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Learned the hard way about static discharge on a server rack in Phoenix

A senior tech at my shop told me to always wear a grounding strap when working on servers, even if it's just a quick swap. I figured I'd be fine for a 2 minute RAM upgrade last Tuesday. Fried the board and cost the client $1200 for a replacement. Now I keep a strap on my tool belt always.
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3 Comments
shane_hayes
Phoenix dry air makes static way worse" - no kidding. I learned that the hard way in a garage server lab near Tucson. Humidity here drops to like 5% in summer. You can feel the zap just walking across carpet. A little humidifier saved my ass too, kept it around 40% and suddenly no more random ESD kills.
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foster.tessa
Did you check the humidity in that room first? Phoenix dry air makes static way worse than most people realize.
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phoenix_bailey
Yeah, exactly! I've had rooms where the humidity was below 30% and every time I touched a doorknob it zapped me. A cheap little hygrometer from the hardware store can tell you a lot. If the air is really dry, even a small humidifier in the room can make a huge difference, sometimes cutting static by half or more.
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