Cool Components: Computer installed in a desk and generating heat which needed to be vented

Customer has a computer in a cabinet and the cabinet had a computer fan installed but it was ineffective and loud. This is going to be addressed in more detail further below because the customer wanted to address this in the most aggressive way - read further down for full coverage of this particular issue.

This is a very demanding situation because that computer is generating A LOT of heat in a very confined and poorly vented space. Even though it does not have a door, it is still considered poorly vented.

Hi Adam and you are correct on the value of a pic! I had to look back at the pic a couple of times because of how tight the computer is in the cabinet - you definitely have a situation on your hands! One question I had though is if that fan was blowing air in instead of pulling it out? You definitely need to exhaust a significant amount air as that is a lot of heat being generated and in a very tight space. Venting to the 'leg' area is definitely where you want to vent to but now I'm not sure what size hole you are dealing with. The main product you need to look at is the HiFlo Lite unit - http://www.coolcomponents.com/HiFlo-Lite-Vent--Black-wPower-Supply_p_8-206.html. This will aggressively vent the cabinet. You do need to ensure that it is not simply pulling air from a nearby hole for wiring as the best case scenario is that air is being drawn in from the front opening and this way you should get decent airflow around the computer in general. You may also want to use the Advanced Temperature Controller and I am going to caution you that any single fan may not be a 'cure all'. This may require some strategically placed fans and for example, some computers have an air exhaust coming straight out the side so if this does, you may need another fan helping that air exhaust prior to heating the entire cabinet. At the same time though, the HiFlo Lite will move a lot of air and it will be much quieter for you.

If this had had a door on it, the response would have been the same as a lot of air can enter a cabinet through a small gap. Another side note is to also keep wiring neat and organized, you can see the mess in the leg area which likely means that there is mess behind the computer which further restricts good airflow.

The customer ended up not wanting air blowing on his legs which would have been the easiest solution. He was not adverse to a much more extreme solution. We came up with the idea to call in an HVAC contractor and install a 4x8 register box behind the cabinet and connect it to a return in the HVAC system. By using a standard 4x8 register box, our HiFlo Basic system can be installed into it and that would move a significant amount of air and disperse it through the HVAC system. This is the absolute best way to resolve this and many other situation but it's going to entail cutting into walls, etc. Another option, but not in this situation, is if there is a hallway or larger room on the other side of the wall, you could vent straight through the wall into the other area.