[asterisk-users] Dell poweredge 860 acceptable forofficeenvironment ?

[Stephen Bosch]

joe a. wrote:
>>> The tomshardware-guys (no gals would do this...) have removed the  
>>> fans, and immersed the innards of the computer in a sealed cabinet  
>>> filled with cooking oil. So they have a completely silent machine  
>>> in 40C warm oil. Amazing...
> 
> It certainly is.   And, I suppose, this will work, for a while, as long as:
> 
> The "sealed cabinet", has enough expansion capacity for the oil to expand from heating;
> Has enough surface area to effectively radiate the heat that is continuously generated, 
> (else the temperature of the oil will continue to rise . . .(sound familiar?))
> 
> The components can withstand continuous (24x7x365) immersion in a heated liquid.  A solvent, basically.
> The oil will eventually compromise the integrity of most, if not all of the components.

You might be misunderstanding the meaning of the word "solvent"; A
solvent is any (generally liquid) substance which can dissolve another
substance; the mere fact of the cooling medium being mineral oil doesn't
automatically make it a solvent. It depends on what you're applying it to.

The oil is non-conductive, so even if it penetrates a chip enclosure,
it's not going to cause a short. It's also non-corrosive; and the
suitability of the oil depends also on the heat capacity, which is a
function of the volume. Whether the insulators and plastics would be
affected by a mineral oil is an open question; I don't see vegetable oil
causing a problem, though it will start to smell after a while.

Oil is a better conductor of heat to plastic than air is, so you need to
consider not only the air-exposed surface but all the others as well.

> Not the best of ideas, IMHO

It's a fine idea, but whether it works well or not comes down to the
quality of the execution.

Personally, I wouldn't do it for three reasons:

- it makes adding/removing expansion cards messy or impractical
- a leak in the enclosure would be a catastrophe (a big mess and almost
guaranteed failure)
- it would be bloody heavy

-Stephen-