Is it too hot and dusty for a switch in the loft?

[Jamauk]

I've been running Unifi 24xPoE switch in the loft along with a Unifi Ap Pro for around a year now. The switch doesn't exactly run cool, but it seemed to cope with last years heatwave and I had no notifications to say it was overheating.

Before that I had various Netgear unmanaged kit up there for around ten years until PoE became too much of a thing and I didn't want loads of injectors lined up so I upgraded the network to Unifi, it also provided me with a good base of learning.

 

[Relentless81]

Thanks for the info, I've done some more reading and seems pretty common to have a switch in the loft. I'm going to crack on and get power up there and a link from the router in the living room via the outside wall up into the loft and then distribute into the relevant rooms.

I'm only going to use the lowest powered unmanaged switch I can find, think I've got one in a box somewhere

 

[mmj_uk]

If you have a well insulated loft then heat could be a problem in the summer but with something like a switch it will probably just affect overall lifespan rather than cause any sort of stability probems. When it comes to electronic components heat is the enemy but a lot of components like capacitors (which are often the first to go) are rated at 85C-105C for several thousand hours.

 

[Relentless81]

If you have a well insulated loft then heat could be a problem in the summer but with something like a switch it will probably just affect overall lifespan rather than cause any sort of stability probems. When it comes to electronic components heat is the enemy but a lot of components like capacitors (which are often the first to go) are rated at 85C-105C for several thousand hours.

Its toasty in the summer but no where near as bad as my old loft with a skylight plus boiler etc in there. I could just buy a new one every 12 months unmanaged switches are cheap as chips

 

[Street]

I've been running my kit in the loft for years. It does get warm up there in the summer but touch wood it hasn't caused any issues. I've got a PoE switch, router, Pi, Hue and amp in a small cabinet. My Pi current says it is sat at 52C.

 

[WJA96]

My entire network cab at home is in the loft with 2 48 port PoE+ switches, a couple of hefty QNAP rackmount NAS boxes, my Dahua NVR, the UAS-XG, the USG-4P and a Xeon D Supermicro Appliance running Untangle. And 3 big UPS units. I had it inspected by the local fire safety people who said was absolutely fine. I added a mains powered smoke detector and an IP thermal camera (because I had one) and the temperature changes very little summer to winter because the roof itself is insulated and gap between the loftboards and the ceiling below is also insulated. I've never seen the ambient temperature go over 30C and it generally sits at about 23C with no heating up there. The fans on the Unifi kit generally don't run at all and the QNAP stuff reports 30C-ish usually.

The data cabinet I installed in the cupboard under the stairs for my parents on the other hand runs VERY warm. I've seen 90C reported on the US-16-150W in there. It's been totally reliable but the air temperature in there will quickly melt chocolate, so I'd say it's well over 40C normally. The cupboard door feels warm on the outside!

Up in the loft you have a BIG air volume that takes a long time to heat up and cool down, especially when it's insulated. In a small cupboard or small room, you don't have that air volume so it warms up and gets warmer if you don't vent it. Your lofts may be different, but I certainly wouldn't rule the loft out because of fire risk.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Isn’t the AC set in most server rooms to 27-28c anyway to save on electric? It shouldn’t get much hotter than that up there, especially in a modern vented left space.

 

[pepp77]

I ran a router (as switch and access point), an HP Microserver as an xpenology unit, a custom built Plex Server and a couple of DAS's in my loft for about 2 years. In the summer they got hot, but never ever came close to being hot enough to burst into flames nor hot enough to cause me major concerns about the operating temps of the devices. I did run a fan on a timer between 10am and 6pm on really hot days to move the air up there but nothing else.

 

[memyselfandi]

The temperature in a loft is going to vary considerably from house to house depending on how it is insulated, the airflow and its aspect. I've been in family members lofts where you can't spend more than 10mins up there in the summer without feeling unwell it was so hot and I wouldn't then consider putting anything electrical up there but I've been in others which have been fine.

The other thing to take into account (and a problem I know people who have seen) is noise and noise from vibration. I have known people who have tried to do this but the hum from the vibration has been amplified by the ceiling boards in the bedrooms causing a noticeable drone below which made things unacceptable particularly when it's quiet overnight. Trouble is this can be very subjective and vary massively depending on kit used and house construction.

 

[Salty22]

I was tempted to do a similar sort of thing in my house to get ethernet to IP cameras, will a POE switch get hotter than a normal switch?

