Electronics in Attic Space

[Spudland_Dave]

First off, let me define attic space...full attic trusses, normal flooring, stairwell to go up, legal for my sub panel. BUT, its essentially un-insulated, which means colder then heck in the winter, and hotter then hell on a hot sunny day. (normal attic temps, hotter then hell to me is anything above 70 F )

So by trade I'm a computer guy...in my line of work, electronics are kept and run in rooms which are monitored 24/7 for temp, humidity, etc..essentially cold is good. BUT, what I'm thinkin is I'd like to install my wireless gateway up in the attic...nice neat install that way. Has anybody done it and how long has the gear lasted?

 

[ishiboo]

First off, let me define attic space...full attic trusses, normal flooring, stairwell to go up, legal for my sub panel. BUT, its essentially un-insulated, which means colder then heck in the winter, and hotter then hell on a hot sunny day. (normal attic temps, hotter then hell to me is anything above 70 F )

So by trade I'm a computer guy...in my line of work, electronics are kept and run in rooms which are monitored 24/7 for temp, humidity, etc..essentially cold is good. BUT, what I'm thinkin is I'd like to install my wireless gateway up in the attic...nice neat install that way. Has anybody done it and how long has the gear lasted?

I have a Warthog (WRT54G) installed on the outside of my barn about 4" inside of the siding in an open cove, it's even hit occasionally with rain and has been fine. I think it'd be fine.

Temperature for a single device or a couple is not normally an issue, the major concern for an attic is the temperature cycles. This will cause condensation on device(s) and be the biggest concern. I wouldn't put anything you'd miss financially in an attic without a small enclosure to pull air from the conditioned space.

 

[kbs2244]

Don't they have operating and storage specs on the box or operators book?

 

[ddawg16]

Heat will reduce the life of the unit. How long? Hard to say....maybe not longer than you want to use it...if your like me, you upgrade every 3-4 years anyway...

 

[zuk123]

I've got a big network switch, a ups, and a cisco access point in my attic in houston.

It's over 100* up there now.

I've been running gear up there for 7 years. I haven't had problems except with the UPS, and they fail after some time anyway.

It has been full on pro gear though. 3com switch, now HP procurve, and cisco (not linksys) access point. I think I had a dlink small business switch up there for a while until I got the 3 com. The fan might have given out on that.

Any elevated temperature is going to decrease the life of electronics, but used pro gear is cheap enough to almost be disposable....

I'd go for it.

zuk

 

[ishiboo]

I've got a big network switch, a ups, and a cisco access point in my attic in houston.

It's over 100* up there now.

I've been running gear up there for 7 years. I haven't had problems except with the UPS, and they fail after some time anyway.

It has been full on pro gear though. 3com switch, now HP procurve, and cisco (not linksys) access point. I think I had a dlink small business switch up there for a while until I got the 3 com. The fan might have given out on that.

Any elevated temperature is going to decrease the life of electronics, but used pro gear is cheap enough to almost be disposable....

I'd go for it.

zuk

ProCurve is certainly pro gear, but 3com?

 

[zuk123]

Old 3com, managed switch. Definitely pro.


zuk

 

[zuk123]

There is very little in my house that would benefit from 1gig switches. The best benefit is with pro gear that has the bandwidth to really give you the 100MB from every port to every port. That lets me use some nice old gear, rock solid, cheap, and in the case of the HP Procurve, lifetime advance replacement warranty

If your environment is less than ideal, heavy weight gear will serve you well.

zuk

 

[theoldwizard1]

Most wireless router/switch have antennas that screw on. Get an extension cable (eBay) and keep the box in a closet.

 

[nehog]

Studies have shown that moderate heat isn't as damaging as once thought. If the area is a place that you can stay in for a while (half an hour?) without thinking you're going to die, it will probably be OK.

 

[theoldwizard1]

There is very little in my house that would benefit from 1gig switches.

I got in a ******* contest with HP when a new desktop would not connect to a Cisco RV220W wireless router/switch. The computer would not connect at 1000Mb. The support person said, "So what ? The speed to the WAN is much less anyway !"

Of course I had a file server connected to one of the other ports of the switch so full 1000Mb was important as all of the client's data was on the server !

 

[zuk123]

Yep, I've got my raid (NAS) on one gig uplink port and the only pc in the house with a gig ethernet port on the other. Everything else is 100MBps anyway, and internet is only 5-15MBps for us.

I use old tools, old machines, and old tech gear It's much cheaper that way!

zuk

BTW, when you look at some of the real world tests, those wireless speed numbers seem to be pure fantasy... unless you are 4 ft from the access point. And if you are 4 ft away------use a wire!

