Dust cover on sleeping iMac

My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging.
Sally Thompson wrote on :
My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging. Obviously, I'm a bit concerned about dust and fur etc, and am thinking of getting a dust cover for the iMac, and possibly for the keyboard as well (though that's easier to clean). The point is, I leave the iMac asleep overnight. Would it overheat if I put a cover on when it is asleep? I don't want to have to turn it off every night.
Jamie Kahn Genet replied on :

Sally Thompson sallynewsgroup@redacted.invalid wrote:

My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging. Obviously, I'm a bit concerned about dust and fur etc, and am thinking of getting a dust cover for the iMac, and possibly for the keyboard as well (though that's easier to clean). The point is, I leave the iMac asleep overnight. Would it overheat if I put a cover on when it is asleep? I don't want to have to turn it off every night.

I would be very concerned about anything that covers the vents on a running Mac. Being a cat person myself I've not noticed a big problem with extra dust or cat hair.

I keep a 3M CD cleaner cloth (which goes through the wash once a week to keep it lint free) on my desk so I can wipe dust off my screens as needed, and occasionally I dust the rest of my Macs with a large soft duster.

The worst a cat's ever done to my Macs is come in from the rain with damp fur, hoped up on my desk and smooched my screen leaving it blurry :-D And I've a got a friend whose cats sleep on and around their computers (leading to more than one amusing photo) will no ill affects. So yeah, I wouldn't worry too much :-) Better your G5 iMac runs cool than it's saved from a little less dust in the environment IMHO.

Regards, Jamie Kahn Genet

Richard Maine replied on :

Jamie Kahn Genet jamiekg@redacted.invalid wrote:

Sally Thompson sallynewsgroup@redacted.invalid wrote:

My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging. Obviously, I'm a bit concerned about dust and fur etc, and am thinking of getting a dust cover for the iMac, and possibly for the keyboard as well (though that's easier to clean). The point is, I leave the iMac asleep overnight. Would it overheat if I put a cover on when it is asleep? I don't want to have to turn it off every night.

I would be very concerned about anything that covers the vents on a running Mac.

I'd agree, but... asleep doesn't count as running for that. Yes, it uses some power and is "running" at some level. But not very much power at all. I can't imagine a problem.

The worst a cat's ever done to my Macs is come in from the rain with damp fur, hoped up on my desk and smooched my screen leaving it blurry

My cat is quite intrugued with World of Warcraft. It is full of little critters that look like prey. :-) There aren't any scratch marks on the monitor... yet... but it has occurred to me as a potential problem. She definitely paws at it.

Davoud replied on :

Sally Thompson wrote:

My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging. Obviously, I'm a bit concerned about dust and fur etc, and am thinking of getting a dust cover for the iMac, and possibly for the keyboard as well (though that's easier to clean). The point is, I leave the iMac asleep overnight. Would it overheat if I put a cover on when it is asleep? I don't want to have to turn it off every night.

This is an easy one. Do not put a cover on any electronic equipment that is turned on, whether it is sleeping or awake. To do so poses a great risk of fire. Turning your Mac off a night will cost you a minute or so each morning. It will not harm your Mac in any way. If it wasn't meant to be turned off they wouldn't have made it possible to turn it off.

Davoud

Sally Thompson replied on :

On Tue, 6 Mar 2007 17:58:34 +0000, Jamie Kahn Genet wrote (in article 1hulepk.1e3dbab1t6bj9bN%jamiekg@redacted.invalid):

Sally Thompson sallynewsgroup@redacted.invalid wrote:

My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging. Obviously, I'm a bit concerned about dust and fur etc, and am thinking of getting a dust cover for the iMac, and possibly for the keyboard as well (though that's easier to clean). The point is, I leave the iMac asleep overnight. Would it overheat if I put a cover on when it is asleep? I don't want to have to turn it off every night.

I would be very concerned about anything that covers the vents on a running Mac. Being a cat person myself I've not noticed a big problem with extra dust or cat hair.

Mmm, well you've confirmed my gut feeling really. Thanks.

Sally Thompson replied on :

On Tue, 6 Mar 2007 18:46:49 +0000, Richard Maine wrote (in article 1hujv1s.12dmrh91q50msnN%nospam@redacted.invalid):

Jamie Kahn Genet jamiekg@redacted.invalid wrote:

Sally Thompson sallynewsgroup@redacted.invalid wrote:

My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging. Obviously, I'm a bit concerned about dust and fur etc, and am thinking of getting a dust cover for the iMac, and possibly for the keyboard as well (though that's easier to clean). The point is, I leave the iMac asleep overnight. Would it overheat if I put a cover on when it is asleep? I don't want to have to turn it off every night.

