Cheap fire suppression system for a PC?

On 2009-10-17, Dave C. wrote:

Why do you think your PC will catch fire? The danger of fire (if there
is one) would be contained in the Power Supply. I've seen a couple of
PC power supplies that virtually exploded in a spectacular sound and
light show. But in both cases, after the initial pops/sparks
flying...the PC was dead and smelled terrible, but there was no
collateral damage. Oh, and both of the power supplies that did that
were cheapie no-name power supplies that (obviously) weren't designed
properly.

My power supply is mounted on the bottom of the case, with the fan
facing an open grill on the bottom. One thing that originally crossed my
mind is that any hot material that came loose from within the PS might
fall right out of the bottom of the case.

I may just go ahead and reposition the PS so that the fan opening is
facing up, but hot material from the motherboard could still fall out
throught the grill holes in the bottom of the case, so I guess I could
insert a piece of sheet metal on the bottom to completely cover that
area.

I think your best bet as far as fire prevention in a PC is, buy a
good quality name-brand power supply for it. Corsair and BFG seem to
be the best bets as far as brands go, at the moment.

I currently have a Gigabyte PS.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817233010

If you are REALLY
paranoid, make sure there is nothing flammable sitting behind the power
supply, in case it should throw a spark or two. But you shouldn't
really have anything flammable sitting behind your computer anyway, as
that would be an odd place to store it.

That's my main concern. I need to have a lot of sound absorbant material
around my computer, and I'm thinking about creating a 4 sided cabnet
composed of 5/8" sheet-rock covered with carpet. That may be all I need
on the sides, but I need something more as the bottom layer that will
absorb the vibrations from the case.

Last night, I inserted a layer of 3/8" foam carpet-paddeing with an
additional layer of carpet on top of that, which helped to reduce the
vibrations quite a bit, but it isn't good enough yet. I think 2 more
layers of carpet-padding with competely solve the vibration problem, but
adding all that foam makes me a little paranoid.

Currently, the bottom layer that my computer is standing on looks like
this:
______
| |
| PC |
| |
---carpet---
---foam padding---
---carpet---
---5/8" sheet-rock---
---carpet---
-----------------------

If there were some kind of cheap fireproof fabric that I could use as an
outermost layer, something that would prevent a fire from spreading
through to the rest of the material, that would help ease my mind.

Or maybe some kind of fire retardant chemical coating that I treat the
surrounding material with?

On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 06:02:13 +0000, ShadowTek rearranged some electrons to
say:

I would like to install a small fire detection/suppression system for my
computer. I've seen a lot of rediculously expensive stuff online, but
I'd like to spend as little as possible.

Surely there's something that could be had for little more than the cost
of a small hand-held fire-extinguisher, as all I need is basically that
with some sort of detector/trigger.

Any suggestions?

You need to look at your motherboard and other components. If they have
the UL 94V-0 symbol on it, you have almost nothing to worry about.

In article ,
Dave C. wrote:
On Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:31:30 GMT
"SteveH" wrote:

ShadowTek wrote:
I would like to install a small fire detection/suppression system
for my computer. I've seen a lot of rediculously expensive stuff
online, but I'd like to spend as little as possible.

Surely there's something that could be had for little more than the
cost of a small hand-held fire-extinguisher, as all I need is
basically that with some sort of detector/trigger.

Any suggestions?

Watercooling!

Not bad. Run the main lines up high, route them over any component
that would be a source of fuel. Fire melts coolant line, fire goes
out.

But seriously, I don't think you really need to worry about fire in a
computer. Well, no more than you need to worry about getting killed by
a tornado. -Dave


I have a vision of the OP kludging up a full blown fire suppression
kit at some cost and then plugging the unit into a cheap-ass power
strip that then proceeds to go up in smoke.

Sh*t happens. Don't fixate on one part of the problem and believe that
you've covered all cases.



--
Al Dykes
News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising.
- Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail

On 2009-10-18, Dave C. wrote:

Ummm... if the computer is in a cabinet where you don't care how it
looks...and assuming you are worried about sparks or something igniting
the soundproofing foam/otherstuff, how about a layer or two of aluminum
foil? That should work as a cheap, easy solution. -Dave

The foil would also reflect all sound back out of the cabinet, since the
cabinet is open on 2 sides for ventilation.


I just did a test burn of the carpet and carpet padding material, and
the results were a bit disturbing. All it took was a moment's contact
with flame to start a fire that soon spread to the rest of the material.

I knew the padding would burn easily, but I thought carpet was made to be
flame-resistant to at least some degree.

I need to find a different material for sound and vibration absorbtion.

"ST" == ShadowTek writes:

ST If there were some kind of cheap fireproof fabric that I could
ST use as an outermost layer, something that would prevent a fire
ST from spreading through to the rest of the material, that would
ST help ease my mind.

ST Or maybe some kind of fire retardant chemical coating that I
ST treat the surrounding material with?

Here's a site on make-your-own fire retardant spray for fabrics:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4705220_make...ant-spray.html

Other sites have cheap retardant spray, just google. From your
description, it would not be a bad idea at all to spray your carpet
layers.
--
Why tell me that a man is a fine speaker, if it is not the truth that
he is speaking?
~ Thomas Carlyle

On 2009-10-19, Bob Fry wrote:

Here's a site on make-your-own fire retardant spray for fabrics:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4705220_make...ant-spray.html

Other sites have cheap retardant spray, just google. From your
description, it would not be a bad idea at all to spray your carpet
layers.

I checked out a few sites that described homemade recipies, and every
single one was a borax and boric acid mixture.

I'll have to try it out and see how well it works.

Regardless, I think I'm going to remove all the carpet and padding and
replace it with sections cut from wool blankets. I think that would be a
safer idea.

Treating wool with that homemade retardant sounds like the most cost effective solution.

ShadowTek wrote:

That's my main concern. I need to have a lot of sound absorbant
material around my computer, and I'm thinking about creating a 4
sided cabnet composed of 5/8" sheet-rock covered with carpet. That
may be all I need on the sides, but I need something more as the
bottom layer that will absorb the vibrations from the case.



Out of interest, why do you /need/ to have all that crap around the PC?
If you want quiet, why not get a quiet case and coolers?

--
SteveH

ShadowTek wrote:
I would like to install a small fire detection/suppression system for my
computer. I've seen a lot of rediculously expensive stuff online, but
I'd like to spend as little as possible.

Surely there's something that could be had for little more than the cost
of a small hand-held fire-extinguisher, as all I need is basically that
with some sort of detector/trigger.

If you just truely turn off all power, the chance of fire while the PC
is un-attended is slow. DO NOT trust soft standby!

--
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"SteveH" wrote in message
...
ShadowTek wrote:

That's my main concern. I need to have a lot of sound absorbant
material around my computer, and I'm thinking about creating a 4
sided cabnet composed of 5/8" sheet-rock covered with carpet. That
may be all I need on the sides, but I need something more as the
bottom layer that will absorb the vibrations from the case.



Out of interest, why do you /need/ to have all that crap around the PC?
If you want quiet, why not get a quiet case and coolers?

--
SteveH


You can also use watercooling to remove all the
noise producing elements to another room. That
leaves just the hard drive "noise" to manage.

Luck;
Ken

Ken Maltby wrote:
"SteveH" wrote in message
...
ShadowTek wrote:

That's my main concern. I need to have a lot of sound absorbant
material around my computer, and I'm thinking about creating a 4
sided cabnet composed of 5/8" sheet-rock covered with carpet. That
may be all I need on the sides, but I need something more as the
bottom layer that will absorb the vibrations from the case.



Out of interest, why do you /need/ to have all that crap around the
PC? If you want quiet, why not get a quiet case and coolers?

--
SteveH


You can also use watercooling to remove all the
noise producing elements to another room. That
leaves just the hard drive "noise" to manage.

Luck;
Ken

I could never be assed with watercooling. I've got a decent case in the
Antec P180, some decent 120mm fans from Quiet PC and a very quiet VGA cooler
from Arctic Cooling. The only way I could get my PC any quieter is to turn
it off.

--
SteveH