How far do electronics need to be from a radiator to avoid damage?

[Mike IQ]

I'm getting into computer-based music production; I'm primarily going to using my MacBook, a midi controller, a USB mixer, my Nord Electro 2 and my turntable. I have to sort of move my furniture around to create space for me to have a workstation where all my gear can be in close enough proximity. My apartment is railroad style and the living room is long and relatively narrow, so in order to have sufficient space, I'm gonna need to shift things around and the way it's looking now, the only way I can make this work is by having the workstation relatively close to my radiator. Of course, for any of you who have lived in NYC, you know that the old-fashioned radiators here produce a LOT of heat and I want to protect my gear. How much space do you think I need in order to do this? Thanks in advance!

[Hemisaurus]

Well back in the day when I worked for HP, we would run eqpt. up to 55 Celsius to test it, we had to drop that to 45 Celsius for things with colour LCD's, but consumer equipment probably won't want to be too close. They have those radiators in Chicago to y'know

Google says 45 Celsius is 113F and 55 is 131F, I wouldn't subject equipment to anything more than about 85-95F to be on the safe side, so get a thermometer out I guess.Or look and see if your equipment has environmental specs in the manual, there's usually two sets, the temperature range you can store it at, ie. powered off, and the range you can operate it at.

[Hemisaurus]

Looking at Nord's manual it just says This product should be kept away from heat sources no hard specs.

[Ayek]

You might be able to use something as a thermal barrier, not sure exactly what would work best.

[Mike IQ]

You might be able to use something as a thermal barrier, not sure exactly what would work best.

This was my plan actually - I have a metal file cabinet that's about 16" wide. I think I'd put that between my workstation and the radiator. Or maybe the metal would conduct the heat too well. I'm considering alternate configurations now, so we shall see.

Thanks for the responses...

[Hemisaurus]

Those insulating panels you can get for drywall, I made a doghouse for my heater out of them, you can get polystyrene, or pink foam, or a sort of sandwich of glass fibre and foil. You'd want to set it up so it protects you gear, but still lets the heat out to the rest of the room.

[Mike IQ]

Those insulating panels you can get for drywall, I made a doghouse for my heater out of them, you can get polystyrene, or pink foam, or a sort of sandwich of glass fibre and foil. You'd want to set it up so it protects you gear, but still lets the heat out to the rest of the room.

Cool, thanks Hemisaurus. I've been staring at my desk and the adjacent area and have been brainstorming on ways to fit an additional writing desk perpendicular to it in an L-shape and keep my mixer and turntable on it and my computer and midi controller on my main desk. As far as my keyboard goes, I usually have it sealed its gig bag when not in use so that's not an issue. I will post a photo of the workstation when I get it all set up!

[jibberish]

laptop survival tip:  set your laptop on a raised open thing, like a cookie baking rack with little legs. laptops suck in air from the bottom and enhanced freedom of circulation is HUGE regarding keeping the cooling system max efficiency.

for radiant barrier almost anything shiny will work, even aluminum foil.

[Mike IQ]

laptop survival tip:  set your laptop on a raised open thing, like a cookie baking rack with little legs. laptops suck in air from the bottom and enhanced freedom of circulation is HUGE regarding keeping the cooling system max efficiency.

for radiant barrier almost anything shiny will work, even aluminum foil.

Thanks, Jibberish!

[jibberish]

YW chief .

It's a funny coincidence, but i have totally gutted my music/shop area, and i'm sitting here in horrible silence looking at a mountain of electronics, tables, stands, and god's own tangle of cords for the whole deal sitting in a heap on a chair.   i cant quite grab the vision of the integrated stereo listening center and studio/worksurface deal while still leaving a place to play and still get to the mixers etc while playing/recording.

i have not EVEN begun to ponder the power cord/speaker cable/signal cord "stringing logistics" for this whole clusterfuck.

and where is the turntable (actually have 2 that i use..shit....) going to go so it doesnt howl like a horny wolf when i crank it up.

and onanonanonan ON....

btw, i definitely have a cookie rack..maybe those are for cooling bakery. it is the size of the laptopand sits like a half inch off the table.   from fixing laptops, i always marvelled at the hoops those guys jumped thru designing and integrating the cooling systems. some are fluid filled even..in a laptop lol. there are small grates for air inlet.

Ironically, literally putting a laptop on a nice soft lap, like lets say a winter coat sitting in the airport, could smother and maybe even cut all airflow. even blocking the exhaust works to limit flow even with the ones with side air intakes

BTW, this is all jake's fault. after i exhausted all reasonable plans to secretly live in his basement, i decided to trash my shithole and do it up way nicer than it was

futre home of the "jimi fripp carlos zappa house of worship" studios and tomfoolarena

[jibberish]

Well back in the day when I worked for HP, we would run eqpt. up to 55 Celsius to test it, we had to drop that to 45 Celsius for things with colour LCD's, but consumer equipment probably won't want to be too close. They have those radiators in Chicago to y'know

Google says 45 Celsius is 113F and 55 is 131F, I wouldn't subject equipment to anything more than about 85-95F to be on the safe side, so get a thermometer out I guess.Or look and see if your equipment has environmental specs in the manual, there's usually two sets, the temperature range you can store it at, ie. powered off, and the range you can operate it at.

with the aquariums, i am always dealing with C vs F.   

take celsius and multiply by 9/5, then add 32 to get F. test it: 0 (*9/5)=0+32=32, 0c=32f
100c * 9/5=180 +32=212, 100c=212F
-40*9/5=-72+32=-40, -40c=-40F lol

l am more familiar with 20-35degrees C obviously

[AgentofOblivion]

for radiant barrier almost anything shiny will work, even aluminum foil.

