Computer Room Air Conditioner Reviews

Most IT administrators don't pay much attention to how the cooling runs at night. They have the system set at the same temperature as during the day, or maybe even a little higher in an effort to reduce power load. However studies have shown running server room air conditioning at night means less load on the cooling system during the day.

The idea is you pre-cool your server room, bringing the temperature down well below the normal daytime settings. As the day warms up and workers start making demands on the servers, the temperature climbs but the air conditioning system doesn't have to kick in right away. The net result is there is less strain on server room air conditioning during the hottest part of the day.

Make a Plan

The first step to designing a server room is to make a plan of the entire room. Use a tape measure to calculate the exact width, height and length of the room. Be sure to take note of any special or abnormal features in the room, including access points, power points, and windows.

Whilst some businesses may be lucky enough to be based in modern offices with dedicated server rooms, most organisations find themselves making-do with disused cupboards or storage space never intended for such high tech equipment. Even the so called 'dedicated rooms' can be seriously stretched to capacity as the requirement for extra functionality and rack space increases.

Technology is literally the lifeblood of many businesses and when it is not properly maintained the consequences are crippling. Not only does the hardware need repairing or replacing but there are the associated costs of carrying out this work, as well as the knock-on effect to the actual business itself with man hours lost too.

Changes made to physical server configuration during warm weather may not show problems right away. Companies replaced older computers with high-heat blade servers or move the servers into a smaller room to open up floor space. The existing air conditioning is often up to the challenge of the increased heat load.

Computer Room Air Conditioner

Hot outside weather doesn't affect the server room since the building's air conditioning automatically runs more to compensate. In some cases IT managers might have to bring in spot coolers to supplement the existing system, but other times no changes need to be made. The instinctive assumption is that if the server room is fine in the hot summer months, there will be no problem when outside temperatures drop.

Winter Makes Server Rooms Hotter

Unfortunately when winter sets in, server room air conditioning faces its greatest challenge. Many smaller server rooms depend on the building's air conditioning system to keep cool, but in winter the HVAC system is switched from cooling to heating. Not only are the servers not getting the cool air they need, but additional heat is actually being blown into the room through the vents.

IT managers find their servers actually run hotter because of the lack of cool air. They may also find they have paid attention to the cooling needs of the servers but forgot about other equipment such as network routers. Even if the system doesn't suffer a heat disaster, equipment running hot has a much shorter useful life.

Air Conditioning Must Be a Dedicated System

It is a rare business that doesn't depend on its servers for daily operation. If the computers overheat and shut down, company operations often shut down as well. For this reason, every server room needs a dedicated cooling system separate from the building's HVAC system.

Installing a high-efficiency central cooling system is very expensive and not necessary for today's computer rooms. Many IT departments find portable air conditioning to be a less expensive and more versatile solution than an expensive HVAC upgrade. The ability to add or remove units as cooling needs change or as the building's main cooling system changes is essential in keeping a server room cool.

Don't wait until it's too late to give your the cooling capacity it needs. Set up a dedicated server cooling system by using spot coolers to create the ideal environment modern electronics need.

Not only does heat cause damage to the equipment held in a server, so can too moisture in the air. If the humidity levels exceed 40 to 55% in a room such as this then the equipment will start to corrode and rust. But through installing a good air conditioning system this will help to reduce the risk of such damage being caused to the server equipment.

Computer Room Air Conditioner

As well as reducing heat and preventing moisture build up in a room installation of an air conditioning system in such a room will ensure that plenty of fresh air is able to circulate it on a regular basis. This is essential as many server rooms are located in a very central position in a building so there are unlikely to be any windows or air ducts to allow such air to enter it.

What Type of Server Room Air Conditioning Can Be Installed?

The important thing to remember when deciding what sort of air conditioning to install in a server room is one that will ensure that the temperature is controlled throughout the day and night. The equipment in such rooms is running constantly and so will generate large amounts of heat. Although most offices will have central air conditioning systems installed these are not suitable for use in server rooms.

Unfortunately these types of systems do require constant supervision to ensure that they function properly at all times. Often with such systems they tend to shut down at the most crucial times when nobody is around to then turn them back on such as at weekends or during holiday periods. Also these systems contain some very complex parts and if the business fails to maintain the system properly then it will often fail without any notice.

The best way to make sure that the temperature remains at a constant level in a server room is to install portable air conditioning units. Not only do these need far less maintenance but they will not fail in the same way that central air conditioning systems do because they are far fewer parts within them