Computers and Carpet

[meatwad]

Best part about having the computer on the floor is the handy foot rest it gives you.

[Ya_know]

It is unbelieveable how not only some "technicians" don't ground themselves before touching circuitry, but how they touch any and all parts of circuit boards when they handle them. That happened a lot at the shop that I used to work at. Now that I'm on my own, I'm interested in seeing if my failure rate of new equipment is significantly lower than the shop's, being that I'm the only one handling it, and trying to take precautions.

I had a guy bet money that he wouldn't short out a MoBo...that it was all a myth...He manhandled a board, shuffled his feet on the floor, and gave me the whole song and dance. I'll be damned if that MoBo didn't turn out to have a "factory" defect right out of the box... He paid me the money!

[tommo666]

I hate static, depending on the time of year ie heat/humidity i'm a frigging battery, my car zaps me, door handles zap me and my cat jumps away when i ground through it. I've only blown one stick of ram to my knowledge. My work watch strap is an esd wriststrap just so i don't forget to wear it and i DO not work on printer anymore :-)

[Humilliation]

Sounds like you need to get an electrician out to your house to check things out, something is faulty. If I ever saw a spark from my finger to a light switch, I too would not turn it on! Really, something there isn't right if you ask me...

No electrician needed, it's just me clothes. When I first wake up in the morning and turn the same light swithes on I don't get zapped, it only happpens after I shower and get dressed. I guess Cling Free drier sheets don't work worth poop during the winter.

But like confus-ed said, I can hold a charge real well. I get zapped after I've driven around in my vehicle for a while with the heat on. I've never gotten zapped getting into my vehicle though. I'm 6 ohms hand to hand, what resistance do others here score on an ohm meter?

[eboyjones]

A few carpet zaps are ok, but what about this..

http://www.zetatalk.com/theword/tword23l.htm

Time to shed a few pounds.

[Humilliation]

A few carpet zaps are ok, but what about this..

http://www.zetatalk.com/theword/tword23l.htm

Time to shed a few pounds.

That site doesn't hold much weight since it's basically one of them freak sites. After all, if this is its logo, their facts are screwy.

[cisco2]

It could be that there's no real danger of placing a PC directly on carpet but I have trouble believing that is (completely) true. In any case, why take the chance. If you really must put the PC on the floor, drop a few dollars on a static mat that you can attach to ground.

In my mind the problem isn't so much whether the PC will be properly grounded or not as whether the carpet will be. Most types of carpet can and will develop and hold a static charge. Probably most situations, even the vast majority of situations in which a static potential is built up and discharged, that discharge would follow the computer's path to ground and not hurt anything. It's that one exception situation that bites you in the a$$.

Very few computers are actually placed on a properly grounded surface. Wooden and laminated desktops, non-dissipative tile flooring, otherwise ungrounded metal furniture (my PC at home is on top of a metal filing cabinet but that cabinet is on carpet and is not grounded). but those surfaces don't tend to develop and hold a static charge as carpet does. I see carpet as being kind of like Charlie Brown's friend pigpen, except that the dust cloud is a static cloud. How many times have you seen a piece of metal close to a carpet that was coated with fibers and dust and bits of hair that were obviously attracted there by a static charge. It's not whether the PC is grounded or not, it's that you're placing your PC inside that static pigpen cloud. Why do that? Just give it some distance from that immediate source of danger or place it on a grounded mat that will take care of the problem.

[JeffO93]

One day while everyone was gone, and there weren't any computers on, three network cards and three ports on my network switch were fried.

The phone cable drops from the ceiling and the modems were fine.

All other cables were off the carpet (thin indoor/outdoor carpet).

The only cables that touched the carpet were the CAT5 network cables. The computers were grounded. There must've been a static jolt that came from the carpet, was picked up by the CAT5 (acting as antennas), and traveled the path of least resistance through the network port, blowing the network I/O, before heading into the grounded computer.
ZAP - $200 worth of damage.

Since no one was home, who knows what caused the static? Maybe the house was hit by lightening, but there wasn't a storm. High dusty wind can cause static buildup. People walking around a house can actually help even out the static here and there. With no one home, it can build until it gets too high and then ZAP.

[jimmm33]

With customers machines I'm very cautious. I keep them on the bench and handle everything carefully.

Not so much so with my own equipment. My primary machine has sat on carpet for years. I ground myself to the case as a habit.

Once I was working on a PIII 450 slot 1 machine and another tech (who is famous for zapping people with static) walked up and touched the heatsink. The machine instantly powered down. He immediately realized what he did and just stood there with a stunned look. He said he felt the zap and was certain it was static. Killed the cpu. Luckily one of the company machines had a PIII 450 so we put it in and all was well.