 

[zuk123]

On topic, for what it's worth, I've been in customer data closets and measured temps as high as 140deg F at some of the gear. While that voided the warranty, and probably shortened the life of the gear, it all kept working for at least 2 more years (until our maintenance agreement ended.)

So, I wouldn't worry too much.

zuk

 

[justsam]

I have no real world data, but I can tell you that Verizon refused to install their FiOs gear in my attic, in spite of me prepping for the install with a dedicated power outlet in place.

It was a walk in attic, with a short clear path to the proposed equipment location. For them it had to be in a conditioned space.

 

[where2]

My Linksys WRT54G running DD-WRT gets along just fine in my attic in South Florida, with a dark blue/black metal tile roof with only eave vents! I collected a few used units as spares in the event that I ever killed one, but I'm still on my first device...

 

[79firebird]

It will be fine. ive had my wifi router wired router cable and dsl modem up in mine as well as a G5 and 2 intel servers running in mine for a fue years and havent had a prob yet. even my usb hd is fine. Think of it this way your attic gets just as hot as a summer day in mexico and it all lasts fine there

 

[Falcon67]

in my line of work, electronics are kept and run in rooms which are monitored 24/7 for temp, humidity, etc..essentially cold is good.

Depends on where you work, the buildings and the budget. Some of our closets - well, you wonder how the gear lives as long as it does. Consumer grade equipment will vary in it's ability to survive in a harsh environment. WTH - routers are cheap, try it and see how it does.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

Depends on where you work, the buildings and the budget. Some of our closets - well, you wonder how the gear lives as long as it does. Consumer grade equipment will vary in it's ability to survive in a harsh environment. WTH - routers are cheap, try it and see how it does.

Rather not call out where I work publically, lets just say that we have an online presence and people blow a gasket over a 3 minute outage...even a minor one.

Yeah, I had asked the question more or less because today is my last day to decide...the last 19 sheets of sheetrock for my garage showed up Monday afternoon and after today I will have them all up....I am planning on putting it up there, but I also ran a piece of conduit and another box in the wall, JUST IN CASE it doesn't...I can install it in the main floor. As many said, they are cheap as dirt now a days, disposable really...if I could get 2 years out of one I'd be fine as after then I could justify a new one as an "upgrade"....

 

[rlitman]

I have a Warthog (WRT54G) installed on the outside of my barn about 4" inside of the siding in an open cove, it's even hit occasionally with rain and has been fine. I think it'd be fine.

Temperature for a single device or a couple is not normally an issue, the major concern for an attic is the temperature cycles. This will cause condensation on device(s) and be the biggest concern. I wouldn't put anything you'd miss financially in an attic without a small enclosure to pull air from the conditioned space.

No it will not. If the device is self warming (plugged in and running), it will not get condensation.

Heat will reduce the life of the unit. How long? Hard to say....maybe not longer than you want to use it...if your like me, you upgrade every 3-4 years anyway...

Not necessarily. Heat kills hard drives. It can be an issue when uncontrolled, or when too much heat is confined in too small a space.
But a wireless router generates so little heat that they all come without cooling fans. Does that tell you something? My cable boxes are convection cooled. I've had a few that I buried between equipment so badly (after removing the feet so it would be a tighter fit), that when I pulled the box out it would be too hot to hold. They still ran fine for years (not that I cared if it failed, I'd just get a new one from the cable company).

I have no real world data, but I can tell you that Verizon refused to install their FiOs gear in my attic, in spite of me prepping for the install with a dedicated power outlet in place.

It was a walk in attic, with a short clear path to the proposed equipment location. For them it had to be in a conditioned space.

Verizon's equipment has a battery backup. A lead-acid battery at that. An attic's heat will halve the lifetime of that battery (at best). i.e. they will have to make a service visit your house twice as often as your neighbor's to replace that battery. That gets expensive for them.

Rather not call out where I work publically, lets just say that we have an online presence and people blow a gasket over a 3 minute outage...even a minor one.

Yeah, I had asked the question more or less because today is my last day to decide...the last 19 sheets of sheetrock for my garage showed up Monday afternoon and after today I will have them all up....I am planning on putting it up there, but I also ran a piece of conduit and another box in the wall, JUST IN CASE it doesn't...I can install it in the main floor. As many said, they are cheap as dirt now a days, disposable really...if I could get 2 years out of one I'd be fine as after then I could justify a new one as an "upgrade"....

I'll say it. I work in a data center, and deal with megawatts of heat. I'll actually be the one switching on our generators tonight at midnight before we bypass a UPS for maintenance tonight.
What does that have to do with anything?

Just don't bury the AP in insulation. And give it at least 6" of air space on ALL sides (i.e. put it on a wire shelf if possible) to give it the best chance at convection cooling.