computers and ozone

[duckbill]

I'm wondering if someone with computer/electronics savvy could tell me if a desktop computer puts out much ozone while on. I know ozone is a vintage dive gear rubber killer so I'm wondering if it's O.K. to keep my 'puter turned on all day in the same room in which I am storing my gear.

 

[miketsp]

Normally no.
You may just wish to read this:
http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/comp-dic/lca-sum/ques4.pdf
where it shows that the major ozone contribution is in the power generation to manufacture and run crts (Cathode Ray Tubes) not in their use.
Now under what circumstances could you generate ozone.
Ozone can be generated by ionisation using high voltages. Well designed crts, although employing high voltages do not have any ionisation trails. The flyback transformer which generates the HV should have no naked HV points. There is normally a rubber cap where the HV cable connects to the tube.
Now if this cap is damaged or loose and there is dust accumulated around the connector you may have an ionisation trail and some ozone generation.

The possibility of ozone generation goes up with the HV required which is a function of monitor size. 15" monitors use much less HV than say a 23", if your pocket is deep enough.

So if you have a big monitor 17"+, and you're worried about ozone, check that the HV cap is well seated, and vacuum out the dust from the HV cap area and the HV transformer area occasionally.

Warning - do not poke around under the HV cap as there may be a significant charge stored in the CRT HV electrode. If the cap has to be replaced because the rubber is not well seated, this charge must be discharged before handling the connector.

 

[duckbill]

Thankyou for the response. Interesting. I think the link you provided addresses ozone DEPLETION, as in stratospheric ozone. But I do understand that high voltage arcing produces ozone, and I think that the other components in a personal computer run on very low voltage, correct? What about the motor which drives the hard drive?
Thanks again.

 

[miketsp]

..snip..
What about the motor which drives the hard drive?
Thanks again.

Brushless - no sparking.

 

[duckbill]

Thanks again Mike.
Now for another question concerning computers. Only on this forum am I having this problem:
There is an ad banner at the top of each page. I have not changed any settings on my computer. For the past few weeks, whenever I try to go to the next page I often get a symbol at the top of the page consisting of a square, triangle, and circle where the ad should appear. The ad never appears and the page does not finish downloading. I have to hit refresh once or more (up to six times) to finally get the ad and the rest of the page to appear. This is very frustrating on dial-up and I have given up surfing SCUBABoard. I have tried deleting cookies, files and history to no avail.
Any help would really be appreciated.

-And, yes, I realize this is no longer a vintage SCUBA question, but as long as I had Mike's attention.....

 

[miketsp]

My first guess is that you are suffering from a very high packet loss on the route between you and the server.
First thing I would do is open a CMD window and PING Scubaboard.com using a continuous option to check for packet loss

Ping options:
-t Ping the specifed host until interrupted
-a Resolve addresses to hostnames
-n count Number of echo requests to send
-l size Send buffer size
-f Set Don't Fragment flag in packet
-i TTL Time To Live
-v TOS Type Of Service
-r count Record route for count hops
-s count Timestamp for count hops
-j host-list Loose source route along host-list
-k host-list Strict source route along host-list
-w timeout Timeout in milliseconds to wait for each reply

 

[duckbill]

Thanks Mike, but WAY beyond me! I'll show this post to a friend here and maybe he can decipher it for me. Appreciate the help.