 

[bremen1874]

A PoE switch will dissipate more heat. For example, compare the TP-Link TL-SG1008 with their TL-SG1008PE. The maximum heat dissipation jumps from 14.67BTU to 33.74BTU (with no PoE devices connected) or 492.56BTU (fully loaded with PoE devices).

How that extra heat dissipation affects the actual device temperature will depend on the cooling solution.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Why settle for air cooling when you can water cool?

 

[Street]

The other thing to take into account (and a problem I know people who have seen) is noise and noise from vibration. I have known people who have tried to do this but the hum from the vibration has been amplified by the ceiling boards in the bedrooms causing a noticeable drone below which made things unacceptable particularly when it's quiet overnight. Trouble is this can be very subjective and vary massively depending on kit used and house construction.

One of the fans in my server was on it's way out and the server was is on bare floorboards in a cupboard. At night when I was going to sleep, I could hear a weird pulsing vibration in our bedroom and couldn't figure out what it was, especially as the missus couldn't hear it. It took me ages to work out it was the fan dying and vibrating through the floor. I changed the fan and all is good again!

 

[Gredawarha]

@Relentless81

Hello

I've been thinking about doing something similar. Running cat5e from the loft to the living room and man cave.

Like you I'm confident with most of the work but don't have ladders or a head for heights. I'd be curious to know what sort of price you've had quoted?

 

[Relentless81]

@Relentless81

Hello

I've been thinking about doing something similar. Running cat5e from the loft to the living room and man cave.

Like you I'm confident with most of the work but don't have ladders or a head for heights. I'd be curious to know what sort of price you've had quoted?

He's not quoted me yet mate, I'll update you when he does but he is busy with bigger stuff and squeezes jobs in for me when he can. I'll chase him tomorrow

I've had a slight change of mind, I'm going to see what he says about drilling a hole through the ceiling from the loft into the top of a built in wardrobe and fitting the power socket and network cables there, if not I'll fall back to just having it in the loft

 

[Relentless81]

@Relentless81

Hello

I've been thinking about doing something similar. Running cat5e from the loft to the living room and man cave.

Like you I'm confident with most of the work but don't have ladders or a head for heights. I'd be curious to know what sort of price you've had quoted?

£290 for double power socket in the loft, router cat5 to loft along outside wall and then cat5 to all 3 bedrooms Inc faceplates

The power will be utilising an existing power dorment power cable that was previously used for the old electric shower so this might make it cheaper

 

[Jamauk]

One thing to check with using an old cable previously used with an electric shower is what circuit it could be on, possibly a lighting circuit or potentially fused somewhere to 3/5 amp, which whilst it would be fine for routers and such, but may not be legal to have a mains socket on it.

When I put power in the attic I have a double socket on one side of a fitted wardrobe, I put a spur off this to inside the wardrobe and then made an extension lead into the attic to a double socket in the attic. Certainly made things easier as the grey mains cable that goes between sockets isn't the easiest to work with and can look untidy.

As for Cat5e I ran four cables from the under stairs cupboard to the landing, across to the airing cupboard and from there into the attic which run between my Ubiquiti 24 PoE switches in aggregated configuration (for pointless 4G/Sec).

 

[Gredawarha]

£290 for double power socket in the loft, router cat5 to loft along outside wall and then cat5 to all 3 bedrooms Inc faceplates

The power will be utilising an existing power dorment power cable that was previously used for the old electric shower so this might make it cheaper

Thank you for taking the time to let me/us know.

 

[Relentless81]

One thing to check with using an old cable previously used with an electric shower is what circuit it could be on, possibly a lighting circuit or potentially fused somewhere to 3/5 amp, which whilst it would be fine for routers and such, but may not be legal to have a mains socket on it.

When I put power in the attic I have a double socket on one side of a fitted wardrobe, I put a spur off this to inside the wardrobe and then made an extension lead into the attic to a double socket in the attic. Certainly made things easier as the grey mains cable that goes between sockets isn't the easiest to work with and can look untidy.

As for Cat5e I ran four cables from the under stairs cupboard to the landing, across to the airing cupboard and from there into the attic which run between my Ubiquiti 24 PoE switches in aggregated configuration (for pointless 4G/Sec).

I trust the electrician to do it properly and the cable runs straight to the CU as an electric shower is on its own connection

 

[PhilGQ]

Do your external walls have plasterboard on the inside?

If so the electrician can squeeze a cable between the bricks and the plasterboard, way better than drilling through the walls. Just have him route all the cable you need up to the loft and back down to something like an airing cupboard or fitted wardrobe and put the switch there.

Oh and use CAT6 best to be futureproof.