Lost two computers; How to prevent this from happening again in the future?

[naif]

Hi,

I lost two computers in the past 7 days. The motherboard seems to have died on the first one after which I switched to using the second one. Day before yesterday, the PSU on the second computer died. And yesterday, my UPS died. When I opened the UPS, there seems to have been a leak because there was liquid which smelled of battery. The UPS is an APC and the PSUs were both Corsair.

I would like to know what I can do to prevent something like this in the future? The reason I had installed the UPS in the first place was to protect the computer from such incidents. So now it seems to me a UPS by itself isn't going to be sufficient so I am looking for suggestions. Can a voltage stabilizer help?

Or this: https://n2.sdlcdn.com/imgs/a/w/i/Ri-Ac-Box-With-Legrand-SDL664538017-1-0e54a.jpg (I don't know what that is called?)

Regards.

PS: It's been ages since I last posted here. Good the see that it's still active!

 

[Janus67]

Welcome back!

How old was your UPS? I assume both are on the same circuit? It may be worth having an electrician come out and check your wiring for any issues or maybe can see if there's any fluctuations/dirty power going through the lines that could be causing issues.

 

[trents]

And how old were the computers? Electronics are not immortal.

 

[naif]

Thank you Janus!

The UPS was old. Around 8 years I would say. Power fluctuations are common in the country I live in. That is why I need a fool proof solution for this so that I can prevent this from happening again the in future. One of the reasons I was using a UPS was to prevent such fluctuations.

Can a voltage stabilizer be used for this? Also any idea what that thing in the image is called? I have that installed for my air conditioner so I am thinking it might help with a computer too?

- - - Updated - - -

Around 8 and 4. Because they both died in the same week period, I am certain there wasn't anything wrong with either of the computers. It's either something electrical or something related to the UPS. Because the only thing common between the two here was the wall socket and the UPS.

- - - Updated - - -

Also if there is a leak in the UPS, would it be from the battery or could it also be from the UPS itself? I know this sounds like a stupid question but the reason I ask is because I inspected the battery thoroughly and I did not find any leak from it.

 

[Janus67]

I'm not sure of the word for the device in your picture.

Regarding the leaking, as far as I know, the only thing that could leak in a UPS is the battery/acid. But Maybe someone more knowledgeable about those types of things will come across this.

That's pretty old for a UPS, and if power fluctuations are a problem then it may have just had enough of it and it stopped providing smooth consistent power to the devices. I can only assume some sort of power stabalizer/regulator could help the situation, but I am far from an electrician and couldn't/shouldn't provide any sort of advice on that matter.

 

[(G{in}[AK)TION]]

Surge protectors.

I dont know what country you live in or if they even do this but...

If you ever buy another UPS, put a surge protector after it as well. Check the back of the surge protector your buying for a sticker or something that says "Transient Surge Suppressor" so you know your buying something that will actually protect your electronics and shut itself down permanently should it no longer handle the incoming surges.

And from what i have seen with some of my customers, they talk about this surge protector that they have installed right at their power box which only protects them from EXTERNAL [power surges and not internal surges. try getting one of those to if you can (not sure how much they are but i heard they are expensive).

 

[trents]

When I research that pic and it's descriptor from the link OP provided in post #1 I come up with concepts like "isolator" and similar devices that show up in searches have fuse protection. So it would seem to be some kind of spike protection device.

Having said that, a UPS provides the best method of surge protection that I know of . . . if, if it's working correctly. But naif, it sounds like your UPS is so old it probably failed and did not protect your PCs from electrical spikes which are apparently common with your power grid.

I think you need to just get a new UPS.

 

[petteyg359]

Get a LC1800 or LR2000 (depending on whether you're using 120v or 240v circuits). If you really need battery backup for anything, plug the UPS in to the line conditioner, but Googling tells me most UPS batteries are only good for three to five years.

 

[naif]

This is embarrassing but around 6 months back I had moved from the ground floor of our house to the first floor. Few days back I realized the socket wasn't grounded. Could this have been the cause?

 

[trents]

No, that would have no effect on the equipment plugged in. The purpose of household grounding is to protect residents from shock/electrocution.

 

[Daleon]

Do you think its just your PSU that went bad in the second?
Have you tried the PSU from your first one in it?
Just because the PSU went out doesn't mean everything went with it.
Had the second been turned off for a long time if you weren't using it?

UPS batteries definitely don't last that long. Usually it will start annoyingly beeping when the battery starts to go. If it was leaking acid it was long past any good.
Get a quality surge protector, and maybe look into a Cyberpower UPS.

 

[demien88]

By description you UPS killed PSU and thats it. There are failsafe surge protectors in almost every ups and psu like devices couple of them once it pops off there is no replacing it far as I know, I mean you
could bu it isn't recommended.
Its just old and there was power surge in house or from wall socket it knows to happen at random. When you connected second PSU power just went trough without control and destroyed PSU.

I might lost myself in translation of "Surge protector" because there is also one fuse in there that prevents any damage being done by power surge.