Cybercafe: Saving energy exhausting all PC's hot air to the outside.

[cerot]

Hi, i have a "Cybercafe" business and the city weather gets extremely hot in the summer (42c to 50c). Add the hot air exhausting from 8 Pentium 4 Prescott computers plus the people inside the building.

So of course to keep the temps cool the air conditioner is using a lot of energy (it's a 2 ton 13 Seer ductless mini-split).

I am here looking for opinions/help in a project i want to do to help reduce the energy bill, that's $450 in the summer months.

I plan to use some ducts to send the hot air exhausting from the PSU fan and 120mm rear fan of all the PC's outside of the building. All connected to a principal exhaust duct (aprox 6" to 8" diameter)

First i would like know if you think this will help reduce the energy bill substantially (20% would be great, even 10% if the thing is not too hard to do). The building (10ft x 18ft) kept air tight most of the time, with the door closed only opened when clients come, i have no idea if exhausting all the hot air form the computers without too much air coming from the outside could affect negatively the a/c making it work harder.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks..

 

[AsAnAtheist]

I am sorry, do I need numbers? The numbers you have posted as I said are very nice. It is just to bad that they HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH WHAT I WAS SUGGESTING. Before you attack my knowledge, you should at least understand the issue. You attacked my opinion with facts, yes. But the facts you used were not relevant to my suggestions.

Oh, PS. If you would PM me, I will gladly tell you the name of the company I work for, the division I currently work at, where it is, and the web site.

Using the company's growth or name or stature for your own credibility is quite frankly a desperate attempt to salvage whatever you think you have lost. I know a few dozen people who have worked for the #1 Fortune 500 company. Wal-mart. Big whoop.

I never attacked your knowledge. You falsely extrapolated my understanding of business logic and came out with the absurd reasoning that I attacked you. All I was merely stating was my understanding of business logic I never meant to offend anyone. However if I did offend someone, I am afraid that the most probable cause for the offense reigned from their own predetermined mind set not from my intentions.
Despite it being your fault, I am sorry if I did offend you as I do not like to leave sour tastes in people's mouths.
I will not to continue to play this child's game any longer as the information was already been presented to the OP, it is up to him or her to make the decision objectively or subjectively.

@welshmousepl
I understood that but there's really no way to calculate the savings from the decrease in heat other then to remove the computers from the room. I would have still preferred to see proof coming from jitpublisher as to how it would save $100 a month.

 

[cerot]

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I finished reading the thread and i really appreciate all the advice and opinions.

I doubt the exhaust air from the computers will be too much hotter than the outside air and taking in account the inconvenience of making the duct system and the small space available, i will focus my efforts in better building insulation.

The air conditioner is free/borrowed from my sister, so changing that is not an option at this time. I think i could sell the P4 machines at a good price and eventually replace all for better and lower power consumption pc's.

Thank you all for your help!

 

[AsAnAtheist]

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I finished reading the thread and i really appreciate all the advice and opinions.

I doubt the exhaust air from the computers will be too much hotter than the outside air and taking in account the inconvenience of making the duct system and the small space available, i will focus my efforts in better building insulation.

The air conditioner is free/borrowed from my sister, so changing that is not an option at this time. I think i could sell the P4 machines at a good price and eventually replace all for better and lower power consumption pc's.

Thank you all for your help!

Glad to help, and good luck.

 

[xserv2004]

There are more difference in temperatures during morning ,noon and at night. Just step out of your cafe at night and see the difference . if it is cooler outside ,then the ducting is a very good idea. Just using it at night may cut your air con cost by 20-30% depending on how late you operate into the night. Your monitors should be ventilated as well, as they could output as much heat as the cpu..

There is no need for high tech insulated ducting . I am guessing that your computers are arranged against the wall in a straight line .If you want to experiment , just get a cheap low pressure 5 inch water pipe ,seal one end, run it across your wall, all the way out of your room and fix an exaust fan to the other end - no fancy work needed ,just glue it on, silicone glue is great for the job. Use any flexible pipe to connect your cpu to it. Washing machine's outlet pipes are great for the job as they are ribbed and wont bend easily. There is also a ribbed tubing used for electrical wiring..they are smaller but would work as well..again use silicone glue to fix them.
I would suggest leaving a small gap between the power supply fan and the pipe so that the hot air could flow out even if the ventilation system is turned off ( during noon perhaps). You might have to experiment on the best position to fit the pipe.
To reduce room temperature further ,you might wanna try humidifiers. This whole thing is a lot cheaper to build then replacing all ur cpu..

 

[cruiser77]

You seem fairly whiny for a business owner. I wouldn't help this guy after his little temper tantrum. Let him use his business sense to figure it out himself.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey