Computer Environment

[BooST]

I have a question for all the gurus around. I have a rackmount server, a catalyst 3550, a cable modem, and a PIX 501 I want to put out in a rack in my garage. My question is, will being out in the garage damage this stuff? It's not climate controlled, but stays fairly cool. I just want to make sure before I put a crapload of expensive equiptment out in the garage.

Any thoughts?

 

[Bozo]

As long as the temperature does not go to extreams, you should be fine. What might be worse is humidity and critters. Hot and cold are fine, but hot and damp or cold and damp are a no-no.

Bugs and mice love computers and electrical equipment.

Bozo :mrgrn:

 

[BooST]

Yeah, I'm not too worried about mice, it'll be in a rack, but the temps do get fairly warm/moist and cold/moist. I thought humidity was a good thing, not bad???

 

[LunarMist]

Humidity may be good for the skin, but it is bad for electronics and mechanics. Water can accelerate many chemical reactions, including corrosion. In which geographical region is your garage?

 

[mubs]

The immediate thing that comes to mind is dust. There's going to be plenty of that, with the attendant problems.

 

[BooST]

I agree with the dust problem, the rack will have air filtration. I was told that some humidity is good for computers, because if there is none, static builds up much more quickly

 

[BooST]

Lunar - I'm located in Northwest Indiana, about 40 miles from Chicago.

 

[Mercutio]

I keep a PC running in my garage, but it's out there on my workbench, waiting for me to test spare parts. Its case even has some rust on it, where paint got chipped off.

But I think putting a whole rack of known-god equipment out there might not be wise.

 

[ddrueding]

Here in Central Califoria I run quite a bit of gear in the garage. I got one of those weather recorder things from Rat Shack to keep an eye on the climate. The garage is relatively air-tight, and computer equipment does a great job of removing humidity from the air. Just be sure to keep all the gear at least a foot or so above the ground to keep rodents and things from climbing in.

 

[BooST]

Thanks ddrueding, I plan on putting the stuff high up in the rack, and a fan exhausting the hot air out of the top with some kind of filtration system on the bottom and front/back.

 

[ddrueding]

Also, if you don't mind spending some money to protect your expensive equipment, BlackBox offers some very nice enviromentally controlled enclosures. They have a really spiffy one with dual filtered intakes and A/C

 

[Buck]

I use to keep several servers in the garage. I never had a problem with critters, and the temperature variations were pretty drastic (100F in the summer, 40F in the winter), but that bother anything. The biggest problem was dirt. Leaving only a few miles from the ocean provides us with a pretty humid and dirty environment. The fine salt and grime that would float into the garage would take out chassis fans in a year or two. I finally moved everything out of the garage, and spent quite of bit of time doing some detailed maintenance on those machines. The tenacity of that schmutz was amazing. It formed this thin film that required a hand scrubbing to remove. I ended up opening the power supply, carefully cleaning the inside and replacing the 80mm fan. So it is for that particular reason that I wouldn’t put servers in the garage again – unless, of course, I could control the air quality.