High-tech home

[VolkovBrad67]

Hi guys,

 

not too sure where to post this as I am working on a huge project and I need your inputs to help me out on multiple fronts.

 

Prelude:

I recently bought a house and I want to change the layout to better fit my needs. So I will be changing a few rooms, as you can see on the plan, I will be merging two rooms (top) together and use french doors with transparent glass in-between them. On the left I'll be the main computer room, with my computer desk (computer embedded in the desk) and servers. On the right it will be a video studio to film my YT videos.

 

The Cable Proximity Paradigm

First problem : The Internet cable is entering the house from the Elect. Panel section (bottom left on the plan). I need to route the cable to the Computer Room (top middle). The ceiling is closed so I can't route the cables there.

 

There are 3 options I can think of :

1. Route the cable from outside the house, all around from the bottom left to the top middle of the house.
2. Remove all the baseboards, route the cable at the bottom of the walls (not sure how I'd be able to go from the computer room to the other wall on the other side of the hall).
3. Use Powerline Ethernet.

The most elegant solution seems to be the Powerline adapters, however I haven't used them before and I don't know how reliable they are. From what I've seen on the net, the Extollo Communications LANSocket 1500 seems to be one of the fastest of the bunch. To better understand how I want to connect things, here's a simplified version of the network.

 

 

As you might have guessed, the Media PC / TV is in the living room, and the NAS is in the Computer / Server Room. In order to stream content to the Media PC, I need to go through the NAS (different room). I was thinking I could probably leave the modem and router in the living room, next to where the Internet comes in, and then use Powerline to get Internet to the switch and then the servers / NAS but then it would need to come back to the living room to the Media PC... So I was wondering, can you have multiple independent connections using Powerline ? I would need one to get Internet to the Switch and another one for LAN (switch back to Media PC) ?

 

 

The Power Draw Conjecture

Second problem: In the Computer / Server room, there will be a lot of stuff plugged in. I'm pretty sure a standard electrical room setup cannot accommodate like 1600Watt power drown or something like that. So I was wondering how do they usually tweak power in server rooms to make this work ? For example, in the LTT editing room, how do they manage to connect 5-6 computers, same for server room ? Can I upgrade the electrical panel to a higher amp service ? I'm guessing I would also need to upgrade the cables, that might be difficult since the walls are all closed.

 

The Doom Furnace Factor

The heat... I'm thinking having many servers / PCs in the same small space might be an issue. I don't know if it would be worth it to install some sort of "bathroom fan" in the wall right at the server rack exhaust ? I don't remember how they dealt with this in the server room at LTT. Usually that kind of warm air is also very dry and not very good quality, that's why I was thinking it would be better if I could exhaust it outside right away. Any thoughts on this ?

 

I have more questions (e.g. I will be making a custom desk with a computer in it so...) but I will limit myself to this for the moment. I might also make a 3D rendering of the house with all the new furniture and server / computer setup, we'll see if I have time to finish it within the next month or so.

 

Thanks !

[0ld_Chicken]

this is hard to believe coming from someone with a spongebob icon

doesn't look like a blueprint of a pineapple though 

[Weak1ings]

First off, assuming this is the whole house,  One Bedroom?????  Next, Unless you have the servers technically outside, you will be heating or cooling the outdoors by venting out there. increasing your utilities significantly.

Is there no attic for cable routing or is there a second story?

[Inception9269]

Curious as to what you used/where you made that blueprint of the house?

[0ld_Chicken]

 

Hi guys,

 

not too sure where to post this as I am working on a huge project and I need your inputs to help me out on multiple fronts.

 

 

Thanks !

as far as cable routing,  If it is like my cable connection, I would try and take it straight around the outside since the box is outside it should't be too difficult unless you have a solid set of concrete stairs connected to the house on that top left entry to the kitchen. 

 

as far as the exhaust fan to get server exhaust, I think it could be a really good idea depending on how much heat and airflow the server putting out (sounds like 1600w, probably be a good idea in that case) but like the other guy said, any exhaust fan will probably increase your houses utilities a bit in the heating season (if you have one, depending on location) but I'm sure it'd be small enough to be no problem at all, it'll probably even save you a few dollars a month or more during the cooling season (if you have one).  some of them can be really noisy though so make sure to buy a good one, they make variable speed models and some are really pretty quiet even at a full ~80ish cfm.  I've installed 5-9 bath fans a week for a few years now (along with many other things) and they are kinda a pain if there is drywall in place but it is definitely not impossible. making a hole inside and then outside in the same joist space, running 3 or 4" flex pipe between and then running line voltage power and a switch for it, which would be the real kicker.  I guess you could just run a wire from around the server area and have it hidden pretty easily.  

 

I'm not really sure about the power draw issue, I know that 1600w is about 13.33amps and a lot of US residential breakers are 15 but I'm not an electrician.

 

PS: nice post!  and congrats on the house

[VolkovBrad67]

First off, assuming this is the whole house,  One Bedroom?????  Next, Unless you have the servers technically outside, you will be heating or cooling the outdoors by venting out there. increasing your utilities significantly.

Is there no attic for cable routing or is there a second story?

"Forgot" to mention that this is a duplex. I own 50% of the building, which includes all the bottom floor and that's what is shown on the plan. So yes I only need one bedroom and I can't use the attic obviously as this is the bottom floor. The ceiling also has double drywalls.

Curious as to what you used/where you made that blueprint of the house?

Autocad

as far as cable routing,  If it is like my cable connection, I would try and take it straight around the outside since the box is outside it should't be too difficult unless you have a solid set of concrete stairs connected to the house on that top left entry to the kitchen. 

 

as far as the exhaust fan to get server exhaust, I think it could be a really good idea depending on how much heat and airflow the server putting out (sounds like 1600w, probably be a good idea in that case) but like the other guy said, any exhaust fan will probably increase your houses utilities a bit in the heating season (if you have one, depending on location) but I'm sure it'd be small enough to be no problem at all, it'll probably even save you a few dollars a month or more during the cooling season (if you have one).  some of them can be really noisy though so make sure to buy a good one, they make variable speed models and some are really pretty quiet even at a full ~80ish cfm.  I've installed 5-9 bath fans a week for a few years now (along with many other things) and they are kinda a pain if there is drywall in place but it is definitely not impossible. making a hole inside and then outside in the same joist space, running 3 or 4" flex pipe between and then running line voltage power and a switch for it, which would be the real kicker.  I guess you could just run a wire from around the server area and have it hidden pretty easily.  

 

I'm not really sure about the power draw issue, I know that 1600w is about 13.33amps and a lot of US residential breakers are 15 but I'm not an electrician.

 

PS: nice post!  and congrats on the house

Thanks for you advises. Another thing I should mention is that the house is insulated using the new rigid extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam + concrete. That makes it a bit more difficult to install a fan on the wall, but I've asked my contractor and he said it "can be done". However I'm not sure if that would be a problem later on if I want to sell the house...

[VolkovBrad67]

The Power Draw Conjecture Conclusion

 

So in case somebody else would be wondering, 1600W is indeed too much power draw for standard electric wiring within a room. The solution to this is to use two breakers with increased amp (20A instead of the standard 15A). You can't use standard cables either (those that are usually wired for 15A as they can't sustain that much power draw, so you need 3/12 yellow cables (see picture). Unfortunately it could be a problem if your walls are all closed, I had to open mine to route the new cable and once the dry walls are installed there is no more turning back. Hope that will also help somebody else.