Cooling my amps
 

One of my amps (zapco st-4x sq) went into protective mode today after playing my music loud for some extended period of time. My amps are located behind the rear strut under the carpet.

I've been looking at cooling fans, however, I'm not sure how much CFM I'll need to appropriately do the job. I felt the wind produced by a 55 CFM computer cooling fan and it doesn't seem like it'll move enough air to properly cool the amp. Interestingly enough, a lot of the cross-flow fans designed for cooling amps only move about 60 CFM, so perhaps 55-60 cfm is sufficient? Thoughts appreciated here.

Also, what have some of you used to cool your amp(s), if anything?

Most car amps will function just fine with convection cooling only (the natural current produced by the heat from the amp). If you can't get the amp out from under the carpet, a 55 cfm fan should do the job as long as there is an exit for the air.

A fan under the carpet? Where will you direct the heat? You just need a little bit of space around the amp.

I use this same amp under a false floor, covered by plexi. There is about 3 inches of space around the amp, and only 1/2" to the plexi. Not once have I had an overheating issue. It needs space, albeit very little. Are you at a 4 ohm load, and are your gains set correctly??

My thought was that I just needed to move the air a bit back there. I figured at least some of the heat will escape from under the carpet. I realize this isn't the most well thought out solution, but I figured I didn't need to to do much to solve the issue. I haven't had a problem for the past month driving for 2+ hours at mid-high volume. The issue popped up after playing my music at roughly 90-100 db for about an hour, following roughly 1.5-2 hours of playtime at mid-high volume.

The amp is running at 4 ohms. The gains should be correctly set as well. I'm not entirely sure, but I think a possible issue is the way the amps have been physically set up:

Attachment 123644

The cooling fins of the amp are flush against the amp rack on one side and very close to touching the carpet padding on the other side. I'm not sure if this is an issue as the whole top of the amp acts as a heatsink (as I understand it). Perhaps I should re-mount the amps?

Beautiful set-up by the way Ron. Wish I were in PA; I'd pester you to listen to your system. I'm entering the MECA street comp here in California coming up in the next week.

You may be right about the positioning of the amps. It may be as simple as putting slightly more space (if you can) Between them, or simply turning them over (bottom to top). If all else fails, a fan will definitely help... even under the carpet.
Good luck at your show, and thanks for the props...:tiphat: