Network rack location
- Thread starter Mikey
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You better off in another location. Is there no chance there's anywhere else apart from the loft?
Don't do it.
Don't do it.
I have a couple of access points in my loft pending renovating the rooms below and their locations reach nearly 50 degrees in the summer.
With those temps and the dust/particles from insulation I wouldn't put other network equipment in a loft.
With those temps and the dust/particles from insulation I wouldn't put other network equipment in a loft.
Pretty much all my thoughts too. I've got an alternative cupboard atm in mind, but trying to locate a wall mount open rack 8U startech rack atm.
Just sanitiy checking a stupid idea in the end.
I've got APs that I was going to put in the loft, but not doing either now.
Just sanitiy checking a stupid idea in the end.
I've got APs that I was going to put in the loft, but not doing either now.
Deleted User 298457
Deleted User 298457
See my thread here:
forums.overclockers.co.uk
That was decent hardware (Intel mobo, Xeon 1230v3) but just regular commodity disks. The Netgear switches were the decent metal boxed variants. It ran in an attic for 10 years through all weather, absolutely bullet proof.
That was a vented loft but it still got to 30+. I doubt a loft gets hot enough to really challenge the gear but I expect the variations in temp over time can cause issues.
Retiring my ESXi Whitebox + Home Server + ZFS
Cross-post from Home & Garden as this was as much of a man-job as a techy job. Lesson learned for you all: KEEP IT SIMPLE. This device was a pet project in learning ZFS and quickly became mission critical. When I moved out, my mum relied on internet and fortunately whilst PfSense was rock...
forums.overclockers.co.uk
That was decent hardware (Intel mobo, Xeon 1230v3) but just regular commodity disks. The Netgear switches were the decent metal boxed variants. It ran in an attic for 10 years through all weather, absolutely bullet proof.
That was a vented loft but it still got to 30+. I doubt a loft gets hot enough to really challenge the gear but I expect the variations in temp over time can cause issues.
I have a Synology in the attic, on the hottest summer days the drives reach 45 degrees C. I have built a sort of wind tunnel (4x fans + wooden frame), the Synology sits inside this.
During the summer heatwave we had this year, I shut it down to be safe!
During the summer heatwave we had this year, I shut it down to be safe!
eh?
Ahhhhh, yea I was thinking I should I haved worded after I wrote it.
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It’s fine. The standard for most networking equipment lets it run at at least 40C continuously without an issue. Worst case the thermal management will shut your network down if the temperature gets too high.
Any electrical equipment can be a fire risk (Grenfell was started by a fridge-freezer) and aside from the summer temperatures there are many good reasons to place your basic network cabinet in your loft. The lack of people means it’s fairly free from dust. It’s easy to route cables from various parts of the building to a central location. It’s a massive air volume so it tends to heat and cool relatively slowly. If you have actively cooled equipment you don’t tend to notice the noise so much.
Bear in mind that fire generally goes up and out before it goes down and personally I’d rather have that switch in the loft than the airing cupboard, the cupboard under the stairs or the garage, all of which seem to be popular places to put the basic network gear and even rack mount NAS etc. I always tell customers that the loft is safe enough but not to stack loads of flammable crap in it. I’ve seen patching frames with 48 port managed switches covered in duvets because “it makes a racket” and that’s more of a fire hazard in my opinion. Although duvets don’t burn these days. Which is good.
Any electrical equipment can be a fire risk (Grenfell was started by a fridge-freezer) and aside from the summer temperatures there are many good reasons to place your basic network cabinet in your loft. The lack of people means it’s fairly free from dust. It’s easy to route cables from various parts of the building to a central location. It’s a massive air volume so it tends to heat and cool relatively slowly. If you have actively cooled equipment you don’t tend to notice the noise so much.
Bear in mind that fire generally goes up and out before it goes down and personally I’d rather have that switch in the loft than the airing cupboard, the cupboard under the stairs or the garage, all of which seem to be popular places to put the basic network gear and even rack mount NAS etc. I always tell customers that the loft is safe enough but not to stack loads of flammable crap in it. I’ve seen patching frames with 48 port managed switches covered in duvets because “it makes a racket” and that’s more of a fire hazard in my opinion. Although duvets don’t burn these days. Which is good.
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