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Re: [ProgSoc] Computer at home a fire risk



On 9/5/05, victor rajewski <askvictor@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 9/2/05, chlaught@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <chlaught@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Just a question, say you have a safety switch installed, the likelyhood of
> things going wrong would be somewhat reduced, as if anything short
> circuits it turns off the power right?

Jeez - don't they teach you anything in electrical engineering
anymore? saftey switch=residual current device. This checks that all
of the wee little electrons going in through the active wire come back
through the neutral wire. If any come back through the earth wire
(called an earth fault), it cuts the power, before enough of them have
escaped to cause any harm. If the problem is inside the power supply,
I suspect a spark would be 'out of the bag' before the RCD could cut
in, but it might help (not too sure about the times involved here). If
the fault occurs on the computer side of the power supply, the RCD
wouldn't do jack. Well, it would cut the power off once the flames
have melted through the insulation of the wire, but I suspect that may
be a little late (though later damage would be alleviated here).

vik


At my Brigade's Fire Station we have a PC turned on 24/7. It is plugged into a surge protected powerboard and the mains power is protected by breakers and a safety breaker. The PC is kept in a ventilated office with an average temperature of 24deg C and the case has filters on air vents to keep dust out. The case has at least 20cm of clearance around each side to allow for proper ventilation and nothing is piled on or around it. (e.g. paper/books/crap)

The powerboard and leads are inspected by an electrician every 12months (it's a council building after all)

Now, if you follow the above instructions and don't use faulty/old powerboards or cabling then you shouldn't have a problem. Risk is always part of the game, but if you use that thing called common sense then the risk is negligible.

Close this thread or beat the paranoid person/people with a really big stick.

-Andi.