Number 225 - February 2002

Humidity and Computers
by Jennifer Leitzke, TriCounty PCUG
Computers and humidity do not mix well. When caring for or carrying your convenient portable computer items, make sure to allow time for your items to acclimate. Acclimate is defined in Webster's dictionary as: to accustom to a new climate or to new conditions. Example would be when you are inside a cool room and go outside and put on your sun glasses. They fog up on you.     Just think what the temperature/humidity change does to your computer circuits and LCD screen. From the house, to the car, to the office, to the restaurant, all different temperatures and all different climates. A suggestion was given, to allow your computer items 1 hour to acclimate to avoid harm.     I made several calls around to engineers and air-conditioning specialists this week, and I was told the following information: Rooms where computers are kept ideally should maintain a temperature of 70-82 degrees.     You don't want to get much hotter than that. Commercial computer rooms keep their humidity	levels at around 50%. Homes and offices can be a little more flexible, to 65-75% humidity. More humidity than that is not very good. They suggested possibly resizing your room air-conditioner or getting a dehumidifier to better control the environment. TOGGLE Editor's Note:     Excessive dryness (lack of humidity) also offers dangers to electronic equipment by creating an atmosphere in which static electricity is easily generated. Just walking across a room with low humidity can generate a static electric potential in your body, especially if the room is carpeted, which will result in a "shock" when you touch a conductive object such as a hot water radiator or (gasp!) a computer case. In such an environment you would be wise to ground yourself by touching some other object before touching electronic equipment. Some experts recommend using a grounding strap attached to your wrist and grounded to the equipment base while repairing or otherwise working on electronic equipment such as computers.
Number 225 - February 2002