I would be very concerned about anything that covers the vents on a running Mac.

I'd agree, but... asleep doesn't count as running for that. Yes, it uses some power and is "running" at some level. But not very much power at all. I can't imagine a problem.

The worst a cat's ever done to my Macs is come in from the rain with damp fur, hoped up on my desk and smooched my screen leaving it blurry

My cat is quite intrugued with World of Warcraft. It is full of little critters that look like prey. :-) There aren't any scratch marks on the monitor... yet... but it has occurred to me as a potential problem. She definitely paws at it.

Birdsong gets mine going. They don't paw at it, that isn't really the problem. Just the outside world being brought in! I think I will go along with the advice from Jamie Kahn Genet not to cover it while asleep.

Sally Thompson replied on :

On Tue, 6 Mar 2007 19:20:55 +0000, Davoud wrote (in article 060320071420575503%star@redacted.invalid):

Sally Thompson wrote:

My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging. Obviously, I'm a bit concerned about dust and fur etc, and am thinking of getting a dust cover for the iMac, and possibly for the keyboard as well (though that's easier to clean). The point is, I leave the iMac asleep overnight. Would it overheat if I put a cover on when it is asleep? I don't want to have to turn it off every night.

This is an easy one. Do not put a cover on any electronic equipment that is turned on, whether it is sleeping or awake. To do so poses a great risk of fire. Turning your Mac off a night will cost you a minute or so each morning. It will not harm your Mac in any way. If it wasn't meant to be turned off they wouldn't have made it possible to turn it off.

Thanks for the confirmation. That was my gut feeling really, which is why I asked. I know that turning off my Mac won't harm it - I have just got used to putting it to sleep most nights instead.

Richard Maine replied on :

Sally Thompson sallynewsgroup@redacted.invalid wrote:

On Tue, 6 Mar 2007 18:46:49 +0000, Richard Maine wrote (in article 1hujv1s.12dmrh91q50msnN%nospam@redacted.invalid):

Jamie Kahn Genet jamiekg@redacted.invalid wrote:

I would be very concerned about anything that covers the vents on a running Mac.

I'd agree, but... asleep doesn't count as running for that. Yes, it uses some power and is "running" at some level. But not very much power at all. I can't imagine a problem.

I think I will go along with the advice from Jamie Kahn Genet not to cover it while asleep.

On second thought, although I'm still confident that there would be no problem if the Mac really stayed asleep.... that is a big caveat. If something woke the Mac, as can happen for many reasons, then you'd have a problem. It is easy enough to wake the system accidentally that I'd agree it would be a risk.

David C. replied on :

Sally Thompson sallynewsgroup@redacted.invalid writes:

My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging. Obviously, I'm a bit concerned about dust and fur etc, and am thinking of getting a dust cover for the iMac, and possibly for the keyboard as well (though that's easier to clean). The point is, I leave the iMac asleep overnight. Would it overheat if I put a cover on when it is asleep? I don't want to have to turn it off every night.

I'd either leave it uncovered or turn it off.

What happens when a cat walks over the keyboard, and it wakes up in the middle of the night, with its ventiallation slots covered? At best, it will overheat and power-off when the temperature sensor detects this, but you may also end up with damaged equipment.

-- David

Sally Thompson replied on :

On Tue, 6 Mar 2007 21:45:34 +0000, David C. wrote (in article m2649em4g1.fsf@redacted.invalid):

Sally Thompson sallynewsgroup@redacted.invalid writes:

My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging. Obviously, I'm a bit concerned about dust and fur etc, and am thinking of getting a dust cover for the iMac, and possibly for the keyboard as well (though that's easier to clean). The point is, I leave the iMac asleep overnight. Would it overheat if I put a cover on when it is asleep? I don't want to have to turn it off every night.

I'd either leave it uncovered or turn it off.

What happens when a cat walks over the keyboard, and it wakes up in the middle of the night, with its ventiallation slots covered? At best, it will overheat and power-off when the temperature sensor detects this, but you may also end up with damaged equipment.

That cat would be living very dangerously. Thanks for all the advice from everyone. It was a silly idea, I realise now.

