[Brian] came up with an interesting PC cooling setup. He lives up north where it’s chilly in the winter. Using a bit of dryer ductwork and he was able to harness the outside air to cool his box. The system uses a window insert along with a dryer hood to suck in the outside air with a PC fan. We hope the air is adequately warmed, as it is exhausted into the room. Join us after the break for more pictures of his setup.
Below are the duct fitting he used. This includes a hood for outside, a damper which closes with gravity, some scotch brite pad to act as a filter, a flexible duct, and a quick connect.
The next three images show the construction of the window insert. The filter and hood are on the outside of the board, and the quick connect on the inside. Although [Brian] shows a damper in his parts image, we’re not sure where that is actually installed. We think it would be best for this damper to have a servo actuator, as gravity won’t be enough to keep the wind from forcing it open.
If its cold outside there will be nearly no moisture in the air. If anything condenses, it will be on the outside of the case from the air already inside the home. The air moving through the computer from outside, because it is so cold will have a very low moisture content, and so the air inside the computer will have a similarly low moisture content. The only time I would worry about it is if it got appreciably warmer during the day, which might result in warmer humid air contacting really cold parts inside.