Reciver cooling

[Hostility]

I have 2 120mm fans, built behind my receiver, blowing across the top of the receiver, that is plugged into my power center that is triggered from a 12v trigger on my receiver, and my plug in has a selectable voltage, so you can switch how many volts comes out, i have it at about 9v i believe which slows the fans down to a quiet but good speed. But im thinking of having them suck out to try out. The reason i dont have it sucking as the wall is close behind and didnt think it would work to well. I am eventually going to go with this Coolerguys 1U Bracket with Programmable Fan Controller / 2A PSU so i dont have to turn them on and off all the time, just does it automatically

 

[LAB3]

Interesting, I think all of the ones I've dealt with have only used push, and then a few custom high end ones with water cooling. I have to say I loved the water cooled ones

I liked our Thermaltake water cooling system too...... until I had to replace the pump motor two times in 8 months. You have to be carefull installing it, make sure it is mounted flush and in line with the pump.. Then we had a small water leak where the clear line attaches to the CPU
the cool looking green fluid was leaking from a small crack in the water line several inches from the CPU connection. Fried a expensive video card with memory on it. Never again will have water in my PC case again until I see them use better pump motors and thicker wall water lines.. or water lines made from better materials.

For my AVR/Amps I purchased a 6" fan from Walmart that has a clamp on like a cloths pin so I could clip on the cabinet shelf that is 6" above the AVR in the back and it blows air across the top of my AVR and out the front. Plugged it in the AVR 110 volt outlet. If the AVR is on so is the fan. 10 bucks and works great. I have several more of these fans for my vintage R2R to keep them cool.

 

[fuzz092888]

I liked our Thermaltake water cooling system too...... until I had to replace the pump motor two times in 8 months. You have to be carefull installing it, make sure it is mounted flush and in line with the pump.. Then we had a small water leak where the clear line attaches to the CPU
the cool looking green fluid was leaking from a small crack in the water line several inches from the CPU connection. Fried a expensive video card with memory on it. Never again will have water in my PC case again until I see them use better pump motors and thicker wall water lines.. or water lines made from better materials.

For my AVR/Amps I purchased a 6" fan from Walmart that has a clamp on like a cloths pin so I could clip on the cabinet shelf that is 6" above the AVR in the back and it blows air across the top of my AVR and out the front. Plugged it in the AVR 110 volt outlet. If the AVR is on so is the fan. 10 bucks and works great. I have several more of these fans for my vintage R2R to keep them cool.

Yes that does sound like a pretty bad experience with a water cooling system. To be fair none of the ones I've seen or played with were thermaltake. I tend to think a thermaltake water cooling system would be on the cheaper side for implementing a good water cooling system. Most of the ones I saw were like $500+ systems on computers with several times that in internal parts. Needless to say it was cool, but not something I'd be looking into for anything I do. Fans work just fine.

The fan clip is a good idea, but wouldn't be right for my purposes. Then again what I wanted to do was different then simply pulling hot air away from the top. I wanted to get localized cooling to where my AVR was hottest plus control the 3 fans that are in my pro amp. Now the AVR runs only slightly above room temp and the pro amp is nice and quiet

 

[LAB3]

Yes that does sound like a pretty bad experience with a water cooling system. To be fair none of the ones I've seen or played with were thermaltake. I tend to think a thermaltake water cooling system would be on the cheaper side for implementing a good water cooling system. Most of the ones I saw were like $500+ systems on computers with several times that in internal parts. Needless to say it was cool, but not something I'd be looking into for anything I do. Fans work just fine.

The fan clip is a good idea, but wouldn't be right for my purposes. Then again what I wanted to do was different then simply pulling hot air away from the top. I wanted to get localized cooling to where my AVR was hottest plus control the 3 fans that are in my pro amp. Now the AVR runs only slightly above room temp and the pro amp is nice and quiet

5 years ago when we built this full size tower Thermaltake was one of the upper end units. I just looked on their site and our old pump and radiators are not listed now. We had a 4chip CPU mother board then, wife was still a manager at a COMP USA store before they went belly up. As we got these parts at employee discount and still spent almost 3K in everything back then.
Man things have changed from back then. I think we have 5 fans in this tower now. And everything in it is different now... more $$ it never ends

I have aimed my fan in the rear of my AVR cabinet on the amp side so air Does go thru(and over the top) the side vents too.

 

[fuzz092888]

5 years ago when we built this full size tower Thermaltake was one of the upper end units. I just looked on their site and our old pump and radiators are not listed now. We had a 4chip CPU mother board then, wife was still a manager at a COMP USA store before they went belly up. As we got these parts at employee discount and still spent almost 3K in everything back then.
Man things have changed from back then. I think we have 5 fans in this tower now. And everything in it is different now... more $$ it never ends

I have aimed my fan in the rear of my AVR cabinet on the amp side so air Does go thru(and over the top) the side vents too.

