Do you leave your wireless router on?

prowla

Pincher wrote: »

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/07/tips-for-how-to-keep-your-wireless-broadband-isp-router-cool.html

There are electrical fires all the time, all kinds of things catch fire, for all sorts of reasons. A defective adaptor could catch fire all by itself.

Every time I see routers lying on carpets, I get a creepy feeling.
Lots of people do it under desks. Feel the carpet under the router, if it doesn't scare you, it does me.

(Well, there are some sensible comments there, though I'm surprised they didn't mention not putting it on the hot plate!)

But do you have any documented instances of them catching fire?

Pincher

prowla wrote: »

(Well, there are some sensible comments there, though I'm surprised they didn't mention not putting it on the hot plate!)

But do you have any documented instances of them catching fire?

No. Nothing to hand.


I have had a power adapter that melted. No, the house did not burn down. I have had a 3Com router that failed, and smelt like something was cooking.


I have noticed that the more professional switches have metal casing, which are fire resistant if the motherboard should catch fire.


Are you saying they have thermal cut-off, so they can't overheat? I still think they run hot, and feel safer switching them off when I go away.

Nilrem

Pincher wrote: »

No. Nothing to hand.


I have had a power adapter that melted. No, the house did not burn down. I have had a 3Com router that failed, and smelt like something was cooking.


I have noticed that the more professional switches have metal casing, which are fire resistant if the motherboard should catch fire.


Are you saying they have thermal cut-off, so they can't overheat? I still think they run hot, and feel safer switching them off when I go away.

The plastic casing on most devices are enough to prevent fire in low voltages devices spreading,at least long enough for the psu to fail or fuses to blow and it to self extinguish, there are a host of regulations about this.

The main reason for metal casings in pro gear is because it's harder wearing and looks/feels better.
It also often becomes part of the cooling for the design as you can use a metal casing as part heatsink, which is important if you're stacking them, or putting them into a rack where airflow is restricted.

Consumer level gear is built to tighter tolerances for heat (might not for example have a heatsink on some parts, or a smaller heatsink shared between parts), and often far more reliant on passive cooling with air going through small vents (that are often barely up to the job), which if you block them will lead to the device overheating and misbehaving/crashing, and eventually dying early (things like memory can overheat causing crashes*), but shouldn't case them to catch fire as the corners cut are with the lifespan of the device not the safety (a £50 consumer router is not expected to last years under heavy load in a poorly ventilated space, unlike say a £500+ business one).
It's worth noting for example that the capacitors in cheap equipment are routinely rated to say 70c continuous use as might the CPU's as an idea of how hot these things can run in normal operation let alone safely,


Many electrical appliances will "smell like burning" when they fail as it most likely is a part burning out (capacitors for example have a finite life and depending on type are increasingly likely to burn out over time), it's nothing to worry about as they are designed with that in mind.
A little like if your hoover dies you might smell burning when the motor dies, but the worst you'll spot externally on the machine is probably that it gets uncomfortably hot to the touch near the motor.

A PSU melting is much more serious (and should potentially be reported), but relatively unusual if it's made to proper standards.

Basically as long as it's from a semi reputable brand it should be fine to be left on most/all the time.




*You tend to notice it most on modern video cards if the fan fails, as you might find the computer locks up or you get "blocking" on screen when playing games but it might be fine when just browsing.

Pincher

Nilrem wrote: »

It's worth noting for example that the capacitors in cheap equipment are routinely rated to say 70c continuous use as might the CPU's as an idea of how hot these things can run in normal operation let alone safely,

A friend used to work in a school as a technician. The educational discount Packard Bells started going bang. The electrolytic capacitor had been fitted the wrong way round. A bad batch. Half of them were replaced, and you wonder when the other half might go.

Don't worry, it's a different batch. :rotfl:

mac.d

My router is on 24/7. It gets the very occasional reboot if needed, but along with the fridge, its the one electrical item in the house that is never switched off.

Nilrem

Pincher wrote: »

A friend used to work in a school as a technician. The educational discount Packard Bells started going bang. The electrolytic capacitor had been fitted the wrong way round. A bad batch. Half of them were replaced, and you wonder when the other half might go.

Don't worry, it's a different batch. :rotfl:

That sounds like someone loaded a roll of parts into a machine on the production line the wrong way round
The automated machines are great for consistently making something, unfortunately that also means if you load the wrong part in (or the right part in the wrong way round) it'll consistently do it wrongly until it's corrected.

I've seen Dell "pro" monitors have the wrong sort of capacitors used (70c rated rather than 105c) with the result that pretty much every monitor suffered the same issue with input board not locking onto the signal properly just out of warranty(I know someone who fixed several he picked up cheap, about 50p per monitor got £400+ units back into operation).

The same friend had a card in one of his PC's catch fire momentarily when the a capacitor on a PCI card failed.
It damaged a PCI socket and you could still smell it days later, but the PC worked fine after a replacement card (in another socket).
I think it actually lasted another 2 or 3 years before being "retired".

datlex

I leave mine on 24/7. For me I use things like Amazon Prime and Now TV on my bedroom TV so is all linked to the internet.

forgotmyname

24/7 it uses £8 a year max.

AndyPK

£8 a year !!! :eek:

I'll be switching mine off in future lol

But seriously, I don't think it uses that much does it ?

kwikbreaks

As an approximation anything costs ~ £1 per annum per watt if left on 24x7

So a 15w router would cost ~ £15 if on 24x7. As you have no choice but to leave it on for some of the time if you want internet access then you'd only save a portion of the cost.