Keeping My Home Lab Cool and My Wife Happy

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Timestamps:
0:00 Keeping my homelab cool
0:40 FlexiSpot (Sponsor)
2:07 my problem
2:56 my simple solution
4:00 my less simple solution
6:15 installing parts on the door
6:55 does it even work?
8:40 adding an intake
9:53 noise
10:41 upcoming plans

[@HardwareHaven]

*** FAQ and Updates! *** - First of all, to all the people that are concerned about my marriage: this was a joke. My wife is incredibly supportive, but I also try to find ways to go about projects that are less bothersome for her. She's amazing and had to try very hard to even seem angry. - I've had a lot of people suggesting that I should vent into the attic. I was a bit hesitant on directly venting into the attic, and maybe that isn't something to be hesitant about. At the same time, I already have an HVAC company coming out to look at adding a return duct in that hallway. I'm considering the possibility of putting it in the closet (once I consult with them on it). I'll post an update here as to what we decide on. - I'm printing grills for the bottom fans and have plans to lock this closet once our kid is able to open doors.

[@1480750]

From what I saw in the video I think the louvers on that door are too narrow for you to do a full return using just the closet. I'd maybe recommend doing the hallway one as planned but adding a second 6" return duct for just the closet. If they're already out doing the work and it's all in roughly the same area it shouldn't add too much to your bill. Or put the old door back on and cut a large opening in the bottom.

[@BenWolkWeiss]

Don't vent into the attic. That's a big building science no-no. You want to keep your living space separated from your attic space and you'll cause major issues by actively bringing humid air into the attic, plus killing your energy bills as you are now throwing away conditioned air into the outdoors.

[@0xKruzr]

@@BenWolkWeiss correct.

[@NyneIX9]

I can't believe you had to put that disclaimer, but then again, maybe a lot of the people who don't get it are very young and don't understand the WAF protocol (Wife Approval Factor).

[@DanielAbernathy]

BTW if anyone wants to go with the "keeping the door ajar" approach, you can buy something called a "finger pinch guard". We use one to keep our cat from getting locked out of his litter box.

[@HardwareHaven]

Brilliant!

[@ugh.idontwanna]

I think this is the first time I have actually seen duct tape being used on ducts.

[@precumming]

(it’s because it’s not called duct tape)

[@nono-oz4gv]

any drastic change in temp (repeatedly?) will render "duct" tape useless lol

[@jjones503]

Duct tape is only useful in nascar

[@StaK_1980]

Happy wife, happy life. BUT Happy spouse, happy house. Make sure she remembers that one too! :-)

[@HardwareHaven]

She's the best, don't worry!

[@blusterkong4556]

4:55 Looks like you've blown your head gasket, mate 🤣

[@HardwareHaven]

HAHAHA I knew it looked like something. I'm not much of a car guy so I couldn't quite put a finger on it lol

[@smartaIec]

Subaru flat 6 head gasket, no less

[@mkonji8522]

I used a louver door for my lab closet as well although I just used 2 cheap white box fans I mounted to the door with some simple screws, lower in and upper out. I managed to bring it down from around 100f all the way to 3-5f of where I keep my house at (70f house, and 74ish Lab) on the lowest fan setting. The fans were $21 each at Home Depot and the door was around 155 after cash back deals from my credit card keeping the whole project right around $200. Pretty happy with how it turned out and funny that you put this out as I did this only a few weeks ago with it starting to warm up. Cool little project and nice video, it should keep our hardware happier longer.

[@MattJonesYT]

I agree with that type of solution. Much simpler

[@HardwareHaven]

What was the noise like though?

[@1da1a172]

Nitpick suggestion: 9:40 - Most 2-post rack mount equipment has _all_ the weight behind the plate. This makes it pivot on the top of the mount, swinging the bottom out. If you only have 2 screws, you will almost always get a more secure mount putting them both on the bottom instead of diagonally.

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

I think we should also think about your happiness too. That's why I hit the bell icon.

