Re: Equipment in loft - dust and heat issues?

["Andy Whitfield" <andywhitfield2002@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi
I run a business selling UPSs and occasionally I get asked about
installing a UPS in the loft, garage or out building.  So I have had
to think about the consequences of heat, cold and/or
condensation/dampness on the UPS (and, of course, other equipment
such as servers, etc).

Here are my 'thoughts'....
Heat:  Most electrical equipment should run OK at high ambient
temperatures as long as the is an adequate and constant air flow.
May need to add additional fans for very high ambient temps.
Batteries (in UPSs) do not react well too high temps.  The heat can
be either ambient or from other equipment.  Battery internal
resistance reduces at high temps, which causes an increase in
current, which in turn heats up the battery further.  The battery
will swell and fail prematurely.

Dust:  Three problems with dust & fluff.  Firstly it can act as
insulator.  I have seen UPSs where the heatsink was effectively
lagged due to the thick compacted layer of dust and fluff and
couldn't be cooled.  Secondly can get in to the fan bearings and
stop the fan from working.  And thirdly it can be a fire hazard.  If
the fans fail and the equipment overheats then the dust is a good
tinder.  Though I have to say I've never seen equipment that has
caught fire to due to fan failure and being clogged with dust.

Condensation/dampness:  I had a stack of UPSs in a self storage room
and the overnight outside temp fell to about 0C.  Next morning the
UPSs were literally running in water!  The storage room was next to
an external wall which no doubt made things worse.  Condensation can
form on metal cased equipment or can form on the inside of the roof
and drip down on to the equipment.  Fans running continuously should
help against condensation/dampness and obviously, some sort of cover
will stop condensation dripping down from above.

I would think the position of the equipment within the loft would
also have an effect on it's temperature.  The warmest part of the
loft on winter's night is probably above the bedroom.  But as you
say the may be a noise problem.  Maybe situate it near the loft trap
door?  If the loft door isn't lagged then that's probably a 'warm
spot'.

Regards
Andy the UPS man

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "dermot_bradley" <bradley@t...>
wrote:
>
> Hey folks
>
> I moved house a few months ago (just after finishing wiring on my
last
> place doh!) and am trying to plan stuff out in the new house (3
years
> old but new to me). Unlike the previous place there's nowhere under
> the stairs to put kit and cables and I think the garage is out for
> various reasons.
>
> I was just going to put the ether switch, router, CAT5 cables etc
in a
> corner of my home office but now I'm wondering about using the
loft.
> However I'm considered about dust and heat up there.
>
> At the very least I'd consider having CAT5 cable run to a patch
panel
> there and the ether switch up there. The aerial coax already meets
> there for a amp/splitter.
>
> I'm planned on building a couple/few new servers and am considering
> whether to put them up there - the RAID server probably would
generate
> too much heat (and the noise might echo down thru the roof into the
> bedrooms) but the other boxes may be mini-ITX machines (not sure if
> fanless) with no disks so they should run cool and quiet.
>
> Basically I'm worried about dust in the loft getting sucked into
PSU
> and case fans. Also in summer I'd expect the loft gets quite hot
and I
> wouldn't want the servers dying due to it.
>
> I guess I could put everything in a small rackmount chassis (10-12U
> max) but these tend to be expensive.
>
> Comments?
>