Not this.  You want a thermal insulator, not conductor. 

[Hemisaurus]

for radiant barrier almost anything shiny will work, even aluminum foil.

Not this.  You want a thermal insulator, not conductor. 

What he says, think about it, if tinfoil were insulative, how would your turkey cook?

[Mike IQ]

for radiant barrier almost anything shiny will work, even aluminum foil.

Not this.  You want a thermal insulator, not conductor. 

What he says, think about it, if tinfoil were insulative, how would your turkey cook?

Yeah, I was wondering about that actually - it seemed counterintuitive.

[Mr. Foxen]

Foil will reflect infra red radiation, its why insulation blocks have foil on the side, a panel of that stuff, fiberglass with foil on, should be the ideal thing.

[RacerX]

Yeah, a good application of aluminum's heat transfer properties is the "hobo grill":

1) Dig a hole the size of an aluminum soup or beverage can, but an extra 1/2 inch deep.

2) Put some twigs & paper in the hole, light on fire.

3) Continue to add twigs until a small bed of coals forms at the bottom.

4) Drop your aluminum soup or beverage can (top removed) into the hole.

5) Add water, and watch how quickly it comes to a boil.

6) If you're not a hobo, you can stop now (but please pee in the hole first & fill back in). If you are a hobo, make some tea, coffee or broth to warm yerself up (then pee in the hole & fill back up)!

[jibberish]

there are 3 kinds of heat transfer: conductive, convective and radiant.

ok, the heat issue has to do with a :
RADIATOR <-this should be a huge clue to everyone. yes, as mr foxxen pointed out, i mentioned a radiant barrier, not a conductive barrier.

aluminum is an awesome conductor of heat. that's why aluminum makes excellent heat sinks, BUT when configured as a shiny reflective foil(or mylar, or a mirror, or a polished anything..) it reflects radiant heat

SO, if you use aluminum in an application where you are touching the aluminum, it is a conductor of heat. if you use it in free space as a reflector, it reflects heat.

this is why when you install attic radiant barrier, you dont want it touching so that it doesnt conduct heat.

[Hemisaurus]

So foil, as long as it's freestanding? I think the pink foam stuff is easier, and it has cool pictures of the pink panther on it

[jibberish]

ya, really anything shiny. but ya, if the surface of the foil gets warm and it is attached, then it will conduct its heat into what it is attached to.

i have had a devil of a time trying to explain radiant heat to people in the past.  we get conductive heat principles very intuitively, but the radiant messes people up.

this is why those mylar space blankets work. they reflect all your body heat back. but they are no good to wrap up in since it is ice cold super thin plastic(conductive insulation total fail)

[jibberish]

So foil, as long as it's freestanding? I think the pink foam stuff is easier, and it has cool pictures of the pink panther on it

lol, ok the pink part is conductive insulation. it slows the transfer of heat through it.

any insulation is sort of a heat time delay-er. it just slows the transfer out of the insulated object.  so then u put radiant barrier in your attic rafters to reflect the heat that radiates from the top of your insulation, back into th einsulation. the attic could be vented and 32 degrees, but the barrier is STILL reheating the insulation ...this is where peeps have trouble.

then you have to think about a campfire. it could be 30 degrees out, your face is burning and your ass is frozen standing by the fire. you can hold a piece of paper in front of you with a thermometer in the shade from the fire and it will say 30 degrees even tho your face, which is farther away from the fire is burning.

the real temp is 30degrees, and if you arent getting radiant heating from the fire, you will be 30degrees

[Lumpy]

A piece of plywood would make a fine barrier.

I would just avoid touching the radiator/putting your gear on top. After that, I wouldn't worry too much about it -- the heat is indirect beyond that. A few inches of space will be fine.

(Just for generic "electronics" -- laptops may have special needs).

[jibberish]

A piece of plywood would make a fine barrier.

I would just avoid touching the radiator/putting your gear on top. After that, I wouldn't worry too much about it -- the heat is indirect beyond that. A few inches of space will be fine.

(Just for generic "electronics" -- laptops may have special needs).

^this is realistic. just block the direct radiation.

i originally mentioned about the laptop just as a general laptop trick, but the heat issue reminded me of the trick.
the big explanation came after there was confusion regarding aluminum's heat transfer characteristics, and it really is just general info at this point. but cool info heh.

[Mike IQ]

A piece of plywood would make a fine barrier.

I would just avoid touching the radiator/putting your gear on top. After that, I wouldn't worry too much about it -- the heat is indirect beyond that. A few inches of space will be fine.

(Just for generic "electronics" -- laptops may have special needs).

My laptop travels a lot, as laptops do, so it would only be in my workstation when I'm working there.

But anyway, I worked out a way to keep my desk where it is - far from the radiator - and have a nice setup. I will post pics once I'm all finished. Very psyched to get this together so that, other than work, kung fu class and band practice I need never leave my house.