OT: Starting PC At Low Temp?

[(PeteCresswell)]

Recently ran AC to my garden shed and pulled some Cat5e while I was at
it.

Now it's dawned on me that I could move the old WSH box that I use to
back up my NAS out to said shed and gain an extra margin of backup
security in the event of a fire or destructive burglary.

But this begs the question of what happens during winter when I fire it
up. We are in Southeastern Penna where see upper teens (F) during the
nights.

The lube in the drives is the first thing that comes to mind and I'm
thinking either damage or just failure to start. I can live with
failure to start, but not damage.

Googling, I see a lot of stuff about disk drive operating temperatures,
but that does not seem to be the issue. The issue would seem to be the
temperature at which the drive is asked to start spinning.

So, bottom line, do I have an issue with starting a PC when it's down in
the teens F (minus 10-ish Celsius)

 

[Bob Willard]

Recently ran AC to my garden shed and pulled some Cat5e while I was at
it.

Now it's dawned on me that I could move the old WSH box that I use to
back up my NAS out to said shed and gain an extra margin of backup
security in the event of a fire or destructive burglary.

But this begs the question of what happens during winter when I fire it
up. We are in Southeastern Penna where see upper teens (F) during the
nights.

The lube in the drives is the first thing that comes to mind and I'm
thinking either damage or just failure to start. I can live with
failure to start, but not damage.

Googling, I see a lot of stuff about disk drive operating temperatures,
but that does not seem to be the issue. The issue would seem to be the
temperature at which the drive is asked to start spinning.

So, bottom line, do I have an issue with starting a PC when it's down in
the teens F (minus 10-ish Celsius)

Forget about it. The first time you power up a HD covered with frost,
you will short out a chip or two.

If you really want the HD(s) to work in your shed, buy an oven that will
keep the HDs and their electronics above 40°F. (Note that standard
kitchen ovens are not the answer, since the minimum setting on newish
ones is 170°F, which is too high for HDs.)

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per David H. Lipman:

Standard computing equipment is not "ruggedized" and thus not vetted to that
kind of environment.

That was easy... -)


THanks

 

[Twayne]

Something as simple as a light bulb placed inside the PC or near it, with a
small fan blowing the heat into it, would suffice. Or the computer in a
simple shell with the bottom open and allowing
heat around to collect in the PC area would also suffice. With a little
brainstorming and enough will power, there are many ways to run a PC in the
cold. There are even small heatinig elements that could be put inside their
cases, which would turn off if the temp reached a set limit.

Undedicated people often give up too soon.

Twayne`



In

 

[Ken Springer]

Recently ran AC to my garden shed and pulled some Cat5e while I was at
it.

Now it's dawned on me that I could move the old WSH box that I use to
back up my NAS out to said shed and gain an extra margin of backup
security in the event of a fire or destructive burglary.

But this begs the question of what happens during winter when I fire it
up. We are in Southeastern Penna where see upper teens (F) during the
nights.

The lube in the drives is the first thing that comes to mind and I'm
thinking either damage or just failure to start. I can live with
failure to start, but not damage.

Googling, I see a lot of stuff about disk drive operating temperatures,
but that does not seem to be the issue. The issue would seem to be the
temperature at which the drive is asked to start spinning.

So, bottom line, do I have an issue with starting a PC when it's down in
the teens F (minus 10-ish Celsius)

On the curious side, why did you run Cat5e to begin with?

As I read the replies, I could tell there were no maintenance guys
who've dealt with cold temps until I read Twayne's post.

Depending on your specific environment, there are many ways to get this
done. You could keep it at room temperature with a piece of common heat
tape.

I have a I have a insulated wooden cover over my septic lift station,
that is 5' X 7' X 1.5' that I keep at 55 F using an 18' piece of heat
tape, and I get temps below 0 often in the winter.


--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.8.3
Firefox 20.0
Thunderbird 17.0.5
LibreOffice 4.0.1.2

 

[Bob Willard]

If it is a spindle drive, you'll kill the hard disk. When the hard disk
is cold the metal contracts and thus will have no freedom of movement
and the hard disk will mechanically fail. You would have to bring up
the temperature closer to room temp. before starting it.

If it has a Solid State Drive (SSD) that won't be the case. However
cooling fans in the power supply, for the CPU and the chassis will
exhibit this problem mechanical spindle problem.

Another issue is the increased opposite ends of the Cooling and Warming
cycles. Materials tend to expand when heated and contract when cooled.
If the cold of the cycle is very cold then the two opposite ends of the
spectrum would have even more of a fatigue and chip-creep issue. When
electronic connections go though Cooling and Warming cycles and
materials expand and contract components the are socketed will
experience "chip-creep" where the constant expansion and contraction
cycles would cause chips to "walk" their way out of sockets and cables
to disconnect.

