Computers in tropical climates

[Gary]

While the majority of the planet enjoys a long winter at the moment, there's
a band of land around the equator where conditions are a lot warmer and more
humid, and consistently so through the whole year.
PC's are installed in these regions, quite a few of them, surprised? No, not
really..
When you have a device that's designed to be enclosed in an air conditioned
environment and dust free, such as a Typical PC, and adapt it to a warm
climate, you end up with a never ending battle with the environment.

Designers of PC's have never considered beyond the "colder" US continental
environment that PC's need special treatment for warmer conditions, this is
25C upwards, 60% humidity +.

For where I live, it's subtropical, summer temperatures are 30-40C, Humidity
can reach 85-90%. This would be also typical in Singapore, Florida to a
degree, many African countries, Mexico, South America and Australia.

What happens to PC's in this environment is:

a) The high humidity mixes with dust and with temperature allows the dirt to
congeal. This cause problems with fans, they collect dust and grime, and
accelerate contaminants into the PC case.

b) This mixture of dust and water settles on motherboard components and
makes new resistors on the motherboard, something the designer didn't build
in. These extra resistors radically change the circuits on the motherboard,
and resets out of the blue, blue screens are very common.

c) The orientation of (especially Athlon) CPU's fan is usually north south,
however on some mobo's the orientation of the heatsinks exhaust is straight
at the RAM which is next door some 30mm away. So after a while, the RAM gets
covered in shite, and once again we have blue screen, mystery reboots and
the like.

d) High humidity and air at speed demolishes the coating of any steel
cabinet. These are a disaster as the coatings are corroded and the steel
forms rust. Rust is conductive and makes really special resistors which draw
high currents and big bangs! Aluminium cases are the way to go here.

If anyone has experience of these problems and a way to cure these problems,
I'm all ears!

Cheers,

 

[Mary Sauer]

What you need is an enclosure
http://www.envirosealed.com/

 

[Ryan]

I have a 478 socket with a retail Intel heatsink .... after about a week
into action, I noticed the fan inside the heatsink collected a good share of
dust.

Anyone know how to effectively keep dust out and off the motherboard without
damaging the components?

 

[James E Middleton]

While the majority of the planet enjoys a long winter at the moment,
there's a band of land around the equator where conditions are a lot
warmer and more humid, and consistently so through the whole year.
PC's are installed in these regions, quite a few of them, surprised? No,
not really..
When you have a device that's designed to be enclosed in an air
conditioned environment and dust free, such as a Typical PC, and adapt it
to a warm climate, you end up with a never ending battle with the
environment.

Designers of PC's have never considered beyond the "colder" US continental
environment that PC's need special treatment for warmer conditions, this
is 25C upwards, 60% humidity +.

For where I live, it's subtropical, summer temperatures are 30-40C,
Humidity can reach 85-90%. This would be also typical in Singapore,
Florida to a degree, many African countries, Mexico, South America and
Australia.

What happens to PC's in this environment is:

a) The high humidity mixes with dust and with temperature allows the dirt
to congeal. This cause problems with fans, they collect dust and grime,
and accelerate contaminants into the PC case.

JEM says >

Don't know if you are working in an ofice with several PCs, or just talking
about you PC, but here goes...

I've added two 'exaust' fans in the back, and two 'intake' fans in the
front, increasing airflow through the case.
In the open 5-1/4" bays in front I've added HDD cooling fans.

In the summer the side panel of my PC comes off, or is left ajar to increase
airflow and let heat and humidity out.
Also, I take the 5-1/4" covers of to let the PC breath.

Looks ugly, works great.

b) This mixture of dust and water settles on motherboard components and
makes new resistors on the motherboard, something the designer didn't
build in. These extra resistors radically change the circuits on the
motherboard, and resets out of the blue, blue screens are very common.

JEM says >

I live in a flat, in Japan. The living room, kitchen, and dining room are
all one open space.
This cause a problem when cooking, the oil from gooking gets into the air
and gets sucked up by the PC.
Mix that with a little dust and cat hair and you can imagine what the inside
of my PC starts looking like after a while.
The only solution, maintainence. Pull the covers off, vac out the case,
clean the fans. Fans to dirty? replace them, they are cheap enough.

c) The orientation of (especially Athlon) CPU's fan is usually north
south, however on some mobo's the orientation of the heatsinks exhaust is
straight at the RAM which is next door some 30mm away. So after a while,
the RAM gets covered in shite, and once again we have blue screen, mystery
reboots and the like.

JEM says >

Funny, I have the opposite problem. The place i work is not heated at night.
Go into the office in the morning and you can see your breath. HDD don't
like that! They take time to spin up when it's too cold, and are often not
recognized on the first boot in the morning.

d) High humidity and air at speed demolishes the coating of any steel
cabinet. These are a disaster as the coatings are corroded and the steel
forms rust. Rust is conductive and makes really special resistors which
draw high currents and big bangs! Aluminium cases are the way to go here.

JEM says >

Never had that happen. Do you work in the Jungle?

 

[Jim Macklin]

Coffee filters are cheap. Filter all the air that goes in
the case. Blow more air in than you suck out so that the
case is slightly pressurized (that means you keep the case
closed). Change the filters as needed.

If the ambient air temp is high, over 37-40 C (98-104 F)
consider water cooling. Keep the computer on 24/7 so it
stays hot enough that there is no condensation. Dust
control must not restrict cooling air flow, the
electrostatic air cleaners are very effective.

If you have cooking in the area, install filtered
rangehoods, preferably vented outside.

