hi, best way to combat cold/dew on my pc's in my astro shed

[Guest paul j]

hi all,i have a small astro shed where i have 2 desktop pc's and they control the scope and take care of the imaging,during these cold nights the pc's are refusing to boot up ive managed to get them to start with a hair dryer but 2am in morning i cant due to noise.ive thought of dew heaters inside the case, but not so sure now.even thought about building a box with a door on front to house them,i just not sure if that would work,has anybody else came across this problem? i could use laptops but the desktops i already had and they been fine up until this cold damp weather.

[Daz Type-R]

Hi.

I don't think dew heaters will be enough, also, im not quite sure what you would wrap the heaters around?

Like Pat says, the ideal solution would be to build a warm room, but looking at your obsy, that would be a complete rebuild.

Could you invest in a couple of electric fan heaters and have them pointing at the pc's, perhaps even have them on a timer for say 19:00 until 02:00, I take it once the pc's are up and running, they are fine?

[Guest paul j]

hi I guess I could use electric heaters I did think about that but was worried about cost of electric yeah I'm tight wad.what money I save on electric can go towards astro gear lol.I've moved palm tree so I got 8ft space so I will build on end for warm room.but as for now I think it could be electric heaters like u say.lost few good nights imaging with them not turning on.

[Daz Type-R]

Could you not just wrap the base units up in a blanket when not in use, may stop the damp and cold from getting too bad, cheaper alternative?

[Brantuk]

A well ventilated cardboard box to stand them in may help - cardboard is a great insulator. When not in use (ie switched off) you could stuff an old blanket round it too. Also keep a couple of dessicant pads around the box to absorb any moisture - that would be my biggest worry.

[Doc]

Dessicant is pretty cheap on E-Bay, I've just bought a 2KG bag to leave in my caravan over winter, it really works well, so if it can keep a 35 foot caravan dry it will keep your onsy dry.

[Brantuk]

Ohhhhh - now that's a great tip for the caravn - never even thought of doing that - thanks millions Mick

[Doc]

I seperate the 2kg bag into about 5 bowls and place them in all different rooms, and it does really work, all for £16 for 2Kg