Smoking around computers

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Tue Dec 11 17:10:01 2001

See below, plz.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ian Koller" <vze2mnvr_at_verizon.net>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>; "Richard Erlacher" <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Sent: Monday, December 10, 2001 10:48 PM
Subject: Re: Smoking around computers


>
>
> Dick,
>
> You've got plenty of other nasty stuff in the air in
> machine shops too. Smoking cutting oils, mist coolant
> drift, etc. One way to keep the gunk from being drawn
> through the drives is to leave the cover off the case.
> With an extra fan inside blowing across the boards,
> keeps everything cool enough.
>
I find it much simpler simply to reverse the direction of the PSU fan. It takes
less than 10 minutes, and, with a sufficiently porous filter, prevents the
accumulation of nasties in the front-loading peripherals.
>
> Ian
>
>
> Richard Erlacher wrote:
> >
> > Bear in mind that I'm a FORMER smoker, and that there's no Catholic like a
> > convert, as they say ... I don't know about truly Classic
(pre-Apple/pre-CP/M)
> > hardware in this context, but from my experience with current hardware, i.e.
> > PC's with a fan at the back of the PSU that exhausts air that's drawn in
through
> > the front-loading peripherals, I'd make the following comment.
> >
> > I've disassembled a number of CDROM drives that clearly suffered from
> > accumulation of dirt on the optic. In those few cases where (a) I knew the
user
> > to be a frequent smoker, and (b) where I could smell the smoke on the
innards of
> > the drive, I normally found that I couldn't clean the optic with anything I
> > dared put near the quite soluble plastics used in the drive and specifically
in
> > the laser pickup.
> >
> > Likewise, I often have seen and smelled what was obviously tabacco smoke
residue
> > on floppy disk innards. Those were easily cleaned, with the exception of
the
> > heads, which in the cases where they were visibly stained (and it's not easy
to
> > look at the heads, but, once they're visible, the damage is easy to see)
with
> > what appeared to be smoke residue, and that generally has rendered the
drives
> > unreliable. The environment in which I most frequently encountered this
problem
> > was a machine shop where things were none too clean anyway, but the mousepad
> > showed plenty of evidence of a cigarette being held 2" in front of the end
of
> > the box where the CDROM and FDD resided. It was no wonder the CDROM and FDD
> > smelled like a very dirty ashtray.
> >
> > This is largely the product of the stupid, Stupid, STUPID practice of
putting
> > the fan in the PSU such that it exhausts the system in the way in which it
does.
> > I routinely turn the fan around, and, in fact, on at least two of my boxes,
have
> > put a second fan outside the PSU, with a filter between the two. This has
quite
> > remarkably reduced the accumulation of dirt in the PSU as in the rest of the
> > box. It does make for a bit more noise, as the two fans tend to "beat" due
to
> > the difference in speed. I once made a crude effort to measure the
temperature
> > effect of doing this, and found the results favorable, since the reduced
> > presence of dirt meant freer airflow against the surfaces of the IC's that
> > required cooling in the box. I like to believe the conclusion I drew was
> > correct, but it was what I expected to find, so take it for what it's worth.
> >
> > Tobacco smoke is VERY sticky and VERY pervasive, and should be kept out of
> > computer hardware, even if only because it's so nasty and hard to remove.
This
> > can be accomplished, if you don't want to turn around your PSU fan, by
taping a
> > piece of paper towel to the front of your hardware so it requires the air to
> > flow THROUGH the paper towel, rather than going, unimpeded, through your
> > front-loading peripherals. That's probably adequate. Some cases once had a
> > sliding cover that protected these peripherals from the hazard of smoke and
> > other airborne pollutants. The air will still get into your computer, since
its
> > box isn't air-tight, but at least it won't flow through the devices that
would
> > be damaged most by it.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Douglas Quebbeman" <dhquebbeman_at_theestopinalgroup.com>
> > To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
> > Sent: Monday, December 10, 2001 8:40 AM
> > Subject: RE: Smoking around computers
> >
> > > > > From: Tony Duell <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
> > > >
> > > > > I wouldn't want anybody smoking near my computers!
> > > >
> > > > I've been chain-smoking around computers of various sorts for 20 years,
and
> > > > I've never seen any evidence of smoke-related problems. I prefer that
> > > > computers don't smoke around me, however ;>)
> > > >
> > > > OTOH, audio gear seems to be very susceptible to my smoke, and I have to
> > > > clean all the switches and pots every three months or so.
> > >
> > > The early CDC disk drives (like many others I'm sure) has so
> > > much room between platters you could stick your hand in there,
> > > and enough room between the flying heads and the platter that
> > > neither smoke nor dust was a problem. One CDC engineer remarked
> > > to me about how they usually be smoking a cigarette while they
> > > were *polishing* the platters (yes, I know about the stiction
> > > cure joke, Lemon Pledge and all that). Which reminds me of an
> > > MPEG that Elsa included with the Winner3000 drivers... you
> > > watch this video, you'll think it's cigarettes that they're
> > > selling...
> > >
> > > -dq
> > >
> > >
>
>
Received on Tue Dec 11 2001 - 17:10:01 GMT