Cooling Fan Installed in Cabinet

farside291

Well-known member
I finally got tired of having to keep the cabinet door open where I keep my home theater equipment. It gets very hot inside the cabinet with the door closed so I installed this cooling fan in the bottom of the cabinet. I made a 4 inch hole and installed a screen over the outside. I mounted a pancake fan that is powered from one of the USB ports on the receiver on the inside. I haven't made any measurements on how much cooler it is inside the cabinet but I can sure feel a lot of warm air coming out of the vent.
 

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Oregon_Camper

Well-known member
Rather than trying to pull the warm air out of the cabinet, try reversing the fan and pushing cool air into the cabinet. Think of this like an AC unit, they push in cool air vs trying to pull out all the hot air.
 

Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn

Well-known member
Nice job... is it quiet ???
I tryed this on our custom entertainment center at home and it was noisy and annoying that I caned it.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk
 

farside291

Well-known member
Super quiet, I ordered it off Amazon, the grill can be ordered with different designs. I ended up reversing the fan after all. When the door was closed flow would reduce. They are:
AC Infinity MULTIFAN S3, Quiet 120mm USB Fan, SilverStone 120mm Fan Filter with Grill FF121 (Black)
 

MCTalley

Well-known member
Something we did in our overhead cabinet to encourage air exchange was to mount a couple thick rubber bumpers on the bottom corners of the door so it closes leaving a small gap along the bottom.
 

farside291

Well-known member
We tried that and when I hit half of an inch with little improved airflow I decided to reverse the fan direction pushing air in.
 

MCTalley

Well-known member
Gotcha. It's funny that my modern home theater receiver (that is currently in our storage unit) ran really warm, regardless of usage. Now I have a vintage (1971-era) receiver that, so far, hasn't even gotten warm. I can run it with the overhead door closed completely.
 

farside291

Well-known member
I had an old vacuum tube amplifier my dad made when I was a kid that I swear ran cooler than this new Samsung home theater system. By the way, I am still working through your modifications you made to your other fifth wheel. Thanks!
 

wdk450

Well-known member
The remotes for my Dish Receiver and my current Sony Compact DVD/Surround Sound system don't work through the dark glass of the entertainment system door, so I have to leave it open. I did rig a boxer fan with a 120 degree thermostatic switch component in series to hang temporarily on the front of the cabinet blowing cool air in. The thermostatic element is on a length of power zip cord, and sits loosely on top of the Dish Receiver. The whole fan system plugs into an extension cord.

When I move, I unplug the fan system, unhang the fan, and stow it away in the audio cabinet.
 

farside291

Well-known member
Fortunately my TV is Samsung as is the Home Theater receiver and the TV talks to it for volume control through HDMI. The DirecTV receiver is RF not IR so this allows me to keep the door closed.
 
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