# Gear room and server cabinet cooling



## duder1982 (Aug 28, 2012)

I have this plan to shove my gear in a server rack, and then under the stairs. I have installed an exhaust fan in the room which will force are through ducting and into another room, it will be controlled with a temperature switch which will kick it on at a set temp(any temp setting recommendations needed). 

I recently picked up a server cabinet which has a door, back and all the sides. I have removed the back for easy access to run the cables, but should I remove the sides as well. Also would adding a fan on top of the sever rack help, if so what would you recommend? There appears to be a place I could mount a fan of some sort and wanted to see what you all recommend. 

Thanks


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

I would leave the sides on if it were me and add the fan on the top. That lets you better use the natural convection effect. If you take the sides off then not really much point in a fan on top as the heat won't likely build up as bad and just venting the room would be sufficient.

Just my 2 cents.


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

I agree with Bryan. You want the enclosure to act like a chimney, not a highway underpass.

Does removing the sides compromise structural integrity of the rack? It might if you have a lot of heavy gear mounted in it, especially if everything is skewed towards the upper "slots". You might want to consider waiting until all the gear is mounted to see if the heat generated warrants forced cooling. In any case, mount heavy-hitters like power amps above other gear so the heat doesn't meander its way through them.


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## DqMcClain (Sep 16, 2015)

The more panels you remove from the rack, the less control you'll have over the airflow. Rack mounted equipment is generally designed to have a specific airflow direction, and when setting up a rack and choosing gear, one of the considerations (often ignored) is to verify that all your components that will be sharing the rack have the same direction of air flow. If you have back-to-front gear mixed with front-to-back gear, essentially you have created a thermal feedback loop. 

The consensus in the thread so far is to leave panels in place, and I agree wholeheartedly. The next question is the direction of airflow of your components, which will tell you which way you need to move air through the top of the rack. 

If your airflow through components is front-to-back, the the top fan must move air out. If component airflow is back-to-front, the top fan must move air in.


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## duder1982 (Aug 28, 2012)

Thanks for the info folks,

Now just down to two questions.

One, any good fans to mount to the top if needed,

second how do I tell if they are front to back or back to front air moving. 

Thanks again


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## gordon lane (Aug 29, 2015)

Equipment cooling is so important and I did a lot of research on cooling fans and i found a factory direct company that specializes in equipment cooling. Go to http://www.acinfinity.com there products are very good and very well priced.


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## duder1982 (Aug 28, 2012)

Thanks gordon for sharing that site, that is just what I need.


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## duder1982 (Aug 28, 2012)

duder1982 said:


> Thanks gordon for sharing that site, that is just what I need.


Funny the only way i could respond is by quoting. 

Anyways, i have recently added a behringer inuke to my system for subwoofer duty. This particular unit has a fan that appears to blow out towards the front. Everything on the rack seemed pretty cool. This got me thinking, if i dont intend to have a whole lot of gear, what are the chances it wouldn't get that warm in there. Now i do plan on removing two pro power amps and adding a media server. So i will still plan on the exhaust fan blowing air out of there. At least it will be there for back up.

But for now I am running cool, i might see of there is a quite fan mode for the Behringer though it doesn't seem to be to noisy at this time. We will see.


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## ArthurMorg34 (Sep 19, 2021)

duder1982 said:


> But for now I am running cool, i might see of there is a quite fan mode for the Behringer though it doesn't seem to be to noisy at this time. We will see.


Hi there, are there any results?


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## JuliaS (8 mo ago)

duder1982 said:


> I have this plan to shove my gear in a server rack, and then under the stairs. I have installed an exhaust fan in the room which will force are through ducting and into another room, it will be controlled with a temperature switch which will kick it on at a set temp(any temp setting recommendations needed).
> 
> I recently picked up a server cabinet which has a door, back and all the sides. I have removed the back for easy access to run the cables, but should I remove the sides as well. Also would adding a fan on top of the sever rack help, if so what would you recommend? There appears to be a place I could mount a fan of some sort and wanted to see what you all recommend.
> 
> Thanks


I've bought a rack already with a cooling fan and with no sides. As far as I remember, It's called like open-frame model. I've found it on this site and glad that could find a cooling equipment here as well. Maybe it will be useful for you too, it makes no extra hassles.


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