Re: DS20L

[Maurice Hilarius <maurice harddata com>]

With regards to your message at 09:28 AM 5/31/02, Chris Eleveld (Sector 7 
Group). Where you stated:

> Just to add my bits and a question:
>
> somewhat on topic:
> What about people like me who are pure hobbyists and have lots of machines
> of various ilk all run in a home with home Air-conditioning.  I like to keep
> the house around 80 during the summer which is expensive enough in the Texas
> heat.  It would be nice if people would design things for us weird people.
> Not everyone has a data center though you might be surprised out how many
> people have upset wives from all the cables across the floor.
>
> mostly off topic:
> I've noticed a lot of equipment has a lower end on the temperature rating.
> My ignorant self thought electronics ran better the colder they got?
>
> Chris

I would say that the postings here saying you should run your equipment at 
18C or colder ( 65F) are quite right. Equipment is always more reliable at 
lower temperatures.
Having said that we can not count on those conditions in the field.
One of our customers at a university have a cluster we built for them a few 
months back.
One Monday they came to work and found that the air conditioning had failed.
The air temperature was up to 34C in the room.
The cluster was still running.

We set a target that our machines should be able to run reliably at a room 
temperature of 30C.

We feel that any machines that REQUIRE a cold room should come with a 
prominent sign on them to that effect, and that any sales literature should 
point that out in big bold letters.

I also believe that if they are that sensitive to room temperature it is a 
failing in thermal design.


With our best regards,

Maurice W. Hilarius       Telephone: 01-780-456-9771
Hard Data Ltd.               FAX:       01-780-456-9772
11060 - 166 Avenue        mailto:maurice@harddata.com
Edmonton, AB, Canada      http://www.harddata.com/
   T5X 1Y3

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