Bob mentioned about frost. That really isn't an issue. It would have
to be a really humid environment with the metal being much colder to
cause a hydrophilic frost accumulation. If it was the case, you would
see that on other metals in the environment and you would know you can't
power up.

Gee, Dave, you really need to get out more -- particularly at night, in
the winter, in the northern US. Frost on the ground is not unusual, and
when the ground gets frosty, metal objects (wheelbarrows, tractors, and
HDs) left outdoors will too.

 

[Ken Springer]

Gee, Dave, you really need to get out more -- particularly at night, in
the winter, in the northern US. Frost on the ground is not unusual, and
when the ground gets frosty, metal objects (wheelbarrows, tractors, and
HDs) left outdoors will too.

+1

--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.8.3
Firefox 20.0
Thunderbird 17.0.5
LibreOffice 4.0.1.2

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Ken Springer:

On the curious side, why did you run Cat5e to begin with?

To serve a couple of critter cams - purely entertainment to see what's
frequenting the premises after dark.

 

[Nil]

I totally understand that. The following is my attic and my
little Kabuki Theatre.

http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk/other/4_squirrels.mpg

Yikes. What do you plan to do about them?

(I have a squirrel problem I'm trying to deal with, too.)

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per David H. Lipman:

I totally understand that. The following is my attic and my little Kabuki
Theatre.

http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk/other/4_squirrels.mpg

I can't make it render on my Windows XP SP3 box, but if you have
squirrels in the attic, I think that can become a big problem.

 

[Paul]

I have been dealing with the problem since November 2011.

This shows how they orginally got in.
http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk/other/Squirrel_Entry1.JPG

June of 2012 the landlord fixed that hole. However the squirrels chewed
a new entry hole and it looled like this in July 2012.

http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk/other/Squirrel_Entry2.JPG

Later in July '12 they had a litter and I removed two baby squirrels.

http://multi-av.thespykiller.co.uk/other/BabySquirrels.jpg

I have been dealing with the univited guests until last Saturday when I
removed three new baby squirrels.

That was the lkast straw. I wasn't going to have the landlord
procrastinate any longer so I took charge. I went to Lowes and from
their garden section I obtained a roll of 24 guage wire mesh with 1/4"
square holes. From Home Depot I obtained 6 cans of "Great Stuff Pest
Block" expanding foam. I went into the attic spaces (wore a mask, long
sleeves and gloves) and used my Dremel (with a cutting wheel) to cut
sections of wire mesh from the roll. I folded, bent and rolled the wire
mesh into open spaces, cracks and crevices. Then I sprayed the expanding
foam into those areas. The wire mesh acts as a physical barrier to
their chewing as well as a skeleton (frame) for the expanding foam to
use as a structure to hold on to while it cured. The foam acts as a
physical, light and odour barrier.

Then I propped a ladder on the side of the house and I cut more wire
mesh from the roll. I folded, bent and rolled the wire mesh and crammed
it into external open spaces, cracks and crevices. I then used 1/2"
staples and a staple gun and stabled a flat wire mesh barrier flat
against the surface and contoured around the opening and area around the
opening. Then I sprayed the expanding foam into that opening. After it
cured I can see the squirrels tried to chew the foam that extruded
through the wire mesh but they were stymied by the wire mesh. I then
used a knife and cut out excess foam and painted the wire mesh and
staples. I repeated the whole wire mesh and expanding foam theme for
any ares in the eaves and roof lines that looked like they can be used
for entry.

So far, no squirrels have re-entered so I consider it a success but will
know for sure over time.

Squirrels love the taste of blood thinner (warfarin).
Put the warfarin in some bait, and wait for the squirrels to
eat it. The squirrels bleed out internally and die. Don't
leave the bait, where other, more valuable animals will
find it. (Cat, dog, pet zebra, etc)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6578724

Warfarin is used as a blood thinner for humans too.
I worked for a guy who took this every day, to prevent
future problems. At a lower dose than you'd use on a
squirrel or a rat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warfarin

More fun ideas here. A squirrel is just a rodent, in a fur coat.
That's what my nature book said.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodenticide

Paul

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per David H. Lipman:

It was captured using VLC.
Windows Media Player, XnView and VLC render it.

You are the first to indicate they can't view it :-(

That tells me that it's my PC...

I'll give it a shot with VLC.

Why not just upload vids to YouTube?

 

[Paul]

Per David H. Lipman:

That tells me that it's my PC...

I'll give it a shot with VLC.

Why not just upload vids to YouTube?

You can run the GSpot media checker on it, and
see what CODECs are needed to play it. Just to see
what is missing from your system. (As VLC is likely
to play it.)

(Version v2.70a)
http://gspot.headbands.com/v26x/index.htm

For any evolving graphics standards, eventually
that tool is going to go out of date. Like
when H.265 comes out. GSpot isn't likely
to get that one right.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding

Paul