Keeping My Home Lab Cool and My Wife Happy

* 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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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

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.

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

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!!

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

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!

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)

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!

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

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

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

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...