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Does Heat Affect equipment
I am running into all sorts of problems with my system since summer arrived. I am wondering if anyone has run into heat related problems with their equipment. My mojo was a bit feverish the other night (the themometer on it read 105) the work space I am in also houses a rack of audio amps along with two full editing bays, and no central air. It often reaches 88 or 90 degrees in the room. Can this affect equipment?
Stasia Lenhart
co-creator of modeletics tm -
2 Replies
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Oh, by all means, yes! I’ve had much lower temperature conditions cause all kinds of errors and problems. Pay attention to not only the overall temperature, but airflow as well. Dissapating heat is more important than intorducing cooler air.
Regards,
Joe Womble
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Absolutely!!
High temperature is one of the biggest killers of electronic equipment. Most electronics is designed to operate at room temperature around 21/22C. Most is okay upto around 30C as long as there is a good airflow. Moving air over a any surface causes a drop in temperature and this is the reason devices are fitted with fans, it’s not just blowing the heat out.
If you rack mount equipment it is essential that a good flow of air is available.
One broadcast station I worked at was designed by someone who was incapable of calculating the heat generated by equipment and we ended up with the temperature in the back of the racks reaching 40C within 20-mins of the equipment being powered-up. Not surprisingly, the vision mixer failed an hour later followed by two power supplies to a router and 3 broadcast monitors. This person thought that just drawing air out of the top of the racks was enough to keep it cool. The racks generated 30KW of excess heat that resulted in a new airconditioning system being built at very short notice.
Equally of little surprise, the staff also started to suffer the effect of the heat and walked out!
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