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View Full Version : Air cooling / Air conditioning / Fans

Halcyon
01-05-2005, 23:32
Right well as some of you will know, I live in a loft conversion and it gets very warm in the summer months as the slates on the roof get really hot.
If I broke an egg on the slates it would probably start to cook.

With the recent good spell of weather we have been having lately it got me thinking that with my new PC I dont want to risk damamging anything.

Currently I am getting temperatures that are fine and they havent exceeded 45c as yet. But its not only for my computer, I dont want to be cooked alive either.

I have a couple of fans but they only circulate air and windows open in hot weather are not any use really.
Does anyone use any air conditioning units or air coolers. Is there a difference ?
Last time I checked these were quite expensive.

If anyone knows any good products for lowering temperatures and keeping cool, let me know.

Sometimes it really does get too hot in here, especially when I have both PC's on, my amp, and mixer too.

Also, does anyone know the max temperature it ok to leave equipment in
a room for.

Thanks all.
bdav
01-05-2005, 23:36
PCs will run upto about 50 degC happily so you have no worries there.
punky
01-05-2005, 23:54
PCs will run upto about 50 degC happily so you have no worries there.

Well, a bit more than that... The max temperature is normally about 80-90c

Best thing to do is get a proper air conditioner. They aren't that expensive, places like B&Q and Homebase normally do some cheap, but very effectove ones.
bdav
02-05-2005, 00:32
Not realy needed for PC though - more personal comfort!
daxx
02-05-2005, 13:40
but it makes the 'puters run nice and cool, bit noisy if youre trying to concentrate, but like all other 'background noises' you become accustomed to it.

Got three of the things in the house all from B&Q a couple of years ago, two upstairs, one in my 'room' lots of puters and heat generating stuff in here and the other on the landing. Both venting into the loft space. The one downstairs just vents to the outside world. When they are all on they do reduce the overall temp in the house to a bearable level even on the hottest (as we get in this country) of days.

That used them now I've started thinking about the 'thru the wall' units as a more permanent (ish) fixture.
banjo
02-05-2005, 13:56
I purchased a portable air conditioner from B&Q last year and found it was very good for cooling a bedroom, have a look on their site but the last 2 years they have sold out very quickly.
Halcyon
27-05-2005, 16:04
Well I havent bought my cooler as yet... planning to over the next week I think.
At the moment I'm having to do with fans. However when I'm out the house and everything is turned off, temperature inside my room gets up to about 32-35 degrees C or more at times.

Would you say this OK for computer equipment to sit at, bare in mind the equipment isnt on, its just in the room. How high temperature can you keep electronic equipment in a room at. Switched off.
Like nothing could expand or melt or something ?
Raistlin
27-05-2005, 16:07
Well I havent bought my cooler as yet... planning to over the next week I think.
At the moment I'm having to do with fans. However when I'm out the house and everything is turned off, temperature inside my room gets up to about 32-35 degrees C or more at times.

Would you say this OK for computer equipment to sit at, bare in mind the equipment isnt on, its just in the room. How high temperature can you keep electronic equipment in a room at. Switched off.
Like nothing could expand or melt or something ?

Considering that the sale of computers is aimed at a global market, and there are a lot of places hotter than the UK, you should be ok.

The standard operating temperature in our office is something like 26 degrees and that's with the machines running all the time.
paulyoung666
27-05-2005, 16:18
can you see how hot the pc is running ???? , maybe in the bios , is there not 2 oppsing windows that you can open to get some draught going on ???? :)
Halcyon
28-05-2005, 00:02
Thanks, yeah I guess youi are right about lots of PC's being in countries a lot hotter than England.
Its just when I'm out, my room which is in the loft gets very warm like a greenhouse as the slates heat up quickly on the roof.

I guess I am just paranoid about these things as its my new equipment, but when I think about it, 30 degrees C is what it is when its on, so it should pose a problem when the Pc isnt even on.

I'm more relaxed now.

Thanks everyone.
Raistlin
28-05-2005, 00:12
Perhaps you need something like this:

http://www.ohardt.com/computer/pc.mods/project.hot.fridge/round.01/

http://www.ohardt.com/computer/pc.mods/project.hot.fridge/round.02/

:D
Halcyon
28-05-2005, 00:29
LOL
[Goes to fetch old fridge from garage] ;)

Interesting idea tho.
Raistlin
28-05-2005, 00:30
Apparently the biggest problems are the fact that fridges often suffer from condensation (which is a bad thing with PC components) and that your PC will be constantly generating heat which means that the fridge's condensor will be working at more or less 100% all the time (a bad thing for a fridge).