[@HardwareHaven]

And that's why I hit the heart icon. Always for you Marco lol

[@JeffGeerling]

@@HardwareHaven Marco always supporting homelab KZbin :D

[@UnknownProductions0]

closing all of the wood slats other than where the fans are (from the inside so its hidden) would promote better airflow, as well as having one set of fans for intake and one for exhaust. but also having a return for the hvac would be nice too. then you wouldnt have to do anything to the door/fans just make them all intakes (or remove them entirely)

[@TheQuickSilver101]

Ha! I knew your wife wasn't mad. She looked like she was trying to contain cracking up and then you showed it at the end😆. This was a clever solution! I have a need for airflow for a heat pump water heater and I think I'll do this for that closet. Thank you!

[@HardwareHaven]

Nah she's a good sport. Hates being on camera but was willing to so that my idea could come to life 😂

[@VjSky]

Try using all fans as outlet, at the top of the door, pressure will pull the air in easily

[@MarcoGPUtuber]

2:30 I wanna know the behind the scenes. OK! Daddy wants you to close all the doors in the house. Ready? 3-2-1 GO!

[@HardwareHaven]

It was even less work than that. Just "hey, wanna go shut that door?" "YEAAAHHHH" lol

[@TadGilliland]

Re: Home Assistant, you could at a minimum put a camera on the controller so you can see what's going on there, and smart plug to switch the whole thing off or on (not sure why you'd need that). Another route if you didn't mind all on or all off is some sort of temp sense connected to home assistant then a smart relay that turns on and off when the temp goes up and down. It would be simple to even do a high medium low setup with relays in series. Sometimes we go straight to the nerdiest solution when there is something less complex that will get us there!

[@TeK_l33t]

You should try rotating the fans from push into closet to pull from it. It will pull the hot air from the inside and cold air will get from other vents in the door.

[@shodan6401]

My experience as a youth doing maintenance in a building server as housing for college students was priceless. I already knew spackling, sanding and painting, but hanging doors that were level and flush, and chiseling for hinges and striker plates was invaluable. Really came in handy when re-hanging a 200 lb. entrance door in the building where I live that was being pulled off the frame by its own weight. It opens and closes like a dream, but my neighbors still slam the door...

[@maxhammick948]

Arctic fans are good for this use case - they make TC variants of most of their fans that integrate the temperature control logic into the fan. There's a thermistor on a bit of wire attached to the fan, so you just supply 12V and the fan figures out the correct speed. Just add a 3d printed louvre if you're going down the "cut a hole in the door" route and you're set

[@GrandSenna]

3:33 didn't know doors had terminologies too, learning something new everyday,,

[@SpoonHurler]

Door terminology is my jamb.

[@phizaal]

Knob 😂

[@GrandSenna]

@@phizaal true, but that's commonly known

[@phizaal]

@@GrandSenna not sure if you know, knob is another word for dick in the UK 😂

[@HardwareHaven]

THIS WINS 🤣

[@montecorbit8280]

At 0:30 Wifey.... Trying to keep a serious angry face, but couldn't hold it and cracked a smile.... That was funny, too bad you cut away so soon....she may have started laughing!!

[@Niklas2516]

Watch the outro.

[@montecorbit8280]

​@@Niklas2516 Thought I did.... Just went to look, that was the blooper reel at the end not the outro. Thank you for bringing my attention to that, that was pretty good!!

[@thecoffeez]

Very (bad pun alert) cool DYI project. Happy wife, happy life ...... great video!

[@HardwareHaven]

Hahahaha I somehow managed to avoid too many puns in this one Thanks Coffee!

[@TheUrbandilema]

Happy wife happy life is so tru...nice idea for case fans ans love the design...i have my toddler which closes all the doors everytime..

[@tomhackz250]

Maybe consider adding temperature readings in °C next time, cool vid brother

[@Hajdew]

i was like 99°C ?????!!!!

