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Broken AC + Humid Weather

xcas

xcas

Member
Really I'm here because I'm hoping someone can reassure me that I'm overreacting. Because I swear I'll just give up and become a luddite if I've managed to end up with another expensive pile of corroded scrap.
It's just starting to get hot here in Tennessee and, unfortunately, our AC is broken, so not only does it get up to 80 indoors sometimes, it's also been raining on and off the past few days so humidity index outside is like 95% right now. Obviously not as bad inside, but still mildly uncomfortable. No visible condensation though.
The AC company can't come out until Monday, and essentially I'm just here psyching myself out over all my electronics (including my $2500 gaming PC) sitting in a stuffy, hot room until then.
So how bad is this sitution? What should I do in the meantime? I've read about keeping the PC on to prevent condensation, but it's already been off cold for at least a full day now. And if I keep it on, I suppose heat then becomes more of a problem, so gaming is out of the question.
So I guess I'm supposed to leave my PC on and idle as long as possible, and just deal with the fact that some damage will be done?
Any input would be appreciated. thanks.
 
There's nothing at all to worry about, imo. Do whatever you want, there's no risk of any damage to anything.
 
I was watching the other day a video about how Gigabyte stress tested some of their motherboards in Hot, Cold, and different humidity levels.

Check this film about the gigabyte stress test lab???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjdHBNOZbTQ

Testing a motherboard running benchmarks in a room that is 50 C, or about 122 F.

I worked in a casting and coil rolling mill at Olin Works of East Alton, IL and we used computers in there. Sometimes it might get up to 130 F.
 
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I think ideally, an air conditioned environment with lower humidity is better. Maybe a smaller room with a window air conditioner might help. Too cold of air conditioning can actually increase the humidity.
 
xcas said:
That's my problem, it is. The air is hot and my PC is off, so, like any metal surface, it is colder than the air around it by default.
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I don't think so. It will match the ambient temperature.

It may feel colder to the touch, because metal is a decent heat sink.

If you had your computer in your air conditioned 70F room all day, and you shut it off, and took it out on the 95F 75% humidity porch, it would form condensation inside it, and you would need to leave it outside for a while, until it reached ambient temperature, before turning it on.
 
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The reverse, if you had the computer out on the porch all day, and then took it inside, would not form condensation, because inside is low humidity.
 
If your computer were the same temp as your finger skin, it would not feel cold to the touch. If the ambient room temp is 80 degrees, then the PC will be at 80 degrees. Remember, that is about 18 degrees colder than your body. 🙂
 
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LTC8K6 said:
I don't think so. It will match the ambient temperature.

It may feel colder to the touch, because metal is a decent heat sink.

If you had your computer in your air conditioned 70F room all day, and you shut it off, and took it out on the 95F 75% humidity porch, it would form condensation inside it, and you would need to leave it outside for a while, until it reached ambient temperature, before turning it on.
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This.

Heat Transfer lesson incoming....🙂

When you touch a metal surface, you're doing so with a fairly warm temperature sensor: Your finger.
When you touch metal that is below body temperature, it quickly starts to pull heat out of your fingertip. (If you want to get into it, technically your finger is pushing out thermal energy, since it's got the higher temperature. Thermal energy wants to flow from higher energy to lower energy regions.)
So if your finger is 80° and the metal is 70°, your fingertip is suddenly going to be heading toward that 70° temperature as thermal energy transfers quickly from your finger into the metal, and it's going to feel cold. Thermal energy flows freely in many metals, some moreso than others; aluminum is often used for heatsinks because it offers a good balance of cost, machinability and formability, and thermal conductivity. Steel, like a typical computer case, is still pretty decent, but not nearly as good as aluminum or copper.


If you touch a piece of dry wood or Styrofoam that is also 70°, it will feel warm. Thermal energy does not move easily in a thermal insulator. Your finger will warm up the contacting surface of the insulator, and that thermal energy will mostly stay right there, whereas in the metal, the thermal energy quickly moves away from the source. Because the thermal energy stays right there at the contact area, the surface will feel like it's the same warm temperature as your fingertip.


The reverse applies: Metal surfaces feel hotter than an insulator for the same reason.

Say you have a metal surface that's above body temperature, let's say 150°F. (A guess. I don't think I've ever actually measured a surface I'd consider to be painfully hot. I just don't touch it anymore. 😉)
Remember that thermal energy flows easily in a metal.
When your 80°F finger touches it, the metal is going to be capable of dumping a lot of energy into your finger in a big hurry, which heats up your finger quickly. It feels really hot.

If you have that wood or Styrofoam block, also at 150°F, when you touch it, only a small amount of energy in the foam very near to your finger will flow into your finger. Because it's an insulator, thermal energy doesn't move easily through it, so the energy elsewhere in the block mostly stays put. So now the contact area is roughly at your fingertip temperature. It feels warm, but not nearly as hot as the metal will feel.
 
I've run my pc's during periods when my AC was broken here in FL which is quite hot and humid without issue so I really wouldn't worry about it.
 
My buddy, who lives in Costa Rica about 100m from the beach would be having a good laugh about this.

I don't think you have anything to worry about.
 
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