Thanks to all for the great information and recommendations. The air conditioning system for that side of the house does not pump much air into the theater. My HVAC contractor has proposed turning the existing vent into a return and running a new inflow duct through a larger vent in the ceiling. But he thinks that the room would still be warm because it faces the sun while the rest of the rooms supported by that air conditioning system are all in shade. So cooling the warmer room, the theater, would mean making the other rooms frigid because they are naturally cooler. He recommends the mini-split as the most efficient and the most quiet. And he would close off the duct to the theater at the source which would make the existing system operate with a little more efficiency. But I have no way of testing a mini split system or seeing it demonstrated before taking my chances and spending a lot of money. Either way, a fan in the equipment closet sounds like a good idea.
Air conditioning a home theater.
I have converted my den into a dedicated home theater and listening room. It is posted on Audiogon's Member Systems under Home Theater, Marc's Media Room Madness. The room is great but, since the warmer weather started, we discovered that our home's central air conditioning system is inadequate for cooling that room. Perhaps enclosing the previously open entrance to the room and the addition of carpeting and black out curtains is retaining heat more than before. There are various solutions. The two we are considering are to turn our central system into a zone system or install a "mini split" system. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who can weigh in on which system is more efficient and, most importantly, which one is quieter. Thanks.
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I had a problem similar to yours in my last house. I converted an upstairs bedroom into a HT room. The bedroom had previously been adequately cooled by the upstairs central AC system, but between closing up the room, adding all of the heat-generating HT gear, and keeping the room filled with warm bodies for hours at a time made it sauna-like, especially in the summer. I had one HVAC contractor suggest a mini-split system, another suggested adding a return and upping the tonnage on my upstairs AC unit. Both options were extremely pricy, and both options would increase the noise level in the room substantially. I ended up putting in long speaker cables and moving every piece of gear but the display into a closet in the room. I lined the closet with Sonex, and put a couple of quiet computer muffin fans in the closet to stir up the air. I then vented the closet with 4" ducting that ran to a Nutone in-line fan up in the attic. An in-line fan is installed as part of the duct, not in the room's ceiling, so you can put the fan far enough away that there is no fan noise in the room, only the slight sound of the air intake at the duct. This completely solved my problem. Hot air from the equipment was removed from the room before it could ever affect the room occupants, pressure in the room was reduced to the point that the original house AC was adequate again, the noise level in the room was not appeciably increased, and total dollar outlay (including the long cables) was about 1/10th of the cost of AC work. Try it before you spend big bucks on air conditioning. |
I don't think so you need to change or buy a new air conditioner. First, you have to check this few things:
I hope this will help you. |
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