Tube amps and heat

My Citation II with EI KT90s gets plenty hot.

Not only the tubes, but first the power transformer and then the output transformers warm after a few hours driving a load like the AR-9s.

The entire chasis gets very warm to the touch, as it was designed to be a giant heat sink, I'm told :scratch2:

After 4 hours listening at fairly high volume, the room is a warmer, for sure.

The heat is directly related to power rating and actual power output.

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Pio1980 said:

The heat is directly related to power rating and actual power output.

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My shit is very hot..

Well my CJ Premier 1B can almost heat my entire basement in the winter. It is completely unbearable in the summer. But like most people in Seattle, we don't have AC up here.

Both my Eico HF-89, and Duce can warm my listening room in the winter, make it too for comfort in the summer. But my MC225 runs so cool that I can run it all summer long, without a problem.

Keep in mind that to me 80 degrees is hot, 90 is hotter than hell, and above that you might as well just put me out of my misery.

Well lets see I'm running two modified baldwin amplifiers a custom el84 amplifier a baldwin mono amp running a quad of 6l6gt tubes. that's 20 6bq5s 4 6l6 tubes 12 12ax7s 8 5u4gb rectifier tubes. all in a 11/10 room in summer even with ac the heat is unbearable. Oh wait also the tube tuner a pilot. All i can say is hooray for fall lol.

kyle said:

I have, in the past, designed HVAC systems for commercial and industrial buildings. While the inclusion of the heat from some tube amps could affect the ability of a minimum sized AC unit to cool a domestic space, it's unlikely. It's also unlikely that you could avoid heating the rest of your house because of the heat put out by your massive power amp. Like most things, it's not as big as you think.
You may think your tubes dissipate a lot of heat but really, even with big tubes, it's not that much.
Before you get a boner and say that the heat dissipated by your system defies the laws of physics, it doesn't and it don't.
A tube that has a a plate dissipation of 60 watts does not emit the same amount of heat as a 60 watt light bulb. This is true because some of the heat goes to the speakers and other parts. While this can produce an aggregate number that is the same, it is not all produced by the tube amp.

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This sounds logical to me. Again, only from my experience which is limited. I guess until I actually experience an amp that can make any significant difference in a rooms temperature I'll remain doubtful.

cubdog

Some of the heat produced in a room is also coming from a mass of flesh and bones at 98.6 degrees but a tube amp will also add a bit.

If my listening room is already warm when I turn on my gear it will stay fairly warm even when the furnace is not kicking on, but my amps are not enough to heat the room much if it is already chilly.

I figure the quality of the music trumps any heat generated by my amps... except in the winter, then it's the best of both worlds... parking in front of the KT-88 tubes after being outside in January is a nice way to thaw out.
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I concur. If it got a little warm in the room I put the fan on. (me not the amps)

kyle said:

I have, in the past, designed HVAC systems for commercial and industrial buildings. While the inclusion of the heat from some tube amps could affect the ability of a minimum sized AC unit to cool a domestic space, it's unlikely. It's also unlikely that you could avoid heating the rest of your house because of the heat put out by your massive power amp. Like most things, it's not as big as you think.
You may think your tubes dissipate a lot of heat but really, even with big tubes, it's not that much.
Before you get a boner and say that the heat dissipated by your system defies the laws of physics, it doesn't and it don't.
A tube that has a a plate dissipation of 60 watts does not emit the same amount of heat as a 60 watt light bulb. This is true because some of the heat goes to the speakers and other parts. While this can produce an aggregate number that is the same, it is not all produced by the tube amp.

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This, and if you're tube amp is making your room hot, you probably have a ducting size issue, not an amp issue. That is unless you're transmitting to a tower.

My DynaMutt MkIII's with Poseidon driver boards heated the room up to intolerable levels, so I stuck them out in the hall.

But, my bedroom has terrible airflow and amazing heat retention during the summer.

With my TV, amps, system on, my girlfriend and I in the room, sitting in chairs, fan on, window open, ceiling fan on medium, an internal thermometer reads 83 degrees where the rest of the apartment is in the lower seventies (identical with the temps outside).

It's sad, really.

From what I can tell, the "H" in HH Scott stands for heat. My two Scott amps (299a and 340) both get really hot....especially the twin 5AR4 of the 340.

My home brew 2A3 SET amp puts out less heat than my SS gear.

Dadbar said:

From what I can tell, the "H" in HH Scott stands for heat. My two Scott amps (299a and 340) both get really hot....especially the twin 5AR4 of the 340.

My home brew 2A3 SET amp puts out less heat than my SS gear.

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Scott had those big white stand up 8k (I think) resistors above the chassis that was an inexpensive attempt at regualtion. You can cook hotdogs on them babies, and they will remove skin from fingers, no problem.

cubdog said:

I often hear complaints or observations about heat generated from tube amps. I've used a portable thermometer to measure the air temp during and after use from a couple feet away from these amps and find no significant difference.

cubdog

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I did the same thing with a temp gun and found that even a few inches away the temps of the walls were the same as many feet away. My fluorescent light bulbs were making more heat in the room than my Dynaco mk lll's.

I have my Fisher 800C sitting right next to me when I listen, but it's never been a problem. What I DO worry about is heat-DISSIPATION. Right now, I have the 800C in it's case, but without the screen. I figured it would be enough ventilation there and that would be it, but a big chunk of the restoration went into those n.o.s. tubes, and I'm not keen on the thought of them burning out way-ahead of their time just because of bad ventilation. I would do a fan if it was going to be noiseless. I like having the Fisher right next to me, and I don't an audible hum in my ear nonstop, so maybe it'll end up wearing nothing at all (and not audio slenderalls) once it's all said and done.

Something weird I noticed though... Even if I preheat the thing like an oven at 350, speakers turned on, it still doesn't begin to warm up sonically until I start actually playing MUSIC through it, which I thought was strange (Is it like this with the rest of you?).

Sounds awesome once it IS warmed-up though... Impossible to miss once it starts happening... Oddly-enough, my W90's with polypropylene caps were kinda like a tube amp that NEEDED to warm up.

4-2-7 said:

2x MC 275 Mk VI Bridged Mono that'a a lot of tubes and it is hot in the summer.

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I hear ya brother. And consider the BTU`s of the same X 2 more also in mono + a tube rectifier-less MC 60 for HT center channel.. lot`s of tubes & waste heat.. My HVAC is set at 75/6` and cycles quite often(approx. 10~15 min.) even when it`s 40` or below outside in a very well insulated house( a double edged sword during cold snaps in NE. FL.) Mercy Sakes alive on those glorious sounding "sonic space heaters" 427 !! But what `cha gonna do.. Regards, OKB