I have a tiny apartment, and while I wish I had a den/extra bedroom/spare closet to convert into an office space, I don’t. Currently the computer/desk/etc. are all in my bedroom, and I’m sick of it. I also have a fairly tiny bedroom, and lots of office stuff, so I have all of a 2.5 foot walking space between bed and desk, which is mostly taken up by the office chair.
I’m considering re-arranging to move one of my living room couches into the bedroom, and swapping with the desk/office stuff. I think the couch, at least, will make the bedroom feel more open, if nothing else.
However, the desk and sofa are exactly the same size, which means there would be no additional room in the living room for the printer table. Unless I also moved the end table and stuck the printer table in the small space there in the corner. Right smack next to the radiator, the big one which is the primary heat source for most of the square footage of the apartment. Which obviously gets quite hot during cold weather, and dries the hell out of all the air in the immediate vicinity.
I’ve been sort of assuming that this would be very bad for the printer. But maybe I’m wrong?
I can’t push the desk over and put the printer table on the other side of it, either, as the radiator is along the same wall as the desk would be. The printer table would be in front of the radiator and next to the other couch set along the perpendicular wall. There’s really only that tiny square of space. And no other place to put the printer that doesn’t involve lengthy cables strung across multiple doorways, which is just begging for trouble.
So, thumbs down on the printer right next to the heat source?
Big thumbs down. Electronics don’t like heat, which why they often go to great lengths to get rid of it. No, it won’t kill it right away but it’s very likely to shorten its life.
You might be able to hang a slab of some insulating material between the radiator and the printer. This would have to have a big opening at the bottom, so it acts like a chimney and allows good airflow in at the bottom, up through and around the radiator, and out to heat the room at the top. Your printer would be outside of this system, though obviously close to it. A steam radiator will not mind if you interfere with its heat output, which is different than an electric heater that would go up dangerously in temperature until the now reduced heat transfer coefficient still allows its wattage to escape. The biggest problem you would have with this if it interferes with the radiator is that you will be cold, so you’ll have to try something else. The biggest problem you could have if it interferes with your printer is to ruin the printer, but some of them are so cheap that you might not mind risking this.
True, but in any case there is no money to spend on this. I can’t buy creative chimney materials, nor can I buy a new printer (to replace the one I got 4 months ago… no thanks).
In any case, it doesn’t look like moving anything is going to work. The only alternate solution I can come up with is leaving the printer in the bedroom, which would involve the aforementioned long strings of cable across doorways.
Thanks, though. At least I have confirmation that it’s a bad idea.
If it spends 99.9% of the time off, like mine does, then sitting next to a heating vent isn’t going to be nearly as big of an issue. It’s not so much heat, as heat when running, that’s an issue.
Or if it’s rarely used, I’d be tempted to start keeping the printer in a closet, or on a shelf, unconnected, and just move it out/connect it, when needed.
Not daily, but multiple times a week. It’s also a copier/scanner (a primary reason I got the new printer in the first place – between job hunting and medical insurance crap I copy/scan a hell of a lot of stuff) so I scan and email my timecards, or copy things for class, or whatever. Plus I’d have some concern about drying out the ink cartridges. The radiators make the air very dry. And the damn things are expensive.