Hello,

With the cold weather coming in, it's about time to fire up my pellet stove. Unfortunately, a fine layer of ash will tend to accumulate over everything... including my PC. Of course, if it's getting on the outside, it's getting on the inside.

I can use vacuum cleaners and compressed air to clean out the PC. But, the ash will continue to find its way in. I'm concerned that it may accumulate in areas that I might overlook.

If I cover the intake areas with some sort of filter medium, I'm concerned that it might cut down on airflow too much.

There have to be others who are having similar issues.

Does anyone here have any novel techniques to deal with this sort of thing?

Thanks,
-Joe

I used cooker hood filter material for many years without problem. It's washable. Makes sense to monitor temperatures anyway, perhaps with lmsensors and GKrellM.

An air purifier placed near the intake fan might be a solution. We use electrostatic (sharper image) filters which are not recommended for smoke. Honeywell sells a HEPA filter for about $100 which would be a better choice if smoke is present.

its not a problem, my pc is next to the fireplace and it has little 2 no effect.

Get some mosquito net and line the tower with it.

Catkin and Dogs...
I thought of covering the intake vents with some kind of filtering material. Now, I know of two materials that others have used without harming their PC's. Thank you!
I always 'sensors-detect' and modify rc.local when I install Slackware. Then, I periodically check 'sensors'. Not to worry.
Thanks

Wiljohnson...
I will look into an air cleaner.
Thanks

Smeezekitty...
I guess my post wasn't complete. I'm going to buy a new desktop PC. The old one did sit here... ashes and all... and was OK for about 7 years until it died a few weeks ago. I'm not just concerned about heat dissipation, but also about particles causing a short. Still... the old one was OK for a long time, so maybe I'm just worrying needlessly.
Thanks

A couple of ideas you might explore are:

• Pressurise the case slightly by having the (filtered) intake fan capacity sightly higher that the extract fan capacity. This would prevent ash entering through the many small openings that are impractical to seal. It is possible to move the PSU fan from its normal extract position to a intake position, as long as you can arrange a good airflow through the PSU.
• Reduce the airflow through the case to the minimum necessary by controlling fan speed according to key temperatures. This would require choosing a motherboard that has capability to control more fans than the usual CPU fan alone. A pleasant side effect would be reduced noise and power consumption.

If you get serious about this, you may want to consider cases that are designed to facilitate airflow control such as the Antec P182.

Of course there is always the option of removing the ash from the environment...

Maybe by using an Electric fire or gas central heating?

or moving the desktop.

I agree, this is what I do. Just take some duct tape and attach mosquito netting to the vents on your case. It doesn't eliminate dust completely, but it definitely catches a whole lot of it. And it doesn't restrict airflow, and it's relatively easy to clean (static cloth or wet cloth).

On my case there's also some interesting breathable foam. Unfortunately I sense that it does indeed impede airflow significantly (way more than mosquito net), so I'm not sure if it's a good idea to use foam.

Moving it isn't an option.

Two votes for mosquito netting.

Thanks again!

So now you just have to worry about breathing all that ash and cleaning your house, brilliant!

based on your post, i would assume you dont know what it is like to have a real fire.

That's a big part of it.The stove has a nice glass window in front. I love the flickering firelight on a cold winter evening, looking out of my large windows over the sleepy town, twinkling in the starlight in it's new coat of virgin snow, while I slowly, silently sip a brandy.

Also, my gas heating bills are way down. That was the original reason I purchased the stove.

and you would be completely wrong. If there is enough ash to settle everywhere, including your computer, then it is also a health hazard and your flue isn't working properly. Just thought I'd mention it, no need to thank me.