Ian Gregory replied on :

On 2007-03-06, Sally Thompson sallynewsgroup@redacted.invalid wrote:

My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging. Obviously, I'm a bit concerned about dust and fur etc, and am thinking of getting a dust cover for the iMac, and possibly for the keyboard as well (though that's easier to clean). The point is, I leave the iMac asleep overnight. Would it overheat if I put a cover on when it is asleep? I don't want to have to turn it off every night.

I sometimes cover my iMac (Core Duo) with a cloth (a sarong actually). If it is really sleeping (light pulsing) then no need to wory about heat build up - just like with laptops which are fine to keep closed inside a case when they are sleeping even though they would rapidly overheat if they were awake (which is partly why they are designed to go to sleep as soon as you close the lid).

Ian

David C. replied on :

Ian Gregory foo@redacted.invalid writes:

I sometimes cover my iMac (Core Duo) with a cloth (a sarong actually). If it is really sleeping (light pulsing) then no need to wory about heat build up - just like with laptops which are fine to keep closed inside a case when they are sleeping even though they would rapidly overheat if they were awake (which is partly why they are designed to go to sleep as soon as you close the lid).

True. Covering the system when it is alseep should not be dangerous.

The danger is spontaneous wake-ups. The OP has cats in the house, and cats are known to walk on keyboards. Also, I've read reports about flaky USB hubs waking up computers without warning.

WRT any concerns about hardware longevity, I wouldn't worry about it. The part most likely to experience a shorter lifespan from power cycling is the hard drive, and it spins down when the computer is asleep, so a power-off isn't likely to affect it any differently from sleep.

The main advantage to sleep is the convenience of being able to wake it up and get to work without waiting for a boot sequence. But if you need to take the time to remove a dust cover, then it may not gain you all that much.

-- David

Paul Sture replied on :

In article m2wt1uknj7.fsf@redacted.invalid, shamino@redacted.invalid (David C.) wrote:

Ian Gregory foo@redacted.invalid writes:

I sometimes cover my iMac (Core Duo) with a cloth (a sarong actually). If it is really sleeping (light pulsing) then no need to wory about heat build up - just like with laptops which are fine to keep closed inside a case when they are sleeping even though they would rapidly overheat if they were awake (which is partly why they are designed to go to sleep as soon as you close the lid).

True. Covering the system when it is alseep should not be dangerous.

The danger is spontaneous wake-ups. The OP has cats in the house, and cats are known to walk on keyboards. Also, I've read reports about flaky USB hubs waking up computers without warning.

Interesting point about USB hubs. Since I bought one last week, my iBook screensaver doesn't always kick in when I think it should have done.

WRT any concerns about hardware longevity, I wouldn't worry about it. The part most likely to experience a shorter lifespan from power cycling is the hard drive, and it spins down when the computer is asleep, so a power-off isn't likely to affect it any differently from sleep.

The main advantage to sleep is the convenience of being able to wake it up and get to work without waiting for a boot sequence. But if you need to take the time to remove a dust cover, then it may not gain you all that much.

I prefer to avoid closing my system because of the time it takes to fire all my regularly used apps and open work in progress documents.

Christopher C. Stacy replied on :

nospam@redacted.invalid (Richard Maine) writes:

My cat is quite intrugued with World of Warcraft. It is full of little critters that look like prey.

My bird thinks the "typing" noise on Second Life is other birds, somewhere.

Beth replied on :

On Mar 6, 2:39 pm, Sally Thompson sallynewsgr...@redacted.invalid wrote:

On Tue, 6 Mar 2007 19:20:55 +0000, Davoud wrote (in article 060320071420575503%s...@redacted.invalid):

Sally Thompson wrote:

My iMac G5 shares an office with my cats. Not an ideal arrangement, but neither of them are budging. Obviously, I'm a bit concerned about dust and fur etc, and am thinking of getting a dust cover for the iMac, and possibly for the keyboard as well (though that's easier to clean). The point is, I leave the iMac asleep overnight. Would it overheat if I put a cover on when it is asleep? I don't want to have to turn it off every night.

This is an easy one. Do not put a cover on any electronic equipment that is turned on, whether it is sleeping or awake. To do so poses a great risk of fire. Turning your Mac off a night will cost you a minute or so each morning. It will not harm your Mac in any way. If it wasn't meant to be turned off they wouldn't have made it possible to turn it off.

Thanks for the confirmation. That was my gut feeling really, which is why I asked. I know that turning off my Mac won't harm it - I have just got used to putting it to sleep most nights instead.

-- Sally in Shropshire, UK bed and breakfast near Ludlow:http://www.stonybrook-ludlow.co.uk Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church:http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk

I covered mine at night due to dust, but it was off and cooled before doing so.