[@carlmenger9145]

There is a great system called google where you can find a conversion calculator.

[@HardwareHaven]

I'll probably consider displaying both in the future!

[@Hajdew]

@@HardwareHaven

[@goodgoose83]

I love that your wife looks exactly that fits for you! love it!

[@caseywillows8449]

You should make a page on your site or maybe just a public google drive folder to share your 3d models. Love when people share there work with the community.

[@spusuf]

it'll be different based on the manufacturer of the louvred door for the spacing and gap for the louvres

[@HardwareHaven]

I need to setup a thingiverse or something, but yeah this would be specific to that exact door sadly

[@BenWolkWeiss]

You should also look into improving your overall home ventilation since your aranet (which I'm glad to see you have) is showing some high CO2 levels at 1200 ppm and you want to keep those below 800. That might be the next home upgrade you do for your families health to add in an ERV system into your house and you could make a video on integrating it into home assistant with additional CO2 sensors for demand control ventilation.

[@spusuf]

I wouldve used MDF/Plywood to replace the door cut out some fan holes then covered the entire thing in a nice fabric from the outside. But this does look very integrated to the rest of the house. Also would prefer celcius for the temps, but another great video from my fav tech channel.

[@BrunoBarr]

Yep... Once the wife is happy the temperature at home should be cool 😉. Lol

[@jarthurs]

I have a workshop in my garden with a (now mostly empty) 36U cabinet. 15 years ago it was kept warm in Winter by a pair of Compaq Proliant Dual Xeon servers, these are essentially space heaters that have a side hustle in data storage and handling. Great in the Winter for free heat, a nightmare in the Summer to keep cool. Electricity must've been cheap because dual 750W PSUs aren't that efficient! Today I run my web/mail server on an old Intel Atom 330 system @ 30W.

[@scooterjes]

One option to consider for a future upgrade is take some aluminum trim pieces from the hardware store(I think they come in like 3 foot lengths) and use those to mount some 200mm fans will move more air and be quieter.

[@cmdr_talikarni]

Find a silent "bathroom" fan and remove the rest of the fan stuff. That pulls the heat out and there is enough airflow through the slatted door.

[@ewasteredux]

This was a great idea. We have a large home and most of the bedrooms do not have an integrated air return for the air conditioning ducts. So I am actively trying to come up with a solution to vent the hot air into the corridor with the central air return. So thanks for the idea.

[@HardwareHaven]

Yeah I'm actually in contact with an HVAC technician about adding a return either in the hallway or possibly even inside that closet lol. We have no return on this side of the house and its very noticeable.

[@Aruneh]

Love your closet setup!

[@nicholassmerk]

Looks good. I'm glad I have a heated and dehumidified basement for gear. If that where my closet, I'd be tempted to cut the door an inch off the floor, then adjust (sand) the louvers at the top to allow for exhaust, probably just mounting large fans straight on the door. Those new 200mm computer fans would be slick.

[@Scythinite]

If you want to cool down the top you could add some sort of cooling piping to cool down the hot air at the top and have that air sent back down

[@Daniel_Troutman]

Great video as always!

[@HardwareHaven]

Thanks!

[@Vuulfe]

Great stuff! Keep it up!

[@dave597]

Thought most Americans have HVAC, why not just connect it to that? The slats slow the airflow so much, just cut a hole the same size as the fans.

[@cs_cy8er]

I've been experimenting with cooling my homelab in a similar way, but my wife allowed me to cut two giant holes in my door (she didn't care was her response) i have two square grilles (don't remember the name of them) one at the top and one at the bottom, as hot air rises, I have a 12v fan mounted blowing air out of the top and one sucking air in at the bottom. but I wanted to try something like this, already added one of those pwm fan controllers to my amazon basket, just need to design something to 3D print and get more fans, currently the temp inside is about 31 degrees Celsius. Also, I use the same room to store my 3D filament as its got my boiler in and my homelab so the humidity is very low, normally its around 50% in my flat but in the cupboard its been as low as 20% great for drying filament out! Love your videos keep up the great work!

