Router in the attic

Ultimanemo

The only place I get reasonable 4G signal inside the house is in the attic
I have two sockets installed when the house was built and I have a smoke alarm above them
Are they any safety concerns in putting the router in the attic?.

The Cush

Ultimanemo wrote: »

Are they any safety concerns in putting the router in the attic?.

Mine has been in the attic for maybe 10 years, right beside a TV distribution amp which has been in the attic even longer, never had a problem with either.

ED E

Dont know why everyone is paranoid that small electronics will explode when left out of sight but be fine left unattended for 16hrs downstairs.

The lights in your ceiling are much more likely to kill you than a 6w router. Chill.

Ultimanemo

ED E wrote: »

Dont know why everyone is paranoid that small electronics will explode when left out of sight but be fine left unattended for 16hrs downstairs.

The lights in your ceiling are much more likely to kill you than a 6w router. Chill.

I heard, in summer the temperature in the attic gets higher than the working temperature of the router.

The Cush

Ultimanemo wrote: »

I heard, in summer the temperature in the attic gets higher than the working temperature of the router.

Yep, the attic gets hot but not a problem here.

Johnboy1951

ED E wrote: »

Dont know why everyone is paranoid that small electronics will explode when left out of sight but be fine left unattended for 16hrs downstairs.

The lights in your ceiling are much more likely to kill you than a 6w router. Chill.

Dunno why you mention 'explode' ....

I would definitely prefer it to go wrong downstairs rather than in the attic where I would not know of a problem until it became too serious to do anything about it.

The possibility of a small fire downstairs is concerning.
A similar fire in the attic would likely destroy the whole house .... and maybe those in it before action could be taken.

Ultimanemo wrote:

The only place I get reasonable 4G signal inside the house is in the attic
I have two sockets installed when the house was built and I have a smoke alarm above them
Are they any safety concerns in putting the router in the attic?.

I would put a 4G aerial in the attic and keep the modem someplace within the living area of the house.

ED E

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Dunno why you mention 'explode' ....

I would definitely prefer it to go wrong downstairs rather than in the attic where I would not know of a problem until it became too serious to do anything about it.

The possibility of a small fire downstairs is concerning.
A similar fire in the attic would likely destroy the whole house .... and maybe those in it before action could be taken.

They're almost the same though.

Lets take a rough count of 8hrs sleeping, 8hrs working, 2hrs commuting. So the downstairs device only gets eyes on 25% of the time. Odds are any failures happen when you're not there to see it happen. But that doesnt mean you shut off your consumer unit as you leave the house each morning does it?

You either trust the tech you use or you don't.


The exception: xDSL modems in rural areas are lightning magnets and the gas blocks don't always work so they're in theory worth disco'ing during storms.

Johnboy1951

You either trust the tech you use or you don't.

It is not a matter of 'trust'.

It is a matter of reducing risk.

Which makes me wonder what your insurance company's attitude might be if something did go wrong ...... anyone any info on that aspect of it?

I don't. It just occurred to me.

Ultimanemo

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

The possibility of a small fire downstairs is concerning.
A similar fire in the attic would likely destroy the whole house .... and maybe those in it before action could be taken.

That is why I put a smoke alarm, even before I put the router in the attic, I put the smoke alarm there.

Shyboy

I recently ran ethernet right throughout the house from every room running up to the attic, so I re-located the F2000 in the attic and all was going well until last night I lost all internet, ethernet and wifi.

I popped up to the attic and the F2000 was dead. I tried everything and it could not be brought back to life. I did notice that it was very cold and fairly damp, due to the bad weather that we are having.

Eir are sending me a replacement, but I am wondering if the temperature of the attic is what caused it to malfunction? I don't want it to happen to the replacement...:(

seamus

Airflow is the main issue in the attic - both in terms of keeping the router cool in summer, but also particulate in the air. Attics will be naturally dustier and more humid than the rest of the house, both of which are things which will drastically shorten the life of your router.

Can it go on fire? Yes. Will it? Probably not.

One thing you could do is pin it to the side of the water tank. The tank is naturally colder than the rest of the attic in summer and tends to be out of the way, so less dust stirred up. In the event that it does actually go on fire, it will melt the tank, causing it to burst and extinguish the fire. You will also have a shedload of flood damage, but that's cheaper than fire damage.

Antenna placement is more important than you think. The signal doesn't go out in all directions like a sphere, but rather more like a doughnut. So if possible the antenna should be placed parallel with the ground or at about 45 degrees rather than pointing straight up. If it's straight up, you might find the signal quality quite poor in the ground floor rooms directly below the router.

Shyboy

seamus wrote: »

Airflow is the main issue in the attic - both in terms of keeping the router cool in summer, but also particulate in the air. Attics will be naturally dustier and more humid than the rest of the house, both of which are things which will drastically shorten the life of your router.

Can it go on fire? Yes. Will it? Probably not.

One thing you could do is pin it to the side of the water tank. The tank is naturally colder than the rest of the attic in summer and tends to be out of the way, so less dust stirred up. In the event that it does actually go on fire, it will melt the tank, causing it to burst and extinguish the fire. You will also have a shedload of flood damage, but that's cheaper than fire damage.

Antenna placement is more important than you think. The signal doesn't go out in all directions like a sphere, but rather more like a doughnut. So if possible the antenna should be placed parallel with the ground or at about 45 degrees rather than pointing straight up. If it's straight up, you might find the signal quality quite poor in the ground floor rooms directly below the router.

Thanks Seamus. The router was definitely very cold and quite damp, just like I left it outside for the night. Can't be good for it...