In strong heat, it is essential to take a few basic precautions to protect electronic equipment, in particular computers and smartphones, to avoid breakdowns and loss of data.
As summer approaches, the temperature rises. And with climate change, high temperatures and heat waves will tend to multiply and intensify in the coming years. This is the case at the moment, with the early heat wave of this month of June. And with the announced temperature records, electronic equipment will suffer. Because heat is the natural enemy of all components, and therefore of all electrically powered devices. It is therefore essential to adopt the right actions when the temperature rises, both to preserve the equipment, to avoid data loss and to avoid any bodily danger.
What are the risks of high temperatures on electronic equipment?
Electronic devices don’t like heat. For purely physical reasons, they prefer to operate in cool or cold conditions, at low or even very low temperatures. It is also not by chance that “large” IT installations, such as server rooms which work continuously 24 hours a day, are placed in air-conditioned spaces. Especially since in addition to the “external” heat – that linked to their environment – all the elements and devices running on electricity – from the simple light bulb to the computer through televisions, smartphones and hi-fi systems – naturally give off heat, simply by Joule effect. A heat that they produce naturally and that must be evacuated to maintain their temperature at the nominal level. It is for this reason that many are equipped with cooling devices – active or passive – and sometimes even with security systems that automatically deactivate them.
And when their temperature – or that of their environment – exceeds the acceptable limit, trouble begins. In the best case, the device has a protection system that puts it in safety, in reduced operating mode, or even completely shut down, while it cools down. But, in some cases, it starts to derail before. On computers or smartphones, for example, we then observe a degradation in performance, even complete crashes which lead to loss of data. In extreme situations, when safety devices are undersized or unsuitable for very high temperatures, overheating can damage components beyond repair. And in the worst case, it can cause an explosion or fire.
The elements most prone to overheating in electronic devices are processors – CPUs, GPUs and, more generally, all circuits performing intensive calculations – and power supply sections, whether power supply units or batteries, in mobiles and laptops. The battery is also the most dangerous element, insofar as, by its chemical nature, it can swell and then explode in the event of overheating.
To avoid overheating, failure, loss of data or worse, it is essential to take some precautions in high heat, especially when the equipment is not placed in an air-conditioned room – as is done for servers, for example – which is the case for most of us.
Turn off anything not in use
First of all, turn off the appliances that you are not using, or when you are not using them, at night, for example: there is no need to let them consume electricity for nothing and therefore heat up. A remark that applies to computers as well as to peripherals and Internet boxes, which are often constantly on.
Avoid direct sunlight
On the same basic note, avoid exposing devices to direct sunlight, or even worse, outdoors. Close the shutters or curtains to protect your precious electronic products from direct rays, and limit the use of tablets, smartphones and other laptops exposed to the sun to the strict minimum, especially in a closed vehicle, without air conditioning.
Clean the vents
If you do not regularly – if ever… – clean up, clean all the vents of your appliances: essential for the evacuation of their own heat, and therefore for their cooling, they have the annoying tendency to accumulate dust, which can do damage. If you don’t have a can of compressed air – a very handy little accessory for dusting hard-to-reach internal parts – use a small brush, a cloth or even a vacuum cleaner, the aim being to remove the dust preventing ventilation. Mandatory cleaning of computers, laptops and desktops, televisions and boxes.
Do not enclose devices
Still on the ventilation chapter, do not let appliances operate in closed furniture. This is particularly true for Internet boxes and multimedia boxes that the most maniacs like to lock up in TV cabinets. If you can’t get them out, don’t leave them stacked on top of each other, and make sure they have enough air around them so they don’t overheat in oven mode. If necessary, do not hesitate to raise it a few centimeters – with coins or wedges – so that the air can also circulate underneath.
Clear the power supplies
Also, be sure to keep the power supplies free of air. We forget them too often, but even the so-called “switching” models, although much less energy-consuming than conventional transformer power supplies, produce heat and tend to heat up. Again, if they are stuck under a pile of cables, in a confined space, they risk overheating, breaking down or, even worse, catching fire…
Use a fan
If you don’t have an air-conditioned room, or even an independent air conditioner, use one or more fans by directing them towards your most sensitive devices, and in particular towards their power supply, in order to force the circulation of the air. You won’t lower the ambient temperature, but you will allow them to dissipate heat better. If nothing more serious, use a small model that plugs directly into a laptop USB port, for example. Not ideal, but still better than nothing! Note that there are also cooling systems that usually combine a fan and a supply of water or ice cubes. No miracles to be expected, but these small coolers – you can find them for around twenty euros – can relieve the equipment a little in the event of a heat peak.
Install an air conditioner
The installation of an air conditioner is often considered to be the ideal solution, because it makes it possible to maintain a fairly low temperature in a room – even in a building for large systems, in companies. On an individual scale, we can be satisfied with a simple model, capable of tempering a room – we find them around 200 euros, to cover surfaces up to 40 m2. But, in addition to its price, air conditioning poses several problems. It is necessary to take care of its installation, taking into account the evacuation system – a pipe connected to the outside. Air conditioners require maintenance – for the special gas they contain. And they generate noise. Above all, they consume significant energy, which can quickly increase the electricity bill. Finally, in their very principle, they extract the hot air from a room to reject it outside, which is an ecological aberration…
Computers are electronic devices almost like any other. And just follow the general advice above to protect them from the harmful effects of hot weather. Nevertheless, they have some peculiarities that may require special measures.
Thus, in the event of a heat wave, it is preferable to leave space around a tower, by taking it out of a piece of furniture or a desk, to facilitate the circulation of air. In addition, it is better to avoid overstressing the processor and the graphics circuit, which can suffer. It is therefore better to limit the play sessions, taking regular breaks.
If you use a laptop intensively, try raising it slightly, using small wedges, for example, to facilitate the circulation of air under its chassis – the most sensitive area, which houses the vents. Absolutely avoid leaving it permanently on a bed or an armchair, placed on a duvet or a plaid which would prevent it from “breathing” properly! The ideal is to have it on a special support – you can find it in all the specialized shops –, which precisely provides ventilation, some models even being equipped with a ventilation system.
Smartphones are particularly sensitive to heat. For a simple reason: all their components are crammed into a small box, within which air circulation is particularly limited, if not non-existent. Unlike computers, they do not have internal fans to cool their circuitry. And they incorporate a battery. An element that naturally heats up during charging.
As with all electronic devices – see above – avoid exposing a smartphone to the sun, but also use it intensively in high heat. So limit greedy applications that use its components, starting with games. But also road guidance, the GPS chip tending to heat up very quickly. The worst is to use a navigation app in a vehicle in oven mode, with the smartphone exposed to the sun! Also remember to switch to airplane mode as soon as you do not need to communicate, again to avoid soliciting its components, especially those using mobile networks.
Finally, avoid placing your smartphone in the fridge or freezer, in the hope of cooling it quickly if it has overheated: it could suffer a thermal shock, and the cure would be worse than the disease…