Fire Hazard

[georgegeorge]

I have been running a number of computers continually for about 5 years. They are part of a website so they are constantly on. The older computers - fire wall and mail server - are old IBM P100 (running 5 years straight without a hicup!!!) and a newer P2.8 webserver.

It occured to me that if the fans on the power supplies failed the power supplies could overheat and catch fire.

Is this at all possible?

 

[jonnyGURU]

I have been running a number of computers continually for about 5 years. They are part of a website so they are constantly on. The older computers - fire wall and mail server - are old IBM P100 (running 5 years straight without a hicup!!!) and a newer P2.8 webserver.

It occured to me that if the fans on the power supplies failed the power supplies could overheat and catch fire.

Is this at all possible?

Possible? Sure. Likely? No. Obviously the PSU will completely die first. An open circuit will be created by the fried transistors. My only concern will be the flame that shoots out of the transistors when they overheat, but there's not a lot inside of a PSU that's so flammible that a nearby sudden and short flame would catch it on fire.

 

[larrymoencurly]

Even really old PSUs are made of fire resistant materials, so I wouldn't expect much more than a bit of smoke, some charring, and a really bad smell. But even if they're not fire resistant, you should be safe unless you do something truly stupid, like use a clear case (one manufacturer warns against unattended use) or a case with a window on it.

I've read that transistors almost always fail by shorting, not by opening up, and that's been my (limited) experience so far, but that should cause the fuse to pop pretty fast.