Racks in a loft: Cabinet or just a frame?

[Ergates]

If you were putting a small number of rackmount *things* (patch panel, etc) in a loft, would you put them in a cabinet, or just nail them to a rafter?

A patch panel, for instance, doesn't appear to have much in the way of moving parts, so is a bit of dust that much of a threat? What about a switch?

 

[Hyburnate]

Dust getting into ports isn't the best, but if you're unlikely to be moving things around or doing it once, less of an issue.

For £100 I'd still stick it in a cabinet though

 

[WJA96]

You can get “mounting frames” which are cheaper and lighter than full-blown cabinets and you can still get them with top/bottom/side panels at which point I’d argue it was a cabinet.

https://www.cablemonkey.co.uk/brackets-frames/10512-350mm-deep-wall-mounted-19-frame.html

To counter the dust in ports issue, you can buy port covers.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-c...FD4T8T5/ref=pd_lpo_2?pd_rd_i=B08FD4T8T5&psc=1

The truth is, most dust is human skin debris. So if you don’t go in the loft, there won’t be a lot of dust up there.

 

[Zefan]

The truth is, most dust is human skin debris. So if you don’t go in the loft, there won’t be a lot of dust up there.

The skin thing is definitely a myth. From my experience ref lofts, depending on its particular circumstances insects have the ability to create quite a bit over time.

 

[WJA96]

The skin thing is definitely a myth. From my experience ref lofts, depending on its particular circumstances insects have the ability to create quite a bit over time.

The skin thing isn’t a myth. It’s very real. Yes, there are other sources of dust, but the main one from inside the house is human skin. Dust and debris from outside the house is a factor, especially by the doors and Windows but unlike the doors and Windows, the entry to your loft is in the floor.

I think the question you need to be asking yourself is why you have insects (or any other pests) in your loft space? They’ll wander in but they’ll wander out sharpish if there is nothing to bed down in and nothing to eat. So if you have significant numbers of insects in your loft space then they’re breeding up there, which is a much bigger issue.

 

[robj20]

I wouldn't put anything electrical that's a consumer item in the loft seen mine get silly hot in summer.
I put all mine under the stairs but now wish I'd put it in the garage, but alas the cables aren't long enough.

 

[WJA96]

I wouldn't put anything electrical that's a consumer item in the loft seen mine get silly hot in summer.
I put all mine under the stairs but now wish I'd put it in the garage, but alas the cables aren't long enough.

I very much doubt your loft ever exceeded the 45C continuous most networking gear is rated for.

It’s worth bearing in mind that rack-mounted networking gear isn’t consumer-grade.

Under the stairs with the door shut isn’t great either. At least the garage is a well ventilated big volume of space. If the cables aren’t long enough, why not uplink everything through a fibre and run that the garage? That way you’d have one patch panel and one switch in the cupboard under the stairs and everything else could be in the garage.

 

[whitecrook]

I use a small comms cabinet. Put a smoke alarm up there as well

 

[robj20]

I very much doubt your loft ever exceeded the 45C continuous most networking gear is rated for.

It’s worth bearing in mind that rack-mounted networking gear isn’t consumer-grade.

Under the stairs with the door shut isn’t great either. At least the garage is a well ventilated big volume of space. If the cables aren’t long enough, why not uplink everything through a fibre and run that the garage? That way you’d have one patch panel and one switch in the cupboard under the stairs and everything else could be in the garage.

Think my plan is to extend the cables with some punch down blocks.

By consumer grade I mean electronics wise not product wise, definitely had hotter than 45c in the loft last summer. Under the stairs my NAS never overheated and that's the hottest component.

For instance, my switch which is rack mount has a max temp of 40c. Consumer grade.
Conmpared to an industrial switch, max temp of 80c. Then you can get MIL spec that's 125c. Then you has NAS spec.