Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Cooling My A/V Closet

Panasonic makes really great and quiet bathroom-type fans.

I like Mark's idea.

Crap, I said that out loud, didn't I?

Neener-Neener.

You owe me a dinner at the Olive Garden and a can of Old Milwaukee.

I can recommend the portobello mushroom ravioli and chocolate chip cheesecake.

I do live in Austin, TX... where it's hotter than he$$ most of the year, but it gets cold enough for part of the year for me to worry about the condensation issue.

Cutting a hole in a wall - no problem for my carpentry skills ("Carpentry" being very loosely defined), cutting a hole in the roof however is probably beyond me.

I'd have to sell the wife on cutting vent holes in the door... not sure if I'm going to win that argument. Lots of good ideas here though, now I have some options to consider. Thanks all.

Whatever you do, remember that the idea is to draw hot air out rather than blow cool air in. For this to be effective you need a second opening which will allow cooler air to be drawn in as the hotter air is expelled. Cold air is heavier than hot air. So, an intake opening near the floor allowing cooler air in, and a fan near, or in, the ceiling to expel the hot air would work best.

I'm considering just putting the fan right above the rack in the wall which is where all the heat is generated and blowing it out into the attic... The condensation thing has me a little worried though. It's cold so rarely here that I don't think that'd be an issue, but I don't want to rot my roof out over this project!

As far as the cool air intake, I haven't solved that yet... There is an opening under the door (about 1/4 of an inch)... I imagine that's not going to be enough, though with one fan actively sucking air out, that's the only other input source for air... so, would that work?

I don't think you ave much to worry about in your neck of the woods so far as moisture build up i the attic like I do up here.

If it were me, I'd like to see a larger opening of some sort. A larger opening would speed the process of replacing warm air with cooler air. Though not ideal, the 1/4 inch x 2 or 3 feet opening just might be enough. Try it to see. I'm not a physics genius, but I think, as long as there is some way of replacing the air being drawn out, you'll achieve the goal.

The stars appear to be aligning... I ran into a good buddy of mine tonight, told him about my heat problems in the closet and he told me he has a client (he's an accountant) whom he knows well that does A/C duct work. Looks like I have a trusted contractor to at least talk to about the project. I want to see how much it's going to cost to do this the right way, maybe with an A/C duct in and a vent out to the roof.

I don't expect I'll do this immediately, but definitely before the 110 degree Summer weather hits in Austin.

One thing to keep in mind is that any dust hanging out by the floor of the door will be sucked up and into the closet by the exhaust fan. If you do put in a vent, leave room for a filter on the rear of the vent to catch the dust.