How Hot?

[timelord (Al)]

Gooday to all and seasons greetings, 42 degrees in Melb today--what equipment is safe in your observatory in these temps? Computers cameras etc. what do you house in your obs' permanently and what do you remove to a cooler environment during these high temps?
My obs is well insulated but it sure was hot when I ventured in mid arvo.
What are your thoughts?

[Alchemy (Clive)]

everything stays in the obs, as mine is mostly timber with good ventilation, it stays at the ambient shade temp, i usually will have it open for 1 hr prior to serious imaging, which is time to check polar alignment, cool down time, shoot a few frames to check focus.

mind you stinking hot clear skies all day.... then at dusk in rolled the clouds

imaging nights in melb 0 for 2008 ... im going to keep a tally this year.

[leon]

Most equipment in a permanent observatory can handle reasonably high temps in the shaded structure, however I run two exhaust fans close to the ceiling line to suck out most of the extreme heat.

Yesterday Ballarat reached 41 degrees, with the observatory locked, and the exhaust fans running it stay a reasonable 33-34 degrees.

I run these fans non stop 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and in the cold wet winter months i have just normal fans running to circulate the air inside the observatory.

You may think this is extreme, but i would rather pay $300.00 dollars more for power a year than fry $25,000.00 worth of equipment.

The observatory is also fully double insulated, walls, doors and roof included.

Leon

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

I have sheets of styrofoam lining the ceiling of my obs, and the walls are MDF. There is plenty of air circulation, so everything stays in there, all year round