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The following is an excerpt of the TGrace Nortel Mailing list. A link to this mailing list can be found on the weblinks page.

From: "Schochet, Wes"

OK - my HVAC guys are "doing repairs" and outside air (I'm in Minnesota) is going into the Switch Room. It is 47 F and dropping. When will my switch stop working? It's 16 F outside...

From: "Ken Steinhoff"

It's 79 degrees down here in West Palm Beach, FL. (Heat index is 80). When your switchroom temp gets down to 40 degrees, let me know. I'll run outside, fill a garbage bag full of hot air and overnight it to you.

If you want a real answer, here's what the NTPs say:

Recommended: 15° to 30°C (59° to 86°F) RH 20% to 55%, non-condensing Absolute: 10° to 45°C (50° to 113°F) RH 20% to 80%, non-condensing temperature change less than 10°C (18°F) per hour

From: "Farrell, Terry"

It has been my experience that the colder the room the better the electronics run but I'm sure there is a limit in there somewhere. Check the installation manual (I don't have a copy handy), it should have environmental information listed.

From: "Warren, Charles NAVAIR"

Ken, you are always the man with the answers.

But don't forget the caution in the NTP's: "Do not expose equipment to absolute temperature limits for more than 72 hours. Do not place heat sources (such as floor heaters) near the equipment."

The absolute low is 50° so you may want to hurry along the HVAC guys.

I haven't commented on a list message in years, so I just thought I would throw one in.

I'll go back to reading now...

From: "Ken Steinhoff"

That raises an interesting question: I would suspect that the switches aren't shipped in conditioned trucks. Wonder what happens when they go through the desert in the summer or to Wes in the winter? Does the limitation apply only to switches that are turned on?

And, Chuck, don't be shy to stick an oar in. That was a good catch. When I was cutting and pasting those limits, I scratched my head and thought, "What the heck do they mean by 'absolute?'" Thanks for clearing that up.

Who has an ice pick to help chip Wes out?

From: Randy.Aldous

So long as there is no frost accumulating on it, it should probably be ok. Although, I would be concerned about surrounding water pipes and such if it gets beyond freezing

From: Randy.Aldous

I retract the frost comment. Ken's was a better answer. My water pipe reference stands though.

From: Randy.Aldous

Keep in mind the internal temp of the equipment will be warmer than ambient.

From: "Tim Nugent"

"My water pipe" you can bet that raised a few NSA filters.

From: "Ken Steinhoff"

I don't know about rigid pipe references, but I know that I can't send a message to my BellSouth rep with a subject line NXX-XXXX. In the old BBS days, I had to ask a sysop to reinstate me after I misspelled sextant as "sextent" in a perfectly innocent context. I guess some dirty-minded programmer thought it was a canvas house of ill repute.

From: "King, Michael"

I guess we'll all have to change to

NYY-YYYY

From: "Warren, Charles NAVAIR"

"I must say that this list is both fun, and informative", Imagine me saying that while posing with a pipe like Fred MacMurray in "My Three Sons". (at least you older people my get the reference).

Anyway, whoever commented on the temp inside the cabinets has a good point. The interior should keep at least 20 deg. warmer than the ambient temp. I must admit that I am born and raised in Orlando and have only made brief trips to the cold places, so not much experience there. I can say that, from an experience I had in 1988, if you leave a trailer load of 2009/2112 sets in the parking lot for several months, you will have a significant failure rate with the handsets. We were tapping handsets for years. Made the building sound like woodpeckers invaded.

Two replies in one day... I'm exhausted.

From: Randy.Aldous

This was a test. It was only a test.....

From: "John Ott"

Don't know if it will quit working, but while having one installed in DC couple years ago, it got so cold in the room that indicator lights on the cards would not change.

We did not officially have the system on-line and no phones programmed so I do not remember doing any testing to see if it would talk.

We just had one of the forced air kerosene heaters in the room, but I imagine by the time you see this it will either still be working or the worlds largest popsicle

From: "Schochet, Wes"

Well, we bottomed out at 45 and the switch didn't blink! My Verizon tech said that once you can see your breath, the system starts to INI!

Thanks All.

From: "Runnels.Bob"

Cool...

From: "Gary Farrington"

Hey Chuck,

You make a great point about problems that arise when equipment is not stored properly. I have seen this problem over the years so many times, this is one of the reasons you find such good deals in the secondary market. Like I have always said, you need to know who you are buying from to insure against future problems.

I heard you would be having a picnic at your place for some of us, during the Conference in June, I can't wait.

From: "Farrell, Terry"

I worked in a radar room on a Navy Frigate back in the late 80's. I would take a cup of coffee with me into the shop in the morning when I opened up. The temp was usually hovering around 55-60. I think I prefer that to Ken's 45 degf switchroom. Although I had to get used to drinking my coffee cold since it lost it's heat after sitting on the bench for 5 minutes.

From: Randy.Aldous

Could have always scraped a bit of RADAR energy off a handy waveguide and aimed it at your coffee.... :-)

From: Bruce_MacDonald

Here's a thought from the great white north where we known -40C = -40F. Get yourself two large sleeping bags, zipper them together and voilà, you have a functional and attractive M1 column touque. ;)

From: peter

We recently had a prolonged power outage when the outside temperature was -35'F. Our Option 11 was shutdown after about an hour when it became obvious we were not going to get power back very quickly. The temperature in the pbx room eventually dropped to 16'F before power was restored. The cabinets were quite cold inside as well as outside.

On the plus(+) side, the pbx came back up without complaint. Nothing like a good old cold start.

From: Randy.Aldous

Bruce,

I was thinking, since they manufacture mattresses and beds, they could just get some mattresses from the production floor and bungy cord them around the switch. A couple of Queen sized ones would handle a two-column switch, with a couple of pillows thrown on top (my grandma always said to wear a hat.)