[@wwad]

For fan PWM control I'm using tasmota on an esp 8266. By default HA thinks it's a dimmable light but that's easy to change. For me this means I can control the fan speed based on the temperature in my server cabinet. As the cabinet is in my home office I can even alter the max fan speed depending on room occupancy so it speeds up if I'm not there to hear it.

[@DrDipsh1t]

"I brushed up on my door terminology" 2 weeks from now gonna be throwing around hvac terms after routing ducts to the server closet 😂 On a serious note, have you thought about using that channel your cables run through to vent to the attic?

[@jacelawler1694]

Lol. Loved the wife aggro mentions! The struggle is real.

[@coolraul07]

Congrats on achieving optimal WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor)

[@isvermin]

You can use a rotary fan, such as you can find in conditioner. It's cheap, silent and power efficient.

[@poloblk23]

Happy Spouse, Happy House..😉

[@ElectricEvan]

Painter's Tape is a better plan. I suggest another row of fans blowing the other direction and adding dust filters.

[@romanrm1]

It feels like the bottom intake is more important than the exhaust on the top. I'd suggest to try going with intake-only for a few days, maybe you can do without the upper part altogether and save a bit on noise and power to run fans. Or as others said make an attic exhaust instead, where it will truly make a difference.

[@olipitt12]

easy way to intergrate it into homeassistant would be use a smart plug, and a seperate thermostat which reports it back, can cut the power to the fans maybe even monitor power draw from higher RPM's

[@Net-Extension]

You can set up an SNMP server and monitor all your devices there and have accurate readings for each one. PS. I have a closed rack and I found that putting a fan directly above the equipment it cools the hole rack of 3 network eq and 2 RPIs.

[@SpoonHurler]

Happy wife, happy life... cause no knife, to all your cables. 😂

[@lamaistul]

Happy wife, quiet wife.

[@HardwareHaven]

Nah she's great

[@pavlikocenasek7244]

i love your vids, it always makes me happy to see you post a video, i bought a PI5 for a NAS and i am still waiting for the heatsink :D

[@HardwareHaven]

Glad you like them! Thanks for the comment

[@banningproducties]

this was awesome I have the same problem. my fuse box room ( I cal it server room with breakers ) is hot its around 24c so im taking some kind of the same ideas you got thanks ! can't wait on the nas videos. I recently go a Micro server gen 10 for cheap at 125 euro, ( the firmware of the Broadcom controller got updated so it can do HBA) put 12tb HGST rectified drives in it as a backup server. and called it a day!

[@DIYDaveOK]

Very slick! You've given me a great idea where to put a real network closet! 😊😊

[@HardwareHaven]

I would say MILDLY slick lol. And I still need to get with you about meeting up here soon. I'm semi-caught back up so maybe we can find a time this week or something lol

[@DIYDaveOK]

@@HardwareHaven That'd be great. Understand that life sometimes intervenes 🙂🙂!

[@zanderfaehrteisenbah]

Nice Video 👍 give your wife an Oscar for her role 😉👌

[@HardwareHaven]

We'll see how the nominations go! haha

[@shephusted2714]

add a holmes hepa filter box in there to improve air quality, add white duct tape to make it blend in but overall a pretty decent solution with good monitoring and pwm control - you could add a small grate in floor and bring in cool basement air to cap it off with a followup

[@nicholassmerk]

I'm assuming he doesn't have a basement. Additionally, don't tell your insurance company.

[@HardwareHaven]

Yeah basements in Oklahoma basically aren't a thing sadly

[@LinusLin880]

It’s looks very nice 👌

[@willcarter7079]

This is a super interesting video. My network closet in the office/bedroom 3. This makes the office very warm. I thought about installing an exhaust fan similar to what you see in a bathroom right above my network rack. Also my wife uses a 1500 watt space heater in the bathroom. The network closet is on the same wall as the bathroom. I was thinking I could duct over to the bathroom. And push that hot air down in front of the shower curtain. That way when you open the shower curtain you don't get that gust of cold air. I just have to convince my wife to let me cut a hole in the ceiling... Well two holes in the ceiling.

