Strange question but getting desperate.

[CKF]

The study I use my system is in well ventilated with a 28" desk fan and also an additional 32" pedestal fan for "oh my god my face is melting" July/August days, the PC itself is in a space that's open on all sides with a minimum of a ten inch space between it and the nearest surfaces.

The system has WC for the CPU and seems to be just fine internally, the only problem being the heat being pushed out of the PC is "almost literally" killing me, it may not kill me directly but at this rate I'll put my face through the monitor which in all likelihood I wont survive.

I've never been one for 'warm' temperatures, friends and family joke about it so they paid me no attention when I asked them for advice, on recently visiting me some friends along with one of my brothers and my sister in law however were practically floored by the waves of heat hitting them when they opened the study door and so it is not my imagination or overly developed whatever etc, they all said something I cant' repeat here (well, its a public forum so presume I can't) followed by 'Have you looked at air conditioning?'.

As I'm in the UK I'm struggling to find much pertinent information that's up to date, for residential and accurate, the little dribs and drabs of info I have been able to obtain suggest two options.

#1, Portable AirCon unit intended for a single room.

#2, Proper AirCon unit fitted to the wall/window in the room.

Now #1, from what I've read these don't work all that well and due to the style of window frames in the building will be a complete and utter fluster to install, additionally if its not installed correctly and venting adequately it could in fact increase the average room temperatures, the very few prices I've seen around range anywhere from £100-£300 (the as quoted "Do not buy worthless range"), £300-500 (the as quoted "Works as long as you have the correct fitting/vent type of window") then the £500+ (the as quoted "If you are paying that you may as well get real AirCon")...

Now, onto type #2. Costs more money than is in gods checking account. Simply out of the question, I don't have that sort of scratch laying around to just spend.

Is there any advice, anything at all I may be able to do here? Any DIY tips anyone has picked up over the years, anyone familiar with the UK residential AirCon situation that can even point me in the right direction? Anything, anything at all...

MY FACE IS MELTING...:sweatdrop:

Additional, just to clarify, I live near Glasgow so weather is around about accurate for the region, from 14-18 degrees outside this week so its really not "that" hot here right now, sure its warmer than average but it is June after all and this is with two large windows in the room open and the desk/pedestal fans circulating air 24-7.

Actually, another example, I'm sitting here typing this at 04:19 because its fractionally cooler to get some work done right now. so... HELP PLEASE!

~Postscript: Ignore my avatar, that was taken in winter, I go through cycles, I'm far less furry at the moment.

 

[steaky360]

This may be a stupid suggestion, but is it out of the question to open the door/window to alleviate the problem? The problem with fans is that they don't cool the air, they just move it around. If you are sitting in a hot room with fans you will only end up blowing hot air around. Opening the window and door (even if just a 'crack') would allow cooler air to flow in from outside the room and out of the window.

If it is possible to, point the PC's exhaust (usually the rear of the PC) to the window that may also help by allowing the exhaust air to leave the room unhindered by your face/etc. This might help prevent the buildup of heat. Also if you've not already done so, switch off the radiators in that room. I know in the small bedroom my PC lives in, we never need to have the heating on if the PC is being used as it easily heats the room up to an unbearable temperature.

On the note of the air con units, I've not had any experience with them unfortunately so cannot really comment.

 

[CKF]

This may be a stupid suggestion, *snip for brevity*

Not stupid at all, it's much better to confirm. The two windows in the room are directly behind the PC, unfortunately as I touched on in the initial post these are an unusual design that either means they are fully opened inwards on hinges horizontally leaving a gaping 6'x4' (2x3'x4') hole in half the wall (to be honest too much comes in when open like this, bugs, general dust/funk etc in the atmosphere) or alternatively pivot hung so they only open about 6" to 7" away from the wall at the top (truly horrible design from my perspective), they are both open on the pivot to maximum more or less 24/7 with both fans (one either side of the room and across from the windows pointing in their general direction.

Also, just to confirm, with my aversion to heat in general the radiator in the room is/was completely turned off prior to the current situation.

 

[Boozad]

I'm surprised there's so much heat emanating from the PC, I wonder if there'd be any way of funneling the exhausted air towards the windows directly from the back of the PC, like on a tumble dryer?

 

[Karnor00]

In a previous house I had two computers running in a fairly small room. And I can testify that on a hot day, that room would get extremely toasty! We just toughed it out which probably doesn't help you too much.

A fan blown directly at you could help you feel cooler. But won't actually do anything to cool the room itself.

For portable air conditioning there are two types. The first are evaporative coolers - basically they cool the room down by evaporating a supply of cold water/ice. The water supply need to be refilled every day or so. They are cheap but they also don't typically generate a whole lot of cooling - this can work fine in an empty room, but may not do the job in a room with a fairly substantial heat source (your computer).

The second type of portable air conditioners actually transfer the heat elsewhere so they come with some pipes/tubes that expel the hot air. You put the exit of the tube wherever you want the hot air to go - out the window is typical, but it could just be to another room (but that room could then get pretty hot).

One of the key metrics to look for is how much btu cooling capacity the air conditioning unit has. The amount you'll need with depend on the size of room and how much heat the computer is given out. But at a rough guess you'd be looking at something with about 9000 btu of cooling capacity. Probably looking at around £250-400 price range for that kind of unit.

I used http://www.homebase.co.uk/webapp/wc...ay?langId=110&storeId=10151&partNumber=373186 for a while. It did the job pretty well but wasn't quiet - don't know if this is an issue for you. Also the exhaust hose is fairly short but this wasn't an issue for me where I had placed it.

 

[DeadEyeDuk]

So, i'm thinking skip this whole "room's too warm" malarkey and go straight to the source...

...so something like THIS might be just the ticket (yes I know its in the US, but just an example )

And I am only being slightly sarcastic

 

[halox]

Strangely enough I have the same problem and live just along the road near Bathgate. I have came up with 2 solutions to the problem.

The 1st is adding a ceiling extractor fan directly above the PC. This will only work however if the room the PC is in is on the top floor. Most ceiling extractor fans are so low power consumption they can be wired directly to the lighting circuit.

My 2nd solution was to make a portable duct much like you suggested with tumble drier hose.