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From: dmt@mtunb.UUCP (Dave Tutelman)
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc
Subject: Re: Hard disk shut-down (really terminal fires)
Message-ID: <775@mtunb.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 8-Nov-86 18:32:53 EST
Article-I.D.: mtunb.775
Posted: Sat Nov  8 18:32:53 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Nov-86 00:47:32 EST
References: <302@neoucom.UUCP> <2475@gitpyr.gatech.EDU>
Reply-To: dmt@mtunb.UUCP (Dave Tutelman)
Organization: AT&T Information Systems - Lincroft, NJ
Lines: 47
Keywords: rare, but they happen

In article <2475@gitpyr.gatech.EDU> gt6294b@gitpyr.UUCP (SCHEUTZOW,MICHAEL J) writes:
>>
>>Its a darn good idea to turn the monitor off ...
>>while everyone is out of the office.  We have 50 or
>>60 terminals and monitors of various types around here, and have
>>had several spontaneously catch fire in the CRT assembly.
>
>I find it difficult to believe that that many terminals or computers
>are on the verge of self-incineration, as implied by this posting.  
>
>Now that the VDT-radiation scare has subsided, maybe it's time for a
>new crisis.   Anyone else care to offer a humble opinion?
>
Where I work, there are LOTS of PCs and terminals, many of which get left
on for long periods of time.  I remember exactly ONE catching fire.
It was a Concept [108?] terminal.  A large lab FULL of computers and
terminals started to smell, and we walked around sniffing till we found
the offending equipment.

To give you some idea of the probability:
	This is one of four similarly equipped labs.
	It has four minicomputers, four PCs and about two dozen terminals,
		most of which run continuously.
	This is the only such incident I can remember over the course
		of about three years.

Assuming [contrary to fact] that this shred of data is statistically
representative, the MTBF (Mean Time Between Fires) of this sort of
equipment is about 3,000,000 hours, or about 300 years.

By the way, some minicomputers ARE a fire hazard.  In particular, if
the machine will run hot enough to catch fire with [n-m] cooling fans
SEIZED off (not just unpowered) and the other [m > 0] fans funning,
you could get a REALLY nasty one.  About a dozen years ago, DEC sent
out a mod kit for PDP 9s and 15s, after a couple of really impressive fires.
(I don't know if anybody still makes computers that indulge in
self-immolation.)

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