New House, new project! heat issues installing a Comms rack in Cupboard

[newstuart]

I am moving into a new build house in 2 weeks time and am finally going to have the size to have the whole house systems I have always wanted.

I will post pics as soon as I get started but am at the initial planning stage at present, specificaly planning the home "hub".

I have 3 MCE PCs built up which will run the cinema, familly room and living room, one of these has 2.5 TB storage with all my films, music, pictures and Recorded TV on it. The Other 2 are simple set ups with tv cards and small hardrives, these record to a 500gb hardrive in the server. I am also buying 3 xbox 360s for the other bedrooms to access MCE and keep the kids happy.

I also have a home Automation PC running Mainlobby which will be set up to control lighting & Security via touchscreens in the walls, running networked "thin Clients" and a few tablet PCs.

Thats the background out of the way now the quesitons,

I was planning to place everything in the attic with IR, sound & DVI extenders to the rooms but do not like the idea of having to access the attic whenever I need to change something.

My idea is to use a cupboard in the upstairs hallway and get a network cabinet on castors to fit in there, i could then vent this through the roof to the attic space, possibly using a fan if need be.

The concern I have with this is the possible heat generated by 4 PCs, A UPS of some sort, 24 port router and modem.

Does anyone have any experience of using network cabinets in confinned spaces or perhaps offer any advice on if they think the heat will be a problem?

[liquid6]

I think that possibly that the sound/heat will both be major problems, although if you can vent to the attic it might just be the sound. I have a quite a bit of networking equipment (ccnp/ccie lab) that I had originally placed in a cupboard but due to the sound I had to move to the attic. The heat was quite amazing as well.

I would suggest that you possibly have the equipment housed in the attic, but have a console in a cupboard with console access (keyboard/mouse/monitor) using a KVM. That way you wouldn't have to be running up to the attic for every little mishap.

I know that I'm buying shed to house all of my networking equipment to get rid of the noise, to keep the wife happy and to not have to run up into the attic when I need to change something.


Just my 2 cents...

[newstuart]

Hi thanks for the advice, I thought heat may be an issue but had not really considered sound yet. I like the idea of using a kvm switch and leaving the rest in the attic, I will think investegate a little further along those lines

[mikenic]

Hi
I have converted a cupboard space to an equipment rack and to prevent the equipment overheating I have installed a bathroom vent system. Just a whirlygig on the roof ducted straight down into the top of the rack/cupboard. ie NOT into the ceiling space which can be hot as hades anyway.

I rang the manufacturers to ask if there was ANY possibility of leakage down the vent from outside and their engineer says there is no way water can get down there. Guaranteed.

The installation must be per their instructions though..... !

This has proven to be a good solution for me and after several severe storms I have had no bad experiences. And also, excellent temperature control in the rack.

Kind Regards
Mike