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Running a Server at Freezing Temperatures?
mw13068 asks: "As a part of a backup solution, I'm thinking of running a backup server in my unheated, unattached garage. I live in central New York State, and the temperatures very often drop below zero degrees Celsius. The computer is a Pentium III Celeron running at 733MHz. Has anyone else tried this sort of thing? If you have, please share your experiences."
this is a good point. I've watched in horror as a colleague brought his laptop in from his car in teh middle of a Burlington VT winter (comparable to Upstate NY) and fired it right up. The hard-drive did not survive.
In your case the hard drive would never have shut down, and the CPU might help keep it warm. Maybe putting a blanket over it in October and taking it off in May....
Also, I'd be more concerned about moisture. You probably will have very high humidity levels in the unheated garage when there is dew forming outside.
But again, if you cover the machine, the heat from the CPU might be enough to keep the humidty down.
I think a nice wool-polyester blend from L.L.Bean would be just right.
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A person of moderate zeal
Maybe to combat the humidity, ask your friends and family to save those little dessicant packs (easy to identify: says "Do not eat, silica gel") they get in shoe boxes, sometimes clothing pockets, leather bags, computer cases, laptop cases, etc. this Christmas. If you have a large enough hoard, you can put them in the case to soak up the moisture, if it builds up in there.
Linux at home
Years ago, a phone company in Canada did something that you might use. They had outdoor equipment which was cooled with a heat pipe. The fluid in the heat pipe was water. If things got too cold, the water froze and the heat pipe quit working. Thus, the equipment wouldn't get too cold. When it warmed up again, the heat pipe started working again and kept the equipment from getting too hot.
... As air cools, it can carry less moisture. The moisture drops out as condensation. If you have a surface that is colder than the air then the water tends to condense on it. If your computer is at all warmer than the air around it then you have zero worries about condensation.
Heat pipes are really easy to build. A piece of copper pipe with a cap at either end works well. Put one cap on. Put a bit of water in and get it boiling. This will drive most of the air out. Then solder the cap on the other end. As the water cools, you will get a reasonable vaccuum. Clamp some aluminum heat sinks on either end. You're done. A guy I used to know built a large heat pipe and left it lying under a tree. The sun shone on the lower end, heated up the working fluid which transferred heat to the shaded end which melted the solder and allowed the cap to blow off! These things are really good at transferring heat.
As for all this business about condensation
Monitoring the computer's temperature is probably a good idea. Mother boards I have bought recently work with a front panel that gives a readout of cpu temperature etc. I haven't done it but perhaps someone can suggest a way that you can query the computer's temperature and find out how happy it working in its sealed case.
There's lots and lots of electronics that runs permanently outside. Most of the problems have already been solved for you.
ps. Don't make the case of wood. Rodents can and will easily gnaw through.