Can you smell that ?

[TIOAOA]

There's a strange electrical burning smell coming from our server room.

 

Yet we can't pinpoint the cause

 

Everything appears to be functioning at 100%

 

Any suggestions - or should I just go home and hope.

[JJonas]

That probably needs investigating,

 

Tell the caretaker and business manager, switch all of your gear off, put the latest tape backup in your car and move the car away from the affected building, thoroughly ventilate the room, go somewhere else to get the smell of burning out of your nose(home?) and come back a couple of hours later and see if the smell is still there. If it is get caretaker to investigate further, if it isn't switch your gear back on one at a time until you get the burning smell again. Replace/repair as necessary.

[NikChillin]

Is it something travelling through the air con system? We had that and discovered the art dept were using soldering irons! (they are in the same building). Could be contractors somewhere.

[sparkeh]

Personally I would say that leaving it is not an option!

 

Turn everything off, leave it a while, check again to see if its an external smell, if not turn on equipment one by one until you find the source.

[TIOAOA]

JJonas - I've just spent the last hour doing exactly that ( bar the moving my car I could do with a new one anyway)

 

NikChillin - As it happen we do have roofing contractors in whihc is what I hoping is the cause - Just seems strange its only in my server room

 

Just powered back up and the stink is still there.

 

Looks like I'm going to have to power down and leave it off overnight, let the stink vanish and beat the contractors in the the AM

[LincolnE]

If you can, I'd recommend getting a fan of some sort to help extract the air or get some airflow into the room in the meantime (with everything powered down, of course). I've found that burning smells can linger for some time.

[fairm010]

UPS batteries?