You Asked:
My home office is overheating during the summer swelter. Is there a way to cool it down? — Bob, Raleigh, NC

Marshall Brain Answered:
Many home offices can suffer from heat overload in the summer, because a powerful desktop PC can act like a little space heater for the room. If you have a high-power microprocessor chip and a high-end graphics card (or two), and a big monitor, along with a laser and several other peripherals, you are easily adding 500 watts of heat (or more) to the room all day long. The air conditioner may not be able to keep up. Here are some options to cool things down:

1) The cheapest and simplest way might be to leave the office door open and put a box fan in the doorway. If you can’t leave the door open because of privacy or noise concerns then…

2) Check the damper system for the central air conditioning system. In many homes there are rotating dampers in the duct work that allow you to tune the amount of air going to each room. Fully open the damper for the office, and perhaps close off the dampers for other rooms a little bit. If there are not dampers like these in the ducts, then you may be able to help things by partially closing registers in other rooms to force more air toward the office.

3) Consider boosting the air flowing into the office by either: a) adding a second duct and register to the office (which can be simpler than it sounds, especially if registers are in the ceiling) or b) adding a booster fan either in the duct or at the register (like this).

4) If none of those ideas will work in your situation, you can add a small window air conditioner. This solution costs about $100. If you would rather not do that because of the aesthetics or noise then consider…

5) An in-room air conditioner like these. The unit sits in the room and vents the hot air from the air conditioner out through a tube that looks like a dryer duct. They run between $200 and $500 depending on the size and the features. Depending on the model, you may also have a daily chore of emptying a bucket of water. If that presents problems…

6) A high end unit like a Fujitsu Halcyon puts the compressor and coils outside in a stand-alone housing. That can really cut down on the noise, but you will have to run the copper tubing outside either through the wall, in the wall or through the floor. It’s also more expensive.