Common Crestron Issues: Equipment Placement

Having been hired by clients to take over and repair low or no- functioning Crestron control systems for many years, myself and the rest of the #DoneRightNotEasy crew have seen it all. Poor wiring jobs and the failure to maintain a clean and manageable system is unfortunately par for the course for many other integrators in this industry.

One of the most egregious problems we come upon when taking over a job site is the failure to centralize control equipment and racks, opting rather to haphazardly distribute equipment throughout the space. Simply put, control equipment and rack builds not placed properly in a home or office can lead to system failure, unexpected maintenance bills, or worse, risk the health and safety of your family or employees.

When control racks and system components are distributed throughout a space, rather than being centralized into one dedicated location, each piece of hardware or group of control equipment becomes a potential failure point. With control wire running from multiple areas around a home it creates issues properly powering the system components and leading to an inevitable malfunction.
When that malfunction or a system failure does happen, the unnecessary complexity of the system build will cause the service engineer to struggle finding the source of the issue somewhere in the home. Next thing you know you are racking up a $500+ service call to solve what would otherwise have been an avoidable problem.

Centralizing control racks and equipment leads not only to more efficient control systems, it also reduces the need for complicated maintenance and builds customer confidence in the product and your work. That being said, it is incredibly important that your centralized components are set up in an appropriate room or area.

Integrators will often place system components in rooms that are not ventilated properly or simply lack the appropriate amount of space. Rooms such as mechanical rooms, boiler rooms or wooden utility closets are often problematic for properly housing electronic equipment. Placing this equipment in proximity to unnaturally high temperatures stemming from boilers or water heaters, leaking or standing water, and significant dust levels could not only lead to system failure, but can be serious fire or life safety hazards.

Take for example a recent takeover where we found several pieces of control equipment lying haphazardly around small wooden closet, with wires leading in every direction. When heat generating system hardware is in a wooden room and not properly mounted in a metal rack, a significant fire hazard is created.

The health and safety of a home’s residents or employees in an office is a much more serious problem than a failing system. This is why GMI takes care to not only build simple, centralized systems, but to also keep our hardware isolated, well protected and clean. We understand the power demands, heat levels and ventilation needs of all the equipment we use, allowing us to properly design a system for maximum efficiency and safety.