[SOLVED] Humid Room - Turn PC OFF, or keep it ON?

[DutchMike]

Howdy great peeps,

At the moment in my country in my province, it is VERY humid.
I am worried about my computer (it is around 23C/74F).

The temperature of the components themselves (in celsius) are:
CPU: 49
GPU: 36
Mobo: 31
HDDs: 22

I am quite worried since apparently humid/moisture is very bad for PCs.
I read somewhere that turning the PC off and letting it cool down is bad,
whilst it is humid in the room. And that low temperatures cause moisture.

So what should I do? Keep the PC running until the humidity has lowered?
Or should I turn it off? I am a bit lost on this, so any help would be great.

I didn't know where to ask this so if it's in the wrong thread, let me know.

Cheers!

 

[McKeu]

Well, if you let it cool down in a moist environment, chances are that you will have water condensing on the electronics, resulting in shorts. Leaving it on, however will probably not make any difference for most components, as there is more to a PC than just the above listed components with their respective temperature. My personal opinion: Turn it off.
I'd rather have a short circuit while I am present, than when I am gone and the machine runs by itself in some remote room. Unplug it, after you turn it off, just to be safe (Don't forget to switch off the PSU before, tho). If you leave it turned off long enough in between starts, you should be absolutely safe.

 

[DSzymborski]

Honestly, if your office room is so humid that you actually worry about damage to your PC, I think it's time to invest in a small dehumidifier for the area near the PC.

 

[DutchMike]

Well, if you let it cool down in a moist environment, chances are that you will have water condensing on the electronics, resulting in shorts. Leaving it on, however will probably not make any difference for most components, as there is more to a PC than just the above listed components with their respective temperature. My personal opinion: Turn it off.
I'd rather have a short circuit while I am present, than when I am gone and the machine runs by itself in some remote room. Unplug it, after you turn it off, just to be safe (Don't forget to switch off the PSU before, tho). If you leave it turned off long enough in between starts, you should be absolutely safe.

But wouldn't turning it off give a larger chance for a short circuit to happen? As you said leaving it on wouldn't make a lot of difference? I'm lost, lol.

Honestly, if your office room is so humid that you actually worry about damage to your PC, I think it's time to invest in a small dehumidifier for the area near the PC.

It's not very humid in my country normally, but we are experiencing extreme weather right now, normally the humidity is low/average but at the moment it's very high.

It's also in my small-ish room, not an office one

 

[McKeu]

The thing is: You always have a chance of short circuiting something when water condenses on your electronics.
But your PC does not only consist of the "warm" parts. Water is gonna condense anywhere on your components, not where it is warmest. Some parts of your motherboard will be cold by default, no matter if turned on or off.
All I am saying is that I would rather have it short circuit while I am actually there and can intervene, than having it short circuit while I am sleeping or am out of the house.
And honestly, I don't think your environment can be humid enough to damage your PC like that. People in way more humid parts of the planet own computers too and are fine.

 

[cryoburner]

Unless there is moisture gathering on surfaces in your room, I doubt it would be much of a concern.

I do suspect that if anything, leaving the computer on might be better than turning it off though. When on, the temperatures inside your case should be warmer than the rest of the room, so if moisture in the air was going to condense anywhere, it would probably be somewhere else.

 

[Darth Sicaedus]

What is the Humidity index?

 

[DutchMike]

The thing is: You always have a chance of short circuiting something when water condenses on your electronics.
But your PC does not only consist of the "warm" parts. Water is gonna condense anywhere on your components, not where it is warmest. Some parts of your motherboard will be cold by default, no matter if turned on or off.
All I am saying is that I would rather have it short circuit while I am actually there and can intervene, than having it short circuit while I am sleeping or am out of the house.
And honestly, I don't think your environment can be humid enough to damage your PC like that. People in way more humid parts of the planet own computers too and are fine.

Thanks, I guess living in South America would be considerably worse!

Unless there is moisture gathering on surfaces in your room, I doubt it would be much of a concern.

I do suspect that if anything, leaving the computer on might be better than turning it off though. When on, the temperatures inside your case should be warmer than the rest of the room, so if moisture in the air was going to condense anywhere, it would probably be somewhere else.

Alright, thanks for the tip. I will leave the PC on for the night then!

What is the Humidity index?

Around 85% right now, it could be a bit higher, not sure.

 

[Darth Sicaedus]

Thanks, I guess living in South America or Asia would be considerably worse!

Alright, thanks for the tip. I will leave the PC on for the night then!

Around 85% right now, it could be a bit higher, not sure.

I live in the midwestern US. Summer humidity commonly creeps up into the 90s and is usually in the 70s and 80s. Even when our AirCon was down and we had to have windows open, I've never paid it too much thought and have never had anything bad happen. Won't say it can't happen, but nothing has fried on me because of that yet. Best of luck in beating the humidity!