Computer in outside shed - would it get too cold?!

Phrozenpenguin

Phrozenpenguin

Phrozenpenguin

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I am looking at various NAS storage options for home media streaming. Size will be 1tb to start and looking to expand. Was looking at setting up an old box with freenas.

However I live in a small house, and its not all cabled - so its not realistic to put a cheap old pc in the lounge full of drives. However we have a small watertight shed outside, which has power and could easily be networked.

What I am asking - is a computer likely to get too COLD in an outside shed with no heating. I imagine the temp would drop below freezing over the winter......

Just throwing it out there as an idea, any opinions welcome.
 
Some boards might experience cold boot problems, but I imagine this PC will be on all the time? So really, you'll be warming the shed up and you should never see ice or snow on it!

Re the above post, thats fine, but its only for the CPU and GFX (possible memory), the rest of the board will be ambient room temp, outside, this isnt the case. Capacitors take a huge hit in very cold wearther as do batteries.

Anything wrong with sitting it on a board in the loft?
 
Can't see it being a problem in winter, if it's left on 24/7.

I'd be more concerned about summer, and the heat in the shed TBH.
 
markyp23 said:
That's not a problem of cold though, more moisture.

My liquid nitrogen point was just to illustrate that a shed in Britain isn't going to kill his PC :)
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It IS a problem due to cold. Without the cold, there would be nothing causing the water in the air to condense when it meets a warmer part of the board.
 
markyp23 said:
Nope. Won't be too cold.

People have used liquid nitrogen to cool PCs before.
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Notice how when they use LN2 they don't just dunk the whole machine in it? They carefully insulate and separate the cold parts of the rig from the parts susceptible to condensation and freezing. Capacitors are damaged by freezing. The exact freezing temperature depends on the composition of the individual cap, but suffice it to say that they're not intended for use in subzero environments.

You could put it in the shed, but you'd have to maintain some sort of temperature control, perhaps using the machine's own heat and a thermostat that could let cold air in. In the summer you'd have the problem of keeping it cool, which may or may not be an issue depending on the location and construction of the shed.
 
Maybe you should check out a couple of the Car-PC forums. Afterall, they have the same temperature issues that you might encounter in a shed.

Perhaps you could get some insulation for the case to keep the heat in.
 
The shed should be fine as the heat of the machine should keep the ambient temperature up. However I'd look at insulating the shed, that will keep it warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer. Maybe look at fitting an extractor fan in the wall of the shed for the summer months, just make sure it can be sealed tight for winter.
 
at a LAN Party i goto every year we have a big marque we leave the computers powerd up the whole weekend. The first year people who shut pc's down had trouble with condensation.

So if you leave the computer powered up 24/7 you should be ok. The temp should'nt be a problem as the power running through should keep thing warm enough
 
We have a warehouse at work with a back office server doing all back up work ect and its been alright for the past 4 years. No heat in there, made of steel, very large and when the sun hits one side of it on a sunny day it gets so much condensation in there its like it's raining inside.

It'll be ok as long as it left on all the time.
 
basmic said:
Can't see it being a problem in winter, if it's left on 24/7.

I'd be more concerned about summer, and the heat in the shed TBH.
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From my experience I would agree with this.

My Dad has a workshop behind the garage, (so slightly more substantial than a shed but you are still talking only single skin with no insulation). He has a couple of linux servers in there which run 24/7, (currently an Athlon 1333 and an Athlon 1400 if I remember correctly), which provide various services to the lan there via a cat5 link into the house. There's been servers of one type or another in there for at least 7 years that I can remember.

In the winter temperature is not an issue and the small (~9ft by single garage width) room stays quite warm with the heat from the systems but in the summer it can be very hot in there are there has been times when the systems have been shut down to prevent problems from occurring.

Humidity can be an issue to and I know he has a dehumidifier running in there as well to keep things from getting to damp.
 
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 operating temp: 0to60 degrees non operating temp:-20to70degrees.

note that engineering philosophy is to have at least a 20% factor of safety.

condensation is your biggest problem, but i have seen people run servers in the a cellar that was dripping wet.
 
I wouldnt be happy about having it in a shed, tbh...
Could you not look at some kind of stealth build inside a cupboard or somthing, or put it in the attic, gotta be preferable to a shed...
 
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