- Move those monster heat producing folding rigs out of house, so that I might be able to afford the air conditioning electric bill during the summer. For more details check my other thread Uncle!! Power Company you Win!
- Rack design that would accommodate large air flow. (Air temperature in the garage was going to get hot, so I was thinking a 20in box fan would be a good start.) - Accommodate a Keyboard, Monitor and Mouse for basic maintenance - Needed UPS, one for the frequent power outages but secondly I may need to move it across my garage and wouldn't want to shutdown the whole rack. - Keep Cheap but Practical
$0 - 6 2x4x8 Standard lumber ($2.75 per, I had on-hand) $0 - 3/4 x 49 x 97 S11 White Thermally-fused Melamine (Only need ~24.5in x 34in) ($36 for sheet, I had on-hand) $9 - 2 - 1/2 in. x 2 ft. x 4 ft. Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) Handy Panel ($8.87 per, had one on-hand)
$16 - Lasko 20 in. 3-Speed Box Fan ($15.96 per) $10 - 1/4 in. x 48 in. x 96 in. Tempered Hard Board "Masonite" (~$10 for sheet) $24 - 4 - 4" Cast Iron/Molded Rubber Swivel Caster ($5.99 per) $33 - 2 - Crown Bolt 1-1/2 in. x 72 in. Steel Plain Slotted Angle ($16.48 per) $7 - Grip-Rite #8 x 2-1/2 in. Coarse Steel Bugle-Head Phillips Drywall Screws (1 lb. Pack) ($6.47 Box) $4 - 18 Zinc Plated 1/4 in x 1-1/2 in. Hex Head Lag Screw (~$4 individual screws from the Hardware section) $10 - Pint Discounted / Returned Paint
------------ $113 - My out of pocket cost
- Still debating getting a USB KVM switch. - Add Cable management, I want to run everything for a few weeks before zip tieing things down. - Add additional rack mountable UPS. - Make a besizel around the UPS (UPS fits 19in rack size, where this rack is 21.5in) - Add window screen doors to front and back, mostly to keep dead bugs from collecting within the rack.
I got a good deal on the 4in castor, but they scream overkill. I didn't get locking one, it wasn't a big deal until I went to slide in the 75 lbs UPS. I would reconsider all 3in casters and with 2 locking one.I really wanted the rack on UPS, but I could easily run >560W per rig. To use a single UPS, I would have had to step up to a 2200 VA system, requiring special 20A circuits, plugs and I'm not sure they even make a 20A extension cord. I really didn't look into that much, probably so have spent more time on it.I debated the rack height the most. Taking Casters (5 inches), 2 UPS (8 inches), 1 box fan (21 1/2 inches), the rack would only be ~38 inches tall, easily working for 2 servers with tall CPU coolers but offer no room for growth. I add another 12 inches for one more shelf and some space for a KVM switch and anything else needed. The issues is the top shelf isn't able to utilize the box fan, and I'd need to create something to really use it.Since the box fan in the front of the rack, block easy access to the shelves, I have all the motherboard connections toward the back of the rack, this caused some issue with the length of the PSU cables so my 4P shelf isn't laid out as well as I would have like. Maybe some cable extensions or adding a few inches of length to the shelf, could correct it.Testing this rack in July certainly keep me watchful. Temperature here has been close to 100F for the better part of 3 weeks now. Garage temp is running about 96F when I get home from work (w/ 12ft ceiling and attic ladder cracked open). I'm looking at adding an attic fan to help pull the heat out of the garage.
notfordman Looks nice and solid. I was gonna ask how hot your garage is, I know mine is h o t. Good job man!
tanner2 Against code to have garage access to your house heating system. Fumes.
nikkocortez Just wanted to read through it one more time.... I would HIGHLY suggest that if you do enclose this rack that you make a filter system for it if its in the garage. You don't want dust and debris piling up in there from wood cutting or any other projects and such. I would think some cheap home air filters would work.
z3r0t0l0rence This looks to be the most efficient. http://www.walmart.com/ip/KuulAire-Portable-Evaporative-Cooling-Unit-with-175-sq-ft-Cooling-Capacity-Black-PACKA44/20469117 Spec sheet. http://www.kuulaire.com/files/pdfs/2012/05/10//PACKA442012.pdf 115w max so this seems to be the most efficient one that I've found. Honestly I've used one of these a long time ago in my garage to which cooled the air while working on my car. Wasn't like drastic but did work for what I used it for. Just have to keep an eye on the water level. Doesn't really put humidity in the air.
Gratuitous nice looking rack! a couple thoughts, if you ever need more space build it so a second box fan can cool the top half. also I wouldn't try evaporative cooling like the link. you would have to have that blowing right on the equipment because it only cools 150sq ft. you garage is probably more like 500 squr feet and you said high ceilings. if you blow that right on your equipment, you may get damage from the high humidity they create close to the unit.
wrinvert bowlinra nice idea and setup. are you able to turn the cpu coolers so they push with you box fan instead of at a 90'? it might cool just alittle bit better if you can.
Afterburner Just checking in with you on this... Still happy? I have two servers inbound and am debating how or what to do for a rack...
cp256 I think it's a great idea to put the heat into the garage instead of the house during the warm months. I wish it was practical for me to do that, but the garage is 80 feet away, not lockable atm and easily hits 45c/113f on the warmer days of summer.