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#1 Posted : 09 March 2004 21:37:00(UTC)
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Posted By john o'meara What's under your PC? A recent and useful thread wondered about fire sprinklers situated over PCs. Have you ever checked what's under your PC? Or those dozens of PCs spread around your workplace? A fire broke out in the middle of the night on a passenger ferry at sea. One thousand people on board. Extinguished by the competent crew, so no catastrophe. The fire was in the photo shop. A low cost power lead was attached to a PC on a desk. The lead was laid across the floor under the desk. Cardboard boxes full of paper photo envelopes were stored under the desk. On top of the cheap lead. On top of the desk was the PC and monitor. Get the picture? Over time, the boxes compressed and distorted the insulation inside the lead. This night, the insulation broke down, arcing occurred and the lead took fire. That's the lead under the boxes under the desk under the monitor. Up she went. I read this report,looked at the pictures and then examined my own workdesk. I had a monitor on a light weight pine table. Under the table, lots of cables including three power leads, the cheapest I could buy of course. And heavy cardboard boxes full of files and papers, sitting on top of the cables. A natural place to store such stuff. It had never crossed my mind that constant pressure could destroy the insulation of a cable. So what's under your PC? J.
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#2 Posted : 10 March 2004 00:09:00(UTC)
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Posted By John Murgatroyd Well, most leads are made to a standard. Moulded plugs, fused and capable to do the job. My pc has the power lead routed via a duct made for the job. Nothing carrying any power over a few watts should ever be allowed to be buried (insulated by) any material at all. What most people forget, or don't know, is that even a cable drawing only a hundred watts will heat up appreciably if suitably insulated... Any electrical installation where the cables are subject to any stress should be inspected regularly anyway.
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