Do I Need To Vent The Drawer Where My In-Drawer Outlet Is Located To Prevent Heat Build Up Or Overheating?
Heat build up can be an issue in tightly sealed environments such as the case with an oven. Cabinets on the other hand are not sealed so there is a volume of air in cabinets as well as air intake from the gaps surrounding the drawer fronts and doors.
Technology such as phones, tables, laptops and chargers can warm when in use. But the air exchange in the cabinet, or the volume of air in the cabinet, is high. It would take a warm item endless hours to generate a high degree of heat before it could be of concern.
For example, a common drawer size is 21” x 15” x 5” or 1,575 cubic inches or .91 or about 1 cubic foot of air. We know that it takes 0.24 BTU of heat to change the temperature of one pound of air by one degree F and there are 0.0807 lbs of of air in a cubic foot. So to raise the temperature of your drawer from a standard 70° F to over 356° F it would take a warm device with a relatively low BTU a really long time to heat the drawer space an additional 286 degrees. And it would take even longer in unsealed spaces like cabinets.
Our engineers have spent hundreds of hours ensuring our outlets are safe for commercial use. When you install Docking Drawer outlets into drawers or cabinets, know that you’re adding a smart, simple, and most importantly—SAFE—solution to your home or business.