Well that really sucks, especially when you had that much invested. I think things really have improved since then with water cooling. None of the units I've seen have had a major malfunction like that, but then again I'm only talking about a few of them (4ish). They were all done by the uncle of this guy I used to work with. He did great work and used he may have even built his own units, not sure about that, but I know he definitely never used any "supplied" parts like tubes. Totally custom stuff. Yea I completely understand the whole constantly changing part. It definitely never ends, but then again, if it did what would we do with ourselves?

That's interesting. Once my entertainment center is finished the setup will work perfectly I think. Fan controller controlling the two fans on top of the AVR pulling air up + the fans from the pro amp, then it will also control fans mounted to the back of the entertainment center as well pulling the hot our out of the back of the entertainment center. Thermally activated fans provide the whole hands free option so you set it and forget it, but I'm too much of an anal control freak to ever let such a thing have power over my fans

 

[Krusty Blade]

Or you could always try one of these beasts in your rack.

Active Thermal Management -The Cool-Stack ll cooling fans for home theater and audio-video

 

[Gordonj]

You could also take a look at the Middle Atlantic items for small racks in home systems.

The "COMP-COOL" is for single units that mounts directly on top of the unit to be cooled.
Middle Atlantic Products - Middle Atlantic Products Thermal Management Solutions

And the "CAB-COOLER" is for rack mounting.

These units have built in thermostats and therefore only turn on when necessary. Keeps the dust under control in the rack.

Gordon

 

[LAB3]

You could also take a look at the Middle Atlantic items for small racks in home systems.

The "COMP-COOL" is for single units that mounts directly on top of the unit to be cooled.
Middle Atlantic Products - Middle Atlantic Products Thermal Management Solutions

And the "CAB-COOLER" is for rack mounting.

These units have built in thermostats and therefore only turn on when necessary. Keeps the dust under control in the rack.

Gordon

Did you look at their Rotating Sliding Base that is in the Black metal Rack Mounts?? I have not priced anything but they have some smart features. I wish the back of my AVR was wired up that neat.
Louis

 

[Gordonj]

Did you look at their Rotating Sliding Base that is in the Black metal Rack Mounts?? I have not priced anything but they have some smart features. I wish the back of my AVR was wired up that neat.
Louis

Middle Atlantic makes some great rack stuff for sure! I really also like the ones that can go into the large entertainment units - fun stuff!
Middle Atlantic Power Products - ASR SERIES ADJUSTABLE SHELVING SYSTEM

List price for the 30" rack space version unit is around $650 with street being somewhere around $500.

Gordon

 

[Bryceo]

Okay well I got my fans finally they sent the wrong ones the first time so they sent me the ones I wanted with out Haveing to pay postage

 

[rcburn]

Fans

Parasound Z-Breeze has a 12 V trigger with a choice for instant or delayed shutoff. It is half-rack width. $150.

 

[fuzz092888]

I don't know why anyone would spend that much for component cooling.

 

[Adam]

I don't know why anyone would spend that much for component cooling.

Because it's a pretty nice form factor, and $150 isn't that much cash to some people.

I'm not saying that I'm one of those people.

 

[fuzz092888]

Because it's a pretty nice form factor, and $150 isn't that much cash to some people.

I'm not saying that I'm one of those people.

I'll always think it's silly to spend that much when you can accomplish the same thing for ~$45 and move more air with more flexibility, control, and upgradability.

However, I won't fault someone for getting one because a fan controller and a naked fan sitting on top of their receiver or amp looks ugly to them.

Even though I criticize, I secretly (or not so secretly) wish I was one of those people who could blow $150 on something silly like that and not have it mean anything.

 

[LAB3]

I will upgrade(when it quits) from my Walmart $12.00 6" plastic fan with the clip (cloths pin style) that I clamp on the back on the shelf above the AVR (5" of open air space) above it. And I aim it at the left side(gets warm,amps or power supply side) and top of the AVR blowing the hot air out the open from of my cabinet. You can't see it and on low it still blows hard enough I can play the AVR all day and it is cool. Now the down side.... I have to remove it every few months and dust off the fan and back and all of the AVR. I dust the top and sides every few days and use a can of air for my PC and blow out the the inside thru the vents when I do my dust maintance every few months. I am retired and the TV and the AVR are on 14 hours a day. We have a large German Shepard and dust and dog hair gets everywhere if I don't vacuum every day and dust from the dog going in and out his doggie door or the Grand Kids going in and out all the time. Will I spend $150.00 no but a $45.00 yes.