The only good reason for a computer with a window is that
you can use "smoke" to see the air-flow in the case and be
sure that there are no dead-air spaces. Baffles to direct
air over the entire mobo and the cards and perhaps round
cables (or the SATA cables) will improve air flow.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.



|
| | > While the majority of the planet enjoys a long winter at
the moment,
| > there's a band of land around the equator where
conditions are a lot
| > warmer and more humid, and consistently so through the
whole year.
| > PC's are installed in these regions, quite a few of
them, surprised? No,
| > not really..
| > When you have a device that's designed to be enclosed in
an air
| > conditioned environment and dust free, such as a Typical
PC, and adapt it
| > to a warm climate, you end up with a never ending battle
with the
| > environment.
| >
| > Designers of PC's have never considered beyond the
"colder" US continental
| > environment that PC's need special treatment for warmer
conditions, this
| > is 25C upwards, 60% humidity +.
| >
| > For where I live, it's subtropical, summer temperatures
are 30-40C,
| > Humidity can reach 85-90%. This would be also typical in
Singapore,
| > Florida to a degree, many African countries, Mexico,
South America and
| > Australia.
| >
| > What happens to PC's in this environment is:
| >
| > a) The high humidity mixes with dust and with
temperature allows the dirt
| > to congeal. This cause problems with fans, they collect
dust and grime,
| > and accelerate contaminants into the PC case.
|
| JEM says >
|
| Don't know if you are working in an ofice with several
PCs, or just talking
| about you PC, but here goes...
|
| I've added two 'exaust' fans in the back, and two 'intake'
fans in the
| front, increasing airflow through the case.
| In the open 5-1/4" bays in front I've added HDD cooling
fans.
|
| In the summer the side panel of my PC comes off, or is
left ajar to increase
| airflow and let heat and humidity out.
| Also, I take the 5-1/4" covers of to let the PC breath.
|
| Looks ugly, works great.
|
| > b) This mixture of dust and water settles on motherboard
components and
| > makes new resistors on the motherboard, something the
designer didn't
| > build in. These extra resistors radically change the
circuits on the
| > motherboard, and resets out of the blue, blue screens
are very common.
|
| JEM says >
|
| I live in a flat, in Japan. The living room, kitchen, and
dining room are
| all one open space.
| This cause a problem when cooking, the oil from gooking
gets into the air
| and gets sucked up by the PC.
| Mix that with a little dust and cat hair and you can
imagine what the inside
| of my PC starts looking like after a while.
| The only solution, maintainence. Pull the covers off, vac
out the case,
| clean the fans. Fans to dirty? replace them, they are
cheap enough.
|
| > c) The orientation of (especially Athlon) CPU's fan is
usually north
| > south, however on some mobo's the orientation of the
heatsinks exhaust is
| > straight at the RAM which is next door some 30mm away.
So after a while,
| > the RAM gets covered in shite, and once again we have
blue screen, mystery
| > reboots and the like.
|
| JEM says >
|
| Funny, I have the opposite problem. The place i work is
not heated at night.
| Go into the office in the morning and you can see your
breath. HDD don't
| like that! They take time to spin up when it's too cold,
and are often not
| recognized on the first boot in the morning.
|
| > d) High humidity and air at speed demolishes the coating
of any steel
| > cabinet. These are a disaster as the coatings are
corroded and the steel
| > forms rust. Rust is conductive and makes really special
resistors which
| > draw high currents and big bangs! Aluminium cases are
the way to go here.
|
| JEM says >
|
| Never had that happen. Do you work in the Jungle?
| >
| > If anyone has experience of these problems and a way to
cure these
| > problems, I'm all ears!
| >
| > Cheers,
| >
|
|

 

[Bob S.]

Gary,

If you're talking about a standard desktop / tower type PC, the fix is
relatively easy and not all that expensive. I worked for a company that
provided "integrated" solutions around the world - meaning we shipped the
software already wrapped in a PC.

Fortunately, being a manufacture of other products, they had the capability
to add conformal coating to the PC motherboard, cards, power supply and to
any bare metal. Now this used to be a toxic process and required special
equipment etc. but that has changed with new formulations. I haven't used
it myself but there are new products out that still are referred to as
conformal coatings that come in a spray can which you can apply yourself and
I believe they are acrylic based coatings. Do a search for conformal
coatings.

If you don't mind disassembling your PC, cleaning it and then spraying the
boards this just may be the easy fix. Just be sure to mask off any
connectors, plugs or jacks - this stuff is an insulator also.

You can easily add some new high-speed fans with bearings in your PC or even
install one of the cooling kits (www.tomshardware.com) to insure everything
runs below max temps.

If you're talking about laptops - the same coatings can be applied. It's
just more difficult to take apart a laptop. The use of bottom mounted
heatsinks with fans helps solves the problems in some cases but requires
additional battery power - or significantly shortens your running time.
Best solution I've seen for a laptop being used in a hot, humid climate (the
beach) is to sit it on top of the plastic sheet you have on top of the
iced-down beer keg....!

Bob S.

 

[Pavel A.]

IMHO the key word here is "majority". Mass manufacturers keep to the
needs of majority, this drives price of commodity computers down.
No doubt, somebody makes extra durable equipment designed to
work in tropical climate and dust, but it's price is prohibiting for you and me.

As the global climate changes towards tropical, and more people use
computers outside of air conditioned premises, maybe the common
de-facto standards will change.

--PA

 

[Gary]

Yes, coating the boards sounds a simpler fix, the coating sprays are non
toxic and look easy enough to apply.
I'd have to clean the boards first, wash them in a solvent I guess, then
apply the coatings. If I select a coating that would allow heat dissipation
of at least 25W, the mobos, PCI cards and RAM should be fine.

 

[Gary]

I be getting a divorce, Mary if I fitted that in the lounge!
But I see your point, ty for the reply.

 

[Gary]

I don't work or live in a jungle, but PC's can and do