Cupboard cooling issue

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This may sound strange….

We have a pc that is situated inside a cupboard (it has to stay there)
We have added air holes to allow heat to escape but it still overheats from time to time, causing issues.

My question is, can I install fans inside the cupboard that will expel the hot air out …. If so, which fans are recommended.

Apologies for what seems a very basic question
 
You can indeed fit fans to remove the heat from the cupboard.
You could use case fans connected via molex/sata or even motherboard headers (with an extension cable, or via a fan controller that can take the speed control for one fan and use it to control several), the motherboard connector option would mean the fans could be controlled by the motherboard so spin up/down as demanded by the PC.
The other option is to either fit mains powered fans, or case fans connected to a separate power supply and possibly connected to a thermostatic control of some type.

The first option is probably the easier one to run with in terms of no additional power sources needed, but may cause a few issues when you go to pull the case out of the cupboard, the second is totally independent of the case but probably a bit harder to have it temperature controlled.

Remember, like the case itself you'll want intake holes (low down) as well as the exhaust holes, it's even possible that simply adding the holes will be enough on their own if the cupboard doesn't have any ventilation at the moment.
If you do need to add holes in the cupboard, I'd suggest getting a half decent holesaw in the right size, they're not massively expensive and will likely save you a lot of time or cursing as you try and make a suitable size round hole.
 
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Would agree with what Werewolf has suggested. I've seen similar things discussed on other forums/places.

The only thing I would suggest also to consider adding would be to try and work out adding a filter to the intake fan mounting somehow. Afraid I really have no experience personally doing this, so cannot suggest or recommend anything. But I think like any PC case, you might want to use large fans if noise would be a concern.
 
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Another option is USB powered fans. You could power them from the PC, or just an old phone charger if you have a spare socket in the cupboard. For example, here's two 140mm fans for ~£22:


As Mr Wolf mentioned, holes at the bottom (intake) and top (exhaust) of the cupboard door would be ideal
 
Don't forget some kind of fan guard.

When I used to have an aftermarket hub I used a cheap multi voltage PSU to power a cooling fan. If you're feeling adventurous a variable 12V bench power supply could be used to operate multiple fans while also giving you manual speed control. You'll need to have soldering skills to create the fan wiring harness though.
 
Yeah this has come up before on here
Though forget what section
Of the forum it was in

What fans partly depends
What noise level is acceptable?
The bigger the fan the quieter it can be
I would look at 140mm or even 200mm

As already mentioned
Theres multiple ways to control the fans
Control method thoughts
Ideally would like the fans to run for a while
After the pc has shutdown
Not sure if a smart plug and home assistant
Could do that
Or if theres any way to make them run
Until the cupboard temperature drops to a certain level
Would be another idea
 
I was just thinking about this and remembered I did something similar with some house fans and TAPO last year, but it would cost around £40ish to get the controls set up if you don't already have some of the kit or similar gear.

What I did was have a couple of fans set to turn on when the temperature in one of the bedrooms hit X temp, then turn off when it dropped to X-1 for five minutes - the idea was to start getting some improved airflow to the room before it became uncomfortably hot but not rely on someone remembering to turn the fans on/off manually (and it let us use some very cheap and basic, but quiet fans).
Parts used were Tapo T315 themometer with display (already had as I was using some to monitor temperatures remotely) around £20-25 depending on deal, or a T310 which doesn't have the display and is about a fiver cheaper. The T315 has run for approaching 2 1/2 years on it's original batteries (bought june 2023 and is just starting to give a low battery warning)
A Tapo hub (although I think the Kasa ones also work with Tapo thermometers and plugs) H100 about £16 as the thermometers need it to link to the wifi (I already had one for some smart light switches and tapo buttons that we use for lamps).
A Tapo smart plug (packs of 4 are often around £25)

You can set the app up so that when the thermometer hits say 28c it will turn on the smart plug, then keep it turned on until a set period after the temperature drops, but you can set the "off temp" different to the "on", so by setting it to say: "On: 28c,
Off: 5 minutes at under 26c" you can stop the fans from spinning up for a minute then spinning down for a couple of minutes and repeatedly doing it.

There are probably cheaper ways to do it, but for a simple way that is largely fool proof* and allows you to hook up any fan just by changing what power supply you plug into the switch I don't think there is much that will be easier, and it's probably cheaper than buying mains fans with the function built in** as with this you could just get the cheapest quiet extractor fans and wire them up directly via a plug, or any standard computer fans and wire them to a mains adaptor connected to the smart switch.
I think you could also set the themometer to sound an alert/give you a notification on the app/phone if the temperature reaches a certain level, which could be useful as a warning that the cooling is not enough before the equipment has an issue.


*Do not plug the PC or other equipment into the smart plug...;)

**Extractor fans for example are very expensive once you go from a simple "over run timer" to say a humidistat, despite the difference being about 5 components on the control board, and the same board (sans extra parts) being used in the timer only versions.
 
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If it's always going to be in the cupboard, do you even need the case? Build it into the cupboard itself and you can plan the cooling around that.
 
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