Install PC... Under the floor boards?

Combat squirrel

Combat squirrel

Combat squirrel

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As title, what you think people ? Not an overpowered one, just a low heat home server. It occurs to me there is tons of space between floors (just under a foot gap in my house), just, sitting there, I was thinking of ways to maximise space as I have 22 hard drives on the home server.

Currently the pc resides in the side loft cupboard but the loft is occupied and the house isnt that big and I really could do with the storage space to be honest, so I just randomly thought of putting the pc between the ground and 1st floor under the landing, its quite 'airy' in there (can feel a draft) and I could just lay out all the components flat.

Thoughts ?
 
RedvGreen said:
22 HDDs? Sounds like underfloor heating to me!
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Well it would also do that :D the house would be warmer in winter as its exactly central in the house.

I have thought of 'fire risk' but I dont see how its any different to where it is now (in an enclosed space surrounded by carpet). Also I have a modern UPS which monitors the electrics.

Also I have NEVER seen a pc or hard drive spontaneously combust in my life, so figure it will be ok, espec with the drafty air not letting things get to warm ?
 
So long as you get to the PC for maintenance/tinkering if needed, the PC is monitored for temperatures/fault/issues, and the area it's in is kept cool and dry with a bit of airflow, I don't think a PC cares if it's under a desk, in a cupboard, in a server rack, or under the floor.

Just never do anything that would cause the police to raid your house - "why exactly do you have a PC with 22 hard drives hidden under your floorboards, sir?" :D
 
Confused Stu said:
So long as you get to the PC for maintenance/tinkering if needed, the PC is monitored for temperatures/fault/issues, and the area it's in is kept cool and dry with a bit of airflow, I don't think a PC cares if it's under a desk, in a cupboard, in a server rack, or under the floor.

Just never do anything that would cause the police to raid your house - "why exactly do you have a PC with 22 hard drives hidden under your floorboards, sir?" :D
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pahahha :D tis funny, luckily im a photographer & videographer by trade so need somewhere to dump all my data when the jobs finished!

Yeah I cant think of any strikingly obvious reasons why I couldn't put it there.

Once installed there would be little reason to tinker, it just runs. Carpet would have to go back down after is the only 'issue' but there is a constant air flow through the gap so I don't see heat build up being a problem.

Anything iv missed here?
 
This is an interesting idea I have two concerns.

Firstly, the obvious one, dust, but if you hovered out a large enough area I can't see it would be a problem.

If you're going barebones I'd probably install a dust filter on the PSU's intake and use an H80 or something similar to cool the CPU because again that makes it easy to install dust filters and gives you a little more flexibility in the installation.

Personally I'd probably look at going really low TDP and a big passive cooler, if you have a draft blowing through anyway, that way the dust isn't going to matter that much and you could use a Seasonic fan-less PSU.

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Secondly, reverberations. Components mounted to wood. I recently swapped a shower transformer over at my dads mounted to a joist in the loft space. And even though this had no moving parts and was completely inaudible in the loft space itself, even up close, the buzzing noise was horrendous in the room underneath, amplified by the wooden beam. I fixed it simply by loosening off the 2 screws holding it and putting two small pieces of double sided foam under the lower corners, but it's something you need to consider, if a transformer can do that I dread to think how much noise 1 spinning hard disk would generate let alone 22. Perhaps some kind of drive rack using bungee suspension might be a good idea so the drives aren't mounted to anything rigidly?
 
Interesting points there with the dust, didnt think of it! I had thought of hoovering the area out but that wont stop all the dust eventually.

And vibration also a good point, I suppose I could mount the hard drives on rubber; free hanging mounts and I do have a spare closed loop water cooler for the CPU or a silver arrow if it will fit.

Thanks guys.

Anyone done something similar ?
 
I would probably put a temperature sensor down there and see what it gets like with the central heating on - as it's coming up winter soon. But it really depends if any pipes go near that area.
 
Interesting idea, I'd build fitted plates that slotted between the spaces you have then mount a few HD's at a time on the plates then lower them in, Another thing you could do is mount the PC case laying down with the door side of the PC facing up, then you could just lift the carpet back in the future take the side cover off & do what you have to.
 
if you could even put the pc into a box of some kind, would keep most of the dust out, all you would need to do is mount the 22 hard drive on foam or something just to dampen the sound of the hdds, and it also might be a good idea to raise the mobo a bit, you could build a box yourself with very little effort
 
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