Best way to Cool off your folding farm?

[chungenhung]

Its only 80F these days and my room is HOT!!!
I live on the second floor of a 2 story apartment.
The super old AC unit (prolly 20 years) is going at full blast, and still the place is hot. Last year it was ok without the folding farm.... I am very concerned about the 100F days that are coming up in a month.
Since I do not own this place, I cannot just throw out the AC and change a new one, and cannot add more window AC to hang it off the window.
What is my best solution here?
If nothing works, I guess I would have to get a portable AC unit, and let the exhaust pipe go out the window.

[NoLimitssjca]

I have been considering a similar problem. I have my farm in my garage (don't want to heat up the house). After visiting NASA a week ago and looking at their wind tunnels (and mock-up) I believe that I can create a wind tunnel of sorts that should effciently move air through my farm. If the fan is on the exhaust side and the farm is in the smaller diameter tunnel, then the air should accellerate over the farm before before being run outside. If the intake is near the floor, I should be able to create a simple but effective chimney that will both cool the farm and exhaust the hot air.

[v00d00]

If you live alone, and no person or pet has unsupervised access to your PC, you might try my solution of removing the side plate of the PC and aiming a strong metal (not cheap plastic, their motors wear out too fast) table or floor fan directly at the inner chips and CPU. This drastically reduces my measured internal temperature. This method isn't for everyone. A clean, moisture free, secure room is needed. Also, if/when you're able to upgrade or get a new PC, look into the newer advanced designs of low power usage chips and CPUs. If you're custom bulding your PC, or having a PC custom built look into the newer heat sinks and heat sinking materials. It also helps if the case is black, or painted with black "wrinkle" paint to give up heat faster. Keep the shades drawn to keep out the sun, or put solar film on your windows, insulation in your attic, or even thermal panes on your windos for the PC room. There's water cooling, but that's not practical for most of us. Sealed ice packs are also impractical. If anyone else knows easier, more practical anti-heat methods, please let us know. Thanks. P.S. In extreme cases, a window air conditioning unit may be the only practical solution, especially in extreme climates.

Owww. My eyes are bleeding. Reduce font size. Reduced.

[Sunin]

Or you could check out target.com and get a portable AC unit. I got a 14k BTU with a seer rating of 12.73 for $500. That keeps my 7 Quads in my closet icy... my other two are in my main living area that gets plenty of air flow

[Nonymoussurfer]

In extreme cases, a window air conditioning unit may be the only practical solution, especially in extreme climates.

I agree but I wouldn't consider Kansas to be an extreme climate, but rather an "extremes" climate. as in we get both extremes... I had cooling issues until I installed a window AC in my comp room. Even in springtime the central AC can't keep up with that room, though the rest of the house would get nice & chilly. Now I keep the window AC unit on & let it's thermostat regulate temps in that room. Keeping the door to that room closed allows the window AC to keep that room at at reasonably cool temps and has the added benefit of isolating the noise of several GPU crunchers from the rest of the house as well. Currently keeping seven 24/7 folding boxes (and the ambient room temp) nice & cool. I haven't noticed much of a difference in the electric bill either. Presumably since the central air doesn't have to run non-stop.

Owww. My eyes are bleeding. Reduce font size.

Again I agree. That is some truly obnoxious font.

[v00d00]

$500 should be enough to start building a nice hybrid watercooling unit. Put the radiator in the coldest place possible, and use a decent pump to pump the water through the miles of plastic tubing you now run around your house.

[MstrBlstr]

Here you old bean...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ferlFZnVlo

[v00d00]

Some of those technologies exist if you are radical enough. Just look up phase change on EOC. ALthough there entire aim is benchmarking, you could easily adapt some of what they do for extreme folding.

I think the best idea for the OP though, is water cooling. It will probably knock a fair few celsius off his problem, enabling him to continue folding for a bit longer. He has obviously spent some money on his farm and im sure a bit more on a decent cooling system wouldnt kill him.

If you want extreme maybe look at these links:

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/t233054.html
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/t71321.html

[alancabler]

@ Adam...
Thank you for losing that font.

[rsimplicio]

Right now I use Window AC to cool my farm, but I am seriously considering water cooling. There are multiple problems with liquid cooling though, not the least of which is cost.

Though this would not help you, I am also seriously considering geothermal cooling (this house has a boiler/hot water heating system and no central air). You could ostensibly pipe the water from the folding farm, run it through a loop of PEX in the ground to cool it (needs to be buried about as deep as the frost line in your area), and you don't even need a heat pump for that technology. A hydronic pump, even a high-head one that you'd need for the waterblocks, is fairly cheap and uses much less electricity than any type of heat pump (any refrigeration unit is a heat pump).

I also do NOT suggest the AC units that are located in the room and have a tube that connects to the window. They are larger, less efficient, and more expensive than window-mounted units. If you currently have a window AC unit, I suggest upgrading to a larger one, but be aware of the amperage draw of any window AC unit. They should technically be on a dedicated circuit, but most often, they are not. I have already blown a fuse this week, and have started to trip overcurrent devices in my power strips. It's time for me to worry about the other type of AC now, current! There's some serious rewiring in my future.