should match the exhaust area. If you want to use two fans, make them both exhaust fans. Take 1/2-1 inch off the bottom of the door. That adds 12-24 sq. inches of intake area to what is already there. That is about the area of one 120mm square fan.

quote:

---

99cent, are you serious? Every one of those things generates pretty good heat.

---

Yes, I'm serious. If it were a tiny, tight-fitting spot, then sure. But a closet? Heat will dissipate fast enough that it will most likely never get too hot in there.

I have a HD DVR, router, mini PC, receiver, and a Wii all inside an enclosed space. Temperature never feels warm when I open up the door.

quote:

---

There is really no reason to use a fan to pull air into the closet. One intake and one exhaust fan moves the same amount of air as one exhaust with an intake vent of the same size.

---

I never claimed to be an engineer! ;-)

99cent, you're wrong and I know that from personal experience. Parents closet: 5'x5' with 10' ceiling... Denon receiver, modem, router, 2 drive NAS, PS3, and Scientific Atlanta cable box. The room gets SCORCHING hot if you don't leave the door open!

My closet: 8'x5' with a 9' ceiling... Denon receiver, PS3, XBOX, Apple TV, Power conditioner, gigabit switch, and a record player. I would be scared to leave the door closed for more than 15 minutes. It gets REALLY hot and I'd never have it all on at once.

quote:

---

99cent, you're wrong and I know that from personal experience.

---

No, you're wrong and I know that from personal experience.

Seriously, I'll go home and stick a thermometer in my closet for you tonight and post it.

Hell, my server room at work doesn't even get SCORCHING hot even if I shut off the portable AC unit in there. The portable AC went out over a weekend a while back and it was only ~85* in there come Monday. And that's a rack of 15 servers, a few rack-mount SANs, 5 UPS devices, four switches, and a router.