[@mrsvcd]

On that slat door I would have put a sheet of mdf/wood on the top half and mount the fans on that so air could not get in thru the slats so close to fans. I think it will give better circulation but the downside is no 3d printer usage.

[@Mihai-Marian-Cenusa]

Happy wife :)) this is someting I still work on...:)) she's keep shutting down my NAS each night due to HDD noise :))

[@HardwareHaven]

Just offer to go all solid state! haha

[@michaelangellotti5741]

FYI - expelling hot air always exceeds pumping cooler air in.

[@xDreamninja]

Very cool idea! Maybe you can dampen the sound by adding sound dampening material (thick felt) where there are no fans, and possibly lining the ducts. I would probaly also try to duct the hottest machine(s) directly to the door, for even better temps and acoustics.

[@lolmos]

Maybe you should have the bottom fans pointing down or horizontally to enhance natural airflow

[@cwhitley.sawlabs]

I wonder if it'd be more effective to use two big-ass fans, like a 280mm or larger. One at the very bottom to draw cold air in and shoot it towards the rack, and one at the top to blow it out. Maybe even add some dust filters to prevent anything from clogging it up?

[@JeffGeerling]

2:29 - lol what is it with 2-3 year olds and their obsession with closing doors? All my kids had the same thing, and then sometime during their late 3s, the habit just went away.

[@kevinpriester7478]

nice video. love what you did

[@gogota_]

I saw on reddit somewhere similar solution but that guy cut 10 mm of bottom part of the doors and 20 on the top. Made similar funnel air duct to move air under and on top of the doors :) that can be even better solution becouse you suck coldest air and exhaust the warmest air :)

[@arivaldarivald3212]

Frankly, I would try passive vents, either in the door ot the wall. It would consist of two holes, one at very bottom, and one at very top, both covered with typical vent grill or something. With this temperature difference, gravity would move a lot of air, silently.

[@jumpmaster5279]

Love it, i think we need some type of intake and outake system, Quick question, after buying a 3d printer, what else has to be done, as i am considering buying one but not sure what to do next.

[@HardwareHaven]

I went with Bambu Lab because one of their big "selling points" is that they automatically handle bed leveling, calibration, etc. I've basically done no maintenance other than lubricating the rails which there's a video walkthrough on when you set it up. Other than that, it's mostly just getting filament and finding or creating models.

[@thejonte]

Using a microcontroller you can spin this up and down based on CPU temps instead of room temps if that would be preferred.

[@jacelawler1694]

My daughter does the same thing!

[@Psikeomega]

I set up in the basement since it's cool down there and I'm already running a dehumidifier anyways.

[@nicholassmerk]

Same thing I said. Just keep stuff on a rack/shelf.

[@NeptuneSega]

This is not it. The slits are way too tiny, and the top fan is exhausting at an odd angle. Youll be back to re engineer this when you expand. The noise is also noticable.

[@anothersiguy]

Those air ducts are pretty sweet, really making we want a 3D printer lol

[@Dragonheng]

I can wait until the Delta fans come out, I'm a fan of the fans because they are suitable for more than hardware cooling.^^

[@pkt1213]

Another Oklahoman using a network rack for a homelab located in a closet. I am using one in the top of my office/guest bedroom closet. I cut a grill into the pantry on the other side which helps a lot. I'm thinking of adding a couple of USB powered fans run off my USP.

[@HardwareHaven]

Welcome fellow okie!

[@SigmaNuZetakappa700]

Did you consider using an exhaust fan that exhausts heat into the attic? I keep my router, modem, and a home security nas in a top kitchen cabinet. Once I’ve added the exhaust fan, everything is working better. Before, my internet would drop off until I opened the cabinet door.

[@siddharthchordiya]

Happy Wife = Happy Life Colten, My buddy you may have cracked the code to live life

[@kevinoneill2170]

11:00 HH's Wife Stay Mad Challenge... Impossible

[@ewenchan1239]

I just have a basement that's the same footprint as the main floor, and dump the heat into the ambient environment. RTX A2000 6 GB is reporting that with ~5 W load, and our AC set at 21 C (currently 23 C in the living room) that it is holding at 30 C on the GPU itself at idle. 5950X is reporting an idle temp of 23.8 C on CCD2.

[@SmokinGoodd420]

New window units or portable units that utilize inverter or dual inverter tech are a lot more efficient compared to older units. I purchased 3 units for my home they draw so much less power it shocks me how much it cost for the summer months.

[@faabjie]

I wish we could have more 10iches hardware like a ITX 5 bays NAS with a low power usage in a rack format, patch bay, raspberry pi case for PiHole and router for cheap, low power and low space.

[@TechExploresNYC]

you might want to try a blower fan instead of axial fan for better air pressure through those slots. Best solution is still one of thsoe AV closet fans above the door exhausting

[@justinknash]

Look at using Gaffers tape instead of Duct tape. Comes in white which should blend in much more cleanly.

[@markflacy7099]

You might want to ensure that the air you are sucking into the closet isn't flowing right back out in the exhaust.

[@KameraShy]

What is above the closet? Second story or attic? If attic, I would have thought about venting through the ceiling. See the temperature difference with just the louvered doors and natural updraft. Then intake fans at the bottom of the louvers. Then an exhaust fan in the attic.

[@jeremymyers5503]

I bet white duct tape would have gotten the wife’s approval.

[@Eysvar]

My only thing with the tape is that over time the sticky stuff will become residue that gets left behind on the door once you take it off. I doubt color was at all an issue because it's on the inside of the door, and compared to all the other "ugly" electronics, it's not that bad.

[@Thiakil]

adorable HavenWife!

[@bim_2587]

Very good

[@Yuriel1981]

Quick shout out to Colton's and indeed all the tech tuber spouses that deal with constant mess and continuing network issues in their own home in order to bring us amazing content!

[@HardwareHaven]

She's a trooper!

[@theWSt]

Oh yes, the door closing toddlers, I can tell a thing or two about it 😁

[@googanhiem]

Esphome controlled fan is the way to get that connected to home assistant

[@recklessthor4]

subbed for this

[@maximmunity2059]

You said that you didn't notice a big drop adding the intake fans. I wonder if that isn't an airflow pattern issue as you have the intake fans on the bottom (in other words, could the cooler air be getting exhasted?). Maybe try printing a divider to deflect the input?

[@TrentR42]

Any thoughts on plywood flat mounting instead of rack mounting?

[@tedgoodridge8403]

The new door is an excellent idea. I do want to ask, was venting to the attic not an option?

[@FeralDayASMR]

Maybe use some cardboard to cover up all the louvres and let only the fans pull air through. Might also block some noise

[@Veeb0rg]

Any chance to get the STL for those vent adapters? My "IT" closet has a similar door and I could use a little airflow.

[@Preske]

Have you considered placing thin foam spacers between the fans and the ducts?

[@HardwareHaven]

Ooh that might be smart.

[@corrpendragon]

You're cool and you make me happy, Papa Hardware 😘

[@HardwareHaven]

Glad to hear it lol

[@dirkcoetsee6767]

Dude... I made the mistake to believe in... Happy wife, Happy life... But that is soooo not true... Happy Spouse, Happy House... Think about it. Love your vids! Keep up the great work!

[@HardwareHaven]

For sure! I thought it was fairly clear that she's actually not controlling and incredibly supportive.

[@valoroushell]

Chilling song

[@Aerospace911]

You should get Fire Ball Extinguishers in your closet.

[@HardwareHaven]

Hmmm interesting... never heard of those before.