Replies

1. 
   P3Driver | Dec 30, 2004 07:04am | #1

   I often see computers placed in closed cabinets and closets without proper air flow.  This will shorten the life of the computer by years.  Usually I see these computers when the user is complaining about the very loud roar coming from the fan.  The fan is on a thermostat and increases in speed as the temperature of the case increases.  In a closed "computer" cabinet or a closet surrounded by clothes and boxes, the air flow is restricted and the computer cannot cool the CPU and motherboard.  I always recommend that any computer, especially any computer manufactured in the last 3 years, be mounted in a space with at least 4 inches of clearance in the rear of the computer, 2 inches of clearance on each side, and unrestricted air flow at the front.  Never put a computer in a cabinet space that has a door or a back on it.  In warmer climates, access to air condition cooled air is highly recommended.  The saying in the trade is, " If you feel the temperature is uncomfortable in a room, then it's too hot to operate a computer in the room."

1. 
   Terre | Dec 31, 2004 07:18am | #11

   Good evening,

   I printed you comments and will refer to them.  Had forgotten about the heat inside of a computer.   We generally buy a new computer from scratch every fours years and we don't need a new one every other year.  Thank you for your time.

   Terre

2. 
   BG | Dec 30, 2004 04:19pm | #2

   Terre,

   Buy a laptop with a wireless card and install a wireless system (Linksys)...with my three kids home this holiday they could go anywhere in the house, open their laptops and link up to the cabel connection to the internet.  If you need a printer connection, put the old puter(server..client server model) in the closet with the printer and have your cable/wireless system in there too. Personally, I'd just have a printer I could hot wire too when needed...which is becoming less and less...

   It just doesn't make sense anymore to tie up the space and deal with the wires of a table top model... 

    

3. 
   Dave45 | Dec 30, 2004 06:13pm | #3

   I've designed and built several computer desks, entertainment centers, etc and two of the bigger problem areas are cords and cooling.

   I deal with the cords issue by putting a plug strip (with surge protection) inside the unit and put in several internal passageways so cords can be routed inside the cabinet.   Using an internal plug strip usually reduces the external rats nest to two cords - one to a plug and one to a phone jack or cable TV connection.

   I deal with cooling issues by;

   • minimizing solid internal partitions in order to have as much air flow as possible. 
   • drilling several 1" holes in the cabinet back
   • discouraging doors on the cabinet front covering the electronics.  If the customer wants doors (usually glass), I'll add holes to the back and/or work a grill into the front so warm air can escape.
   • building a computer desktop with at least a 2" overhang at the back.

   So far, these methods seem to be working.  My own desk and entertainment center don't have problems and I've never had a customer call-back for heating issues.

    

1. 
   Terre | Dec 31, 2004 07:20am | #12

   Good eveninig.

   Thank you for the tip on drilling holes for ventilation.  Good practical idea.

   Terre

4. 
   Jamie_Buxton | Dec 30, 2004 07:17pm | #4

   Your wife's idea sounds like a good one.   If you convert the closet and leave the door in place, you pretty much solve the cats&toddler issue.   The only time the door is open is when you're on the computer, and you can shoo them away from cables and equipment and such.   Depending on how deep the closet is, you might also be able to put the chair inside when the door is closed; storing a computer chair is often an issue with computer armoires.  Having a door in front of the computer stuff also allows you to build the interior at any level of prettiness you choose.   If you want, you could use melamine and drywall screws.  It's all in a closet, so who cares?

1. 
   Terre | Dec 31, 2004 07:22am | #13

   Good evening,

   Susan and I had thought of using a non-wood surface for the work surface.  It is always nice to have someone else confirm a thought.  The idea of wheeling in a computer desk inside of the closet was pretty clever.  Thank you for the ideas.

   Terre

5. 
   PatMcG | Dec 30, 2004 07:28pm | #5

   The other posters who have answered raise good points. Let me add one more for you to consider.

   If you, or another member of the household, are a little disorganized or tend to procrastinate then you run the risk of having a door which serves to hide and perpetuate clutter and undone tasks, such as filing. I've seen it happen with roll top desks and computer armoires. Open them up and there's stuff piled way high.

1. 
   UncleDunc | Dec 31, 2004 02:04am | #9

   >> ... you run the risk of having a door which serves to hide and perpetuate clutter
   >> and undone tasks ...You say that like it's a bad thing.

1. 
   Terre | Dec 31, 2004 07:15am | #10

   Good evening.

   My wife really enjoyed  you comment.  Thank you for the humor.

   Terre

2. 
   Terre | Dec 31, 2004 07:31am | #18

   Good evening,

   Good humor is always the best tool.

   Terre

3. 
   PatMcG | Dec 31, 2004 10:20am | #19

   Heh heh heh

2. 
   Terre | Dec 31, 2004 07:25am | #14

   Good evening,

   With a new toddler running around the house we often put things off ... Haha.  Would rather spend quality and quantity time with our bundle of joy.  Thanks for the exercising the best tool in the woood shop - humor.

   Terre 

6. 
   jackplane | Dec 30, 2004 07:56pm | #6

   for cords, you can run them thru a 2 or 3" pvc pipe and veneer it

1. 
   Terre | Dec 31, 2004 07:26am | #15

   Good evening,

   Those are two great ideas.  We have printed a copy of your suggestion.  Thank you.

   Terre

7. 
   migraine | Dec 30, 2004 11:29pm | #7

   Years, ago, I did alot of these conversions.  What we did was build the boxes for both sides of the knee space  and also build the uppers.  We would then use 24"-28" rips of plywood(depending on the closet depth)  for the sides and top and assemble this as a complete unit.  We would use a 3"-4" casing that would be applied on the edges of the plywood and this sort of acted like a sleeve that would slide into the opening of the closet and totally wrap the interior.  The casing was applied to the outside and caulked into place.  All of the finish was done in the shop and it didn't matter if it was paint grade or stain grade.  Onsite installation usually took around 2 hours tops.  Only touch up was for a few nail/screw holes.

   We took care of the dangling cord problem by placing a few holes with grommets in the top and a false panel at the back of the knee space. If the computer was intalled in a part of the cabinet, then we would install a fan with grill to vent the warm air.  The fan was on a thermostat.  I haven't been able to find a source on the these fan/thermostats lately. 

   The greatest thing about this type of system is that it's easy to revert the closet/desk back to it's origional state. 

1. 
   Terre | Dec 31, 2004 07:28am | #16

   Good evening,

   Thank you for the time you spent in answering our question.  We printed a hard copy for future use.  Probably sometime in the future we would convert Susan's work station back into a closet. 

   Terre

8. 
   VomSorb | Dec 31, 2004 12:02am | #8

   I agree with the laptop/wireless LAN idea posted above. 

   Dedicated furniture for a clunky desktop computers is passe'.

   For the time and money you will spend building some silly contraption to fit in a closet you could buy a laptop.

   Lose the behemoth.

1. 
   Terre | Dec 31, 2004 07:30am | #17

   Good evening,

   We are building a short term work station.  Life span I would imagine would be two to three years.  Perhaps in the future our next computer will be a lap top.  Thanks for the input.

   Terre