Cold days in the shed

[Toggy]

Well; today was the 1st day this winter that it was too damn cold to be outdoors or in the shed. 6 deg celcius at 10am and god only knows what the wind chill factor was.

Right about now them smarties up north will be laughing.
Well I don't care as some time ago I saved an old oil heater from an unkind fate. Have been using it as a receptical for some sump oil. Plucked up the courage to do some running repairs and fired her up. Probably been 10 years since it was used; so there was plenty of crud to burn off. Smoke; I hid in the only clear corner of the shed and I think all the spiders died of lung cancer, but after a while things cleared up. Shed is 6m X 14.5M. and outside temp had risen to 9 deg.
The old girl hummed away like a blow torch and within about 2 hours air temp about 2M from it had risen to 23.5 deg, with shed door partly open. Sure was nice & cosy. Will have to find more oil as that 20L has gone. Maybe a bit of diesel mixed with the oil might make it a bit cleaner on startup. Certainly wouldn't use it when using any thinners etc.

Suppose I should start thinking about a cooler cos in 6 months time it will probably be 40C>.

Ken

[Cliff Rogers]

G'day.

Here goes nothing.... 11.10 pm 4/8/4 middle of Cairns.....
It's 25.4 degrees C & 47% RH in my office... I have the Air Con running
to dry the air so my matress cover hanging in front of AC dries out enough
to make the bed.
Yeap, that's right... 25.4 degrees with the AC set to cool, no heat.
How am I doing?
To be fair, my office is down stairs under a high set house & I have a
fridge, hotwater system & at least 3 computers running in the same closed
space so it is warmer than outside.
It's actually 22.5 degrees C & about 60% RH outside.

PS. My wife rang from the tablelands & she says it's warm up there tonight...
17 Degrees C on the verandah & it must be going to rain 'cos the frogs are croaking...

[RETIRED]

[kiwigeo]

G'day.

Here goes nothing.... 11.10 pm 4/8/4 middle of Cairns.....
It's 25.4 degrees C & 47% RH in my office... I have the Air Con running
to dry the air so my matress cover hanging in front of AC dries out enough
to make the bed.
Yeap, that's right... 25.4 degrees with the AC set to cool, no heat.
How am I doing?
To be fair, my office is down stairs under a high set house & I have a
fridge, hotwater system & at least 3 computers running in the same closed
space so it is warmer than outside.
It's actually 22.5 degrees C & about 60% RH outside.

PS. My wife rang from the tablelands & she says it's warm up there tonight...
17 Degrees C on the verandah & it must be going to rain 'cos the frogs are croaking...

26 deg C right now out here in the Timor Sea and humidity would be about the same as where you are. Inside its about 15 deg C and dry as a bone....industrial air con and pressurisation system works around the clock here.

It must get a bit warm with all those computers running in your office....is humidity an issue with same. My "second" office is a lab unit out on the deck of this rig.....10 Pc's, 2 laptops, two chromatographs, a drying oven and up to 7 people in the lab at one time.........hot and humid. The aircon broke down 2 days ago and we managed to get the temp in the lab up to 45 deg C and humidity would have been at 100%. Didnt seem to affect the computers though.

Got a solitary frog in my garden down in Adelaide and hes very reliable at predicting rain.

[Cliff Rogers]

.... computers running in your office....is humidity an issue with same. ... the temp in the lab up to 45 deg C and humidity would have been at 100%. Didnt seem to affect the computers though.

Got a solitary frog in my garden down in Adelaide and hes very reliable at predicting rain.

Heat is only a problem for computers if the air vents are blocked...
Computers are cooled purely by heat exchange with air cooler than the
parts being cooled, unlike humans.
Humans loose most of their 'unwanted' heat via evaporation of sweat,
(or perspiration for thoses of you so inclined,) & that does NOT work
effeciently in a humid enviroment. They do loose heat via other methods
but that is usually unwanted. ('cept for a coldy on a hot day)
That's why a hot dry climate is not as draining as a hot humid one.
Humidity is only a problem to electronics if they are dirty, dusty of salty.
The moisture collects in the dirt/dust/salt & causes what we call 'tracking'.
It is conductance from one track on the circuit board to another that
modifies how the designer intended it to work.
Weird, unpredictable, starts to happen... lock ups, hangs, freezes,
crashes are the common terms used.
Other odd like "This program has performed an illlegal operation & will be
shut down" & "insufficient memory" & " Dangerously low on resources" crap.
If a good blow out with compressed air doesn't fix it, pull the M/B out &
send it through the dish washer. Make sure it is properley dry before it
is put back in & powered up again.... works wonders for fruit cake computers.

It's odd how RH works... warm air holds more moisture than cold air.
In a cold, humid enviroment, to dry something, just warm the air, it
can then absorb more moisture..... in a hot humid environment, just
cool the air, it can't hold the moisture it has so it drops it as condensation
on the cooling coils & then as the cold air warms up in the hot room, it can
absorb more moisture & carry it back to the cooling coils to drop it.

It's also odd how frogs know it's going to rain....
(It's got fug all to do with their legs twitching when there is lightning
'cos they start yelling way before any storm arrives)

[kiwigeo]

If a good blow out with compressed air doesn't fix it, pull the M/B out &
send it through the dish washer. Make sure it is properley dry before it
is put back in & powered up again.... works wonders for fruit cake computers.


(It's got fug all to do with their legs twitching when there is lightning
'cos they start yelling way before any storm arrives)

Youre kidding about sticking motherboards in a dish washer arent you? I guess they dont have as many capacitors and stuff on the boards these days to they?
Mind you I did once see some guys out on the deck of an offshore oil rig dunking PC boards into large barrels of fresh water and then going over them with toothbrushes......the boards had come out of a minsub control shack that had copped a large wave while on the back of a workboat off the west coast of NZ. There was actually a book running as to whether or not theyd get their sub up and running...they did and alot of people lost their money.

Yep frogs are amazing little critters...mine croaks when its going to rain and whenever the Jehovas Witnesses are within a 100m of my front gate.

[Bob Willson]

Yep frogs are amazing little critters...mine croaks whenever the Jehovas Witnesses are within a 100m of my front gate.

Hey kiwi, wanna sell your frog to me?

[Cliff Rogers]

Youre kidding about sticking motherboards in a dish washer arent you?

Nope, I don't own a diskwasher so I just use hot soapy water in the wash tub &
then rinse it in clean water & have it in front of the A/C for a couple of hours to dry out.

I guy I know (not a tech) used to pick up PCs from the recycle station,
take them home & see if he could get anything good out of them.
He fixed lots of M/Boards in the dishwasher.