DIY Cooling Fan

[dan2x38]

This will not cool things dramtically it is meant to draw air in to the cabinent from the air conditioned room. In the stand there is no air movement what so ever so this will draw in cooler air and push it towards the return water in the sump.

I pulled two fans 12v 1.3ma out of some old computer power supplies. from Salvation Army dug up an old power adapter 12v 500ma that had no plug on it they sold it to me for $0.49. I cleaned up the fans with a tooth brush.




With some old 1/4" acrylic I had laying around measured out a piece that would fit inside the trim of my sump 12"w.




This is the finished product with holes drilled for the air to push through. I cut 6 narrow pieces of acrylic. Then stacked two smaller ones together and sealed with methline chloride I had laying around. On top of that stack I placed a little wider piece then set it to the clear acrylic with the methline chloride. These prevent the fans from falling into the sump.




This is the finished product sitting over top of the sump return chamber.

[JetJumper]

Looks good, but I am confused as to how this will pull air into the stand.  Sure it will cycle air around in the stand but it is not forcing air into the stand at all.  You would need one pulling / pushing air from the side / back of the stand in order to bring in fresh air.

[dan2x38]

There was zero air flow before this. Any air movement will exchange air just with air pressure changing. It is not going to be a dramatic change it is to create some change. The fans are positioned so they are both pulling from the outside and pushing into the tank.

I had bought and added a small 7" fan from CT but it took up to much room. Under the tank sumps take up all the room. Wish I had a basement or closet behind that wall. Live in an apartment so pretty much stuck with opitions.

[dan2x38]

I am shocked I checked my water temp just now it is 1.5*f cooler than normal this time of day. I would never have excepted that change. Doing research guys reported drops of 2* & 3* I never thought it possible. Very cool - no pun intended - from 80*+ to 78.5*. I have a third fan I might just redesign this thing now. Maybe add some cowels for better intake. I didn't want to invest to much time in the project as I was sceptical of it's results. No real cost have all the stuff sitting around.

[RossW]

If you are considering v2, I would open up the holes for the air to go through, i.e.: remove all acrylic where the fan blades are, just leave enough to mount the fan.  I think that alone would give you WAY more air... are you ready for the evap ;-)

[dan2x38]

I was thinking of that but do not have a great way to cut it out? I know I am lossing flow through.

[Brent Shaver]

Dan use a hole saw if you dont have a jigsaw inorder to remain with the same idea you have.

I would suggest taking your acrylic the same thickness you have now and cutting it into strips, you can epoxy, glue or screw the fans side by side into the strip on each side, this would leave the center completely empty for air flow.  All you really need is two channels to support the fans, and this would work best for your application.  If you dont feel comfortable with this way could always just cut a piece of egg crate and sit them on will still give better airflow then the holes you currently have.

[magnosis]

I put gaming computers together for fun, and overclock them.  The most important part in overclocking a CPU or GPU is to have good air flow.

Trust me, I've read and experimented a lot with computer fans


IMO, the best fans you can get are 120mm Scythe SlipStream or Scythe S-Flex.

They have a very high flow at very low noise level.  They cost about 9$.

A close 2nd place winner is the Enermax MAGMA UC-MA12 120mm. 


Get them from PcCyber, RBC Computing (or NewEgg / NCIX but I encourage buying local)

Just my 2 cents

[JD]

I did something like this a year or two ago. I used 3 8" 120 volt fans mounted to stainless tubing. The fans were speed controllable using a standard dimmer switch. A GFI is a must for these. Runnig at about 30% they were able to cool about 500g worth. Evapouration is a great thing for cooling but bad for your house. I ended up switching to a chiller which reduced my evapouration to 2 gallons a day from 5.
I prefer using larger fans and running them slower to keep noise to a minimum. 12 volt DC fans can be run anywhere from 5 volts up to 18 without too many issues, just lots of noise when they spin very fast.

[JetJumper]

I put gaming computers together for fun, and overclock them.  The most important part in overclocking a CPU or GPU is to have good air flow.

I prefer water flow instead
Liquid Cooled for the win!

[dan2x38]

I can't put in 120v fans no room. Ross I did open up the holes what a pain. It still works great and I think is reducing the evaporation rate some what. I didn't have a great teamp. issue but did want better air circulation inside the cabinet. With tweaking position, opening the holes the temp is down to almost 77* constant. So for a little elbow grease it was a worthwhile project for the results.

[new2salt]

Sounds like it worked better than expected.

I think I need to pull off something similar.
In this heat I have a hard time keeping the temp below 80-81 F. Even with the RKL and shutting down 1/2 of my lights.
No central air
Just 2 window bangers.

Thanks for the post and the other comments and ideas.

Time to get to work on another DIY mini project.
 

[magnosis]

I prefer water flow instead
Liquid Cooled for the win!

LOL of course

But... 120 mm fan = 8$,  Cooling rig = 300$.