Does Your Video Projector Double as a Space Heater?

[AVSJeff]

For those of you out there with a smaller theater/media room (like me), what are you doing to keep the projector from heating up the room like a dry sauna (especially in the summer months)? I understand that rooms that are a separate heating/cooling zone don't have this problem. Are most of you ducting the exhaust from the projector out of the room somehow? I notice that after a couple of hours watching a movie, the room gets really warm (almost uncomfortable) from the projector exhaust.

Just curious as to what the best remedy might be.

[Craig Peer]

For those of you out there with a smaller theater/media room (like me), what are you doing to keep the projector from heating up the room like a dry sauna (especially in the summer months)? I understand that rooms that are a separate heating/cooling zone don't have this problem. Are most of you ducting the exhaust from the projector out of the room somehow? I notice that after a couple of hours watching a movie, the room gets really warm (almost uncomfortable) from the projector exhaust.

Just curious as to what the best remedy might be.

At the least you could turn just the fan on your A/C system on, to move air out of that room.

[SRW1000]

I have the same problem, but it's really only an issue in summer.

After about two or three hours in the theater room the temp goes up about four degrees.  It levels off after that, and will only go up about another degree or two over the following two to four hours.

We keep our indoor temp at 68 degrees in winter, so that's not an issue.  But in summer it can get close to 80 degrees, which is uncomfortable.  

We have a whole-house air exchanger, so air is constantly moving in and out of the room, but that's only of limited value.  It's also a bit on the loud side, so I turn it down to low speed during movie watching.  The exhaust grill is directly above the projector, so that may help a bit.

There's always the option of a ductless air conditioner.  They're supposed to be quite and non-intrusive.

Scott

[bmoney]

I have never noticed this in my theater. But I also have heat/AC ducts in the theater. 

[AVSJeff]

I saw this on one of the theater group forums the other day:

Does Your Video Projector Double as a Space Heater?

So I decided to check mine. The temperature blowing out the front of my JVC projector is 112 degrees with a fan blowing air across it (I'm sure it would be higher if I didn't have a fan blowing air at the front of the projector). The room temp at my MLP measured 84 degrees after a two-hour movie. I know a lot of people with home theaters have them located in the basement where the natural air temp is cooler, but mine is on the second floor of my home. To make matters worse, I only have 1 furnace (forced air) and 1 thermostat (located in the Great Room/Dining Room/Kitchen area of the main level). There is only 1 supply duct and 1 return air duct in my theater room. Since my thermostat is located in a part of the house where the temperature is 'satisfied', the air conditioning never blows any cold air in my theater room. I have thought about using a 4" dryer flex duct to exhaust the heat from the front of the projector directly into the return air duct (which conveniently is located on the right side wall near the back of the room). Without making the investment in a 'mini-split' air conditioner for the room or a portable swamp cooler/air conditioner (noisy), does anyone have any other suggestions? My 'space heater' video projector might come in handy during the winter months when the temperature is cold outside, but in the summer it's unbearably warm.

[SRW1000]

Being on the second floor really adds a double whammy to your situation.

Short of a minisplit, you could reduce the temp of your main house to a ridiculously low temp, say 10 degrees lower than normal, and give it enough time to reduce your total house temp before starting the movie.  I have seen people do that.  The downside is that the rest of the house will be uncomfortable, and it's going to cost a bundle to have your AC set to 64 degrees or so for the number of hours it will take to bring down the temp.

The only other idea is to watch au naturel with a number of quite fans pointed directly at you. 

That may, or may not, be an enticement if you invite guests.

Scott

[AVSMike]

I have a very small room. The projector that put out the most heat was my RS4500. My theater is also on the second floor. I have zero heat issue in my room. What I did was, install a whisper quiet Panasonic bathroom fan right above the front of my projector. I routed the exhaust to a room downstairs that has a high ceiling. The exhaust fan has multiple fan speeds you can select. I believe I use the middle speed of 80CFM. 

Fan is so quiet, that I have to use a piece of paper over the intake to confirm it is running. I installed a control relay in the electric junction box on the exhaust fan that is triggered by a 12 volt input. I connected to the 12 volt output on the projector and have the 12 volt output set to come on when projector is turned on. So exhaust fan automatically powers on, whenever projector is turned on. 

Before adding the exhaust fan, I could still keep my room cool, but it meant cooling all the rooms on the second floor. My upstairs rooms are on one zone and the downstair is on two other zones. I have a remote temperature sensor in the theater. I would set the upstair thermostat to use the remote sensor and it would maintain temperature in the theater room, but in doing so, it really cooled the rest of the upstairs rooms. 

Now that I route the heat out, I do not even need to use the remote sensor in the theater room. Theater room actually stays slightly cooler (one degree) than the thermostat setting. 

[Craig Peer]

I saw this on one of the theater group forums the other day:

Does Your Video Projector Double as a Space Heater?

So I decided to check mine. The temperature blowing out the front of my JVC projector is 112 degrees with a fan blowing air across it (I'm sure it would be higher if I didn't have a fan blowing air at the front of the projector). The room temp at my MLP measured 84 degrees after a two-hour movie. I know a lot of people with home theaters have them located in the basement where the natural air temp is cooler, but mine is on the second floor of my home. To make matters worse, I only have 1 furnace (forced air) and 1 thermostat (located in the Great Room/Dining Room/Kitchen area of the main level). There is only 1 supply duct and 1 return air duct in my theater room. Since my thermostat is located in a part of the house where the temperature is 'satisfied', the air conditioning never blows any cold air in my theater room. I have thought about using a 4" dryer flex duct to exhaust the heat from the front of the projector directly into the return air duct (which conveniently is located on the right side wall near the back of the room). Without making the investment in a 'mini-split' air conditioner for the room or a portable swamp cooler/air conditioner (noisy), does anyone have any other suggestions? My 'space heater' video projector might come in handy during the winter months when the temperature is cold outside, but in the summer it's unbearably warm.

Just turn the fan switch on your thermostat from " auto " to " on " when watching a movie. That will at least keep the air moving through the room.