Make a hole in the wall?

[AT0MAC]

I have two of my computers, the gaming rig and a workstation, installed in my home build IT closet here in the house.

That means, it can get a little warm in the small office because there is very limited airflow in the closet (temps are good, it just gets a little too hot for me, not the actual hardware).

 

I'm thinking of making a 120mm hole in the wall to the outside, there are some wooden panels right under the ceiling and before the stone walls start, so can easily make a cut there and install a small grill to not get insects and other things in. The hole would be made in the closet itself, as in on a shelf area above the computers, so no direct air into the systems bot more like passively cool it off in general.

Made a quick 3D sketch of how the closet look and the two computers in it, big box is gaming rig, slim box is a hp workstation. the round holes are cable cutouts and the square one in the outer wall is the one not made yet.

 

As I live in Denmark were we have a range of temperatures from about -5 in winter to +30 degree C in summer, I don't know if this is a good or a bad idea.....

 

I'm not real worried of condensation, more like the humidity im thinking of.

[Bananasplit_00]

I would run an exhaust fan like Linus has in his attic, should be an optimal solution as long as noise isn't a major problem because they can get quite loud

[W-L]

1 minute ago, AT0MAC said:

I have two of my computers, the gaming rig and a workstation, installed in my home build IT closet here in the house.

That means, it can get a little warm in the small office because there is very limited airflow in the closet (temps are good, it just gets a little too hot for me, not the actual hardware).

I'm thinking of making a 120mm hole in the wall to the outside, there are some wooden panels right under the ceiling and before the stone walls start, so can easily make a cut there and install a small grill to not get insects and other things in. The hole would be made in the closet itself, as in on a shelf area above the computers, so no direct air into the systems bot more like passively cool it off in general.

Made a quick 3D sketch of how the closet look and the two computers in it, big box is gaming rig, slim box is a hp workstation. the round holes are cable cutouts and the square one in the outer wall is the one not made yet.

As I live in Denmark were we have a range of temperatures from about -5 in winter to +30 degree C in summer, I don't know if this is a good or a bad idea.....

I'm not real worried of condensation, more like the humidity im thinking of.

Due to the temperature differences you will get some condensation so it's not ideal for the components if you bringing n cold air into the closet. You could have it so it takes fresh air from the room into the closet via a vent in the door or louvers then directly exhaust the hot air outside. 

[AT0MAC]

What if, lets say I made the "vent" outside the closet or in the other end of the room, would that be an issue for the hardware?

I know the easy solution to all this is just opening a window, but my house is locked down from end to end due to all the high-tech things we own in the family, so its much easier to build around the issue.

 

I would really not like to use my attic for anything related to cooling as there is much much hotter up there in summer than the actual outside, its concrete tiled roof and wood ends, so its a real heat trap. there are some small spaces between tiles and under the lowest end of the roof were it gets fresh air from, but takes quite some hours into the night on a summer day before its cool up there.

[W-L]

5 minutes ago, AT0MAC said:

What if, lets say I made the "vent" outside the closet or in the other end of the room, would that be an issue for the hardware?

I know the easy solution to all this is just opening a window, but my house is locked down from end to end due to all the high-tech things we own in the family, so its much easier to build around the issue.

 

I would really not like to use my attic for anything related to cooling as there is much much hotter up there in summer than the actual outside, its concrete tiled roof and wood ends, so its a real heat trap. there are some small spaces between tiles and under the lowest end of the roof were it gets fresh air from, but takes quite some hours into the night on a summer day before its cool up there.

It would be best to not intake from the attic but to vent out into there since it gets so hot, as for poking a hole into another room that also works if you want to draw in fresh air to the closet. Just note that you must also have a way for the air to leave the closet, just having an intake and no way for the air to exhaust will not help in terms of cooling since there is no real air movement. 

[AT0MAC]

6 minutes ago, W-L said:

It would be best to not intake from the attic but to vent out into there since it gets so hot, as for poking a hole into another room that also works if you want to draw in fresh air to the closet. Just note that you must also have a way for the air to leave the closet, just having an intake and no way for the air to exhaust will not help in terms of cooling since there is no real air movement. 

So, if I made a "vent" to the outside in the opposite end of the room and a exhaust to the ceiling with a powered fan in, that should make a difference?

[W-L]

On 8/11/2017 at 6:07 PM, AT0MAC said:

So, if I made a "vent" to the outside in the opposite end of the room and a exhaust to the ceiling with a powered fan in, that should make a difference?

Yeah that would work bringing in fresh air to the closet and moving that hot air outside.