Operate RN428 on its side?

[tim_t]

Hi!

I recently purchased a RN428 for personal media storage, for the past few weeks it has been doing its job nicely standing under my desk, however due to fan/disk noise I want to move it to a separate room where it would sit inside a small cupboard - due to the height restriction I would need to operate the NAS on its side (aka rotatet by 90 degrees so that the disks would be vertical). Do you believe that this might cause any problems? 

[StephenB]

Orienting it sideways shouldn't cause any problems.  But putting it in a cupboard might - there needs to be good air flow.  That includes having reasonable space above the air vents on the side of the unit, as well as in the rear.  An open shelf would be a better option.

If you try it, then I suggest putting the NAS under load in it's current location, and note the temperatures and fan speeds you are seeing.  Then do the same test in the new location, and make sure the temps and fan speeds are about the same.  You can use NAStester to create the load ( http://www.808.dk/?code-csharp-nas-performance ).  I'd run it for a while (15 minutes or so).

[Retired_Member]

Hi @tim_t, when operating the RN428 sideways I would do that in a way, that the door opens up and not down, means the hinges should be at the top then and not at the bottom. I don't know how stable the hinges are and would fear that they could easily break off depending on how carefully the door is operated.

However, the heat might be distributed better operating it sideways and here is why I think that is: I'm operating an RN426 now for about 2 months with the same disks (HGST HDN726060ALE614) I had in older RN104 and RN204. While in the former the disks are oriented horizontally (in standard cases 🙂 in the latter they are vertically. Guess what, the temperatures were lower (about 3C) in the older nas than in the 428 ceteris paribus (environment, fan configuration etc). To me, that makes very much sense, because as heat is moving upwards I see the following temparatures in the pretty idle 428 at the moment:

Disk1 - 36

Disk2 - 38

Disk3 - 38

Disk4 - 37

Disk5 - 37

Disk6 - 36

So, operating the 428 sideways might result in a better situation regarding the heat is distributed within the box.

If would have been the developer I would have chosen to orientate the disks vertically anyways and would love to hear arguments, which support a preference to have the orientation the other way around.

When you will have operated your system in the intended way for a few weeks, it would be great hear some experiences form you about this.

Kind regards

[tim_t]

Great to hear that, thank you!

Temperature/Airflow should be OK there is plenty of width and depth available and the cupboard is also well ventilated since its housing other electronics...

// edit:

good point about the hinges roland! I will keep it as is for a few more days and note some temperatures to compare afterwards. While I am not completely convinced that the 'heat moves upward' argument is applicable in this case, its nevertheless interesting how/if this influences temperature...

[StephenB]

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@tim_t wrote:

good point about the hinges roland! I will keep it as is for a few more days and note some temperatures to compare afterwards. While I am not completely convinced that the 'heat moves upward' argument is applicable in this case, its nevertheless interesting how/if this influences temperature...

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Heat does of course flow upwards.  I think it's quite important to put the side vents on the top.  The ensures that the CPU fan can do it's job.  If the hinges aren't in the correct position, then perhaps hold the door in place with a bit of tape.

[Sandshark]

Actually, heat does not flow upwards.  Hot air does.  In a forced air situation, as in the NAS, convection barely has an effect.  But you still want the vents up unless the shelf is vented because you do not want the shelf to impede the forced air flow.  Sufficient surrounding space or forced air ventilation of the cabinet are needed to insure the exhaust isn't directed to the intake

[Retired_Member]

@Sandshark wrote "Actually, heat does not flow upwards.  Hot air does."

Just for the records, operating the nas on the surface of a planet being exposed to gravity heat does flow upwards, because hot air does 🙂

But you are absolutely right, that "In a forced air situation, as in the NAS, convection barely has an effect."

[StephenB]

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@Sandshark wrote:

But you still want the vents up unless the shelf is vented because you do not want the shelf to impede the forced air flow. 

It looks to me like the side vents on the RN428 are also intended to vent the disks - in which case there is also unforced convection going on.  There are vents from top to bottom on the front edge of the cabinet, and also in the door.

[tim_t]

Thats what I was thinking, forced airflow will be much greater than convection due to heat, thats why I was not convinced by 'heat goes up'.

That its a bad idea to block any vents is of course clear, however - my RN428 looks quite different, I do not have any side/top/(bottom?) vents - only rear in -> front out all around & behind the door (maybe its also front to rear, not sure). see images at netgear.com

[Sandshark]

The side vents are inlets for the forced air system produced by the rear opening and exhaust fan.