BobR 29th June 2008, 12:34 PM A friend has a custom made unit to house entertainment equiupment. The top has split and the suspect culprit is the heat from the installed equipment. There are access holes in the back of the unit for cables, but obviously not enough. Has anyone else experienced this problem. At this point I have not seen the unit so can not comment on how the top has been fixed.
switt775 29th June 2008, 01:46 PM He should also look at how the unit is finished on the inside. If the timber is not properly sealed the heat will suck all the moisture out, and the result is shinkage, which if no allowance for movement results in cracking.
Increasing the air flow to cut down on the heat buildup will slow down the process, but if the timber isn't properly sealed (often the case in a budget priced unit), you are just delaying the inevitable.
Durdge39 29th June 2008, 02:12 PM Something a lot of people miss when thinking about housing computers and hi-fi equipment is the heat that is given off by them, most amp units and computers will settle on about 40C in open air, and if they had no airflow, that can easily go right up to anything as severe as 100C, but most worst cases are only about 60C, due to the shut off systems in most equipment these days.
In your case, the best thing is to have an open back on the cabinet, but seeing as I doubt he'd do that, maybe installing some small 12v computer fans to circulate the air from the open front to an exhaust hole in the back.
BobR 29th June 2008, 03:30 PM circulate the air from the open front
It gets worse. There is no open front - wood doors. I will try and get over and have a look at the unit and provide some more info.
IanW 29th June 2008, 07:38 PM Has anyone else experienced this problem?........
Yup - as Durdge says, hifi & other equipment can generate quite a bit of warmth. I had to cobble up an extra plinth for our modest unit when the number of bits got too much for it to contain in the provided slot. The amp is quite a low output by most standards, but still managed to cause the joint in the top piece to open up a bit. This surprised me, actually, as the wood was well & truly seasoned & I thought I had made due allowance for all eventualities. The top piece, which is only about 350mm wide, is attached by loose screws to the two rails dovetailed into the sides - the back is completely open, as you can see. But the vents on the top of the amplifier cabinet are concentrated in one area, so I suppose it just poured a gentle stream of warm air on the join, & that was enough to rapidly dry the wood above it to near zero MC.
So that's what can happen even with reasonable ventilation. Sounds like your mate needs to do some serious opening-up.....
Cheers,
malb 29th June 2008, 10:34 PM The only electrical item I can think of that could be allowed to operate in an almost totally enclosed environment would be a poultry or reptile incubator, where a low power heat source is heating a substantial area as the primary aim.
Electronics in a near fully enclosed cabinet is an invitation to disaster of the alarms and red trucks with noisy sirens nature.
The equipment needs access to freely circulating air when in operation, and may also in standby mode if it has remote controls. If the gear must operate with the cabinet doors closed, then there is an urgent need to have substantial inlet openings in the base of the cabinet, and either similar sized openings in the upper portion of the back panel to create a grate and chimney effect, or smaller opening fitted with quiet fans in the back panel. It is normally possible to have the openings hidden beneath and behind the equipment, so that they do not show. However with closed doors, hiding the opennings would be a substantially lower priority.
Frank Drew 30th June 2008, 09:58 AM Not assuming anything, but I wonder if there are also some crossgrain construction issues; the top was solid wood (correct?)... was it fastened down in a way that left it unable to expand and contract?
BobR 30th June 2008, 12:52 PM Frank, as I mentioned in the original post I have yet to see how the top is fastened. I hope to view it tomorrow. My real interest in all of this is that I have been asked to build an entertainment unit to house similar equipment with the plasma unit wall mounted. My research has highlighted a few considerations. However, having viewed a number of units on the web, I believe that there a few time bombs out there.
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