on Friday, October 16, 1998 7:44 PM John Chin wrote:
<snip>
>Does anyone know of any incident where a computer's
>CPU, left running 24 hours a day, caused an overheating
>situation which caused "dust", etc. to ignite and cause a
>fire?
<snip>

Hello John,

I have had one case of the computer Power supply Igniting. It was an old 486
that ran day and night, non stop for 2 years. Apparently enough dust built
up inside to be a perfect insulation for heat. This became so bad that
eventually the whole thing ignited. The sprinkler system went off,
thankfully enough. The power supply seems to be a weak spot even without the
dust, I've had three brand new ones go up in smoke. Turned them on and
"ZZZZZTTT" a bit of fireworks, quite a bit of smoke and smell, and that was
it. As for high quality cases, these were all of the more expensive type,
and were TUEV (the german equivalent to UL) tested. The problem is, that to
get this rating the firm only has to send in a few cases that work, after
that at least in germany that model is not tested again.

Rick Swartz   [log in to unmask]
PC-Support    Emission-Monitoring (Air)
BASF

                                  -----
                PCBUILD mailing list -  http://nospin.com
         Bob Wright:[log in to unmask] - Drew Dunn:[log in to unmask]