How to keep an 'always on' BI PC safe

[freddyq]

Hi all,

A small concern I have with the PC with BI setup is the fact that it obviously needs to be on 24/7. Some people will have this PC on a desk in the house somewhere, others will have it stored in a dedicated cabinet/storage space where other equipment and cables live.

I'm just wondering whether there are any measures to be taken to ensure it can't overheat/malfunction and cause a fire? Is this a non-issue? Maybe modern PCs are built so that this can't happen unless it is stored in tiny space or covered up?

Just a thought...

 

[bp2008]

The best you can do is ensure there is good ventilation.

 

[Aruth01]

...I'm just wondering whether there are any measures to be taken to ensure it can't overheat/malfunction and cause a fire? Is this a non-issue? Maybe modern PCs are built so that this can't happen unless it is stored in tiny space or covered up?

Just a thought...

The fans in PC's work just like little vacuum cleaners to suck in dust and it builds up everywhere. It makes the fans less efficient and blocks airflow where you need it. The power supply is especially bad because the dust is inside the box of the power supply and not easy to blow out. If you have some idea what you're doing, you can clean it with a can of the appropriate compressed electronics duster stuff (it's not air). You can also destroy a PC that way so consider having someone else clean it out if you're not comfortable with it.

I don't know how long you can go without cleaning and I know many computers are never cleaned but IMO if the dust is thicker in the PC than you want under your bed, it's time. Our 2 office computers are on about 16 hours a day. I'm not fussy but I probably clean them once or twice a year. Sometimes I just blow the easy dust out, sometimes I really get into it.

[Edit: The risk of fire is low. You're more likely to have strange problems that you can't reproduce or have components fail sooner. Most likely you won't have any problems at all but don't push your luck with lack of ventiliation.]

 

[fenderman]

It's a non issue...the PC will shutdown if there is an overheat condition..

 

[freddyq]

The fans in PC's work just like little vacuum cleaners to suck in dust and it builds up everywhere. It makes the fans less efficient and blocks airflow where you need it. The power supply is especially bad because the dust is inside the box of the power supply and not easy to blow out. If you have some idea what you're doing, you can clean it with a can of the appropriate compressed electronics duster stuff (it's not air). You can also destroy a PC that way so consider having someone else clean it out if you're not comfortable with it.

I don't know how long you can go without cleaning and I know many computers are never cleaned but IMO if the dust is thicker in the PC than you want under your bed, it's time. Our 2 office computers are on about 16 hours a day. I'm not fussy but I probably clean them once or twice a year. Sometimes I just blow the easy dust out, sometimes I really get into it.

[Edit: The risk of fire is low. You're more likely to have strange problems that you can't reproduce or have components fail sooner. Most likely you won't have any problems at all but don't push your luck with lack of ventiliation.]

I did have a PC in the past which was making an awful lot of noise all the time and it was the fan working overtime. I opened it up to find a 1 inch layer of dust covering the grill in front of the fan so removed it and all was back to normal! So it's a good point - I don't know if modern PCs handle this better but I'd be watching out for the fan whirring constantly or at high speeds.

 

[bp2008]

Having air filters on the computer case's intake fans can help a little, but most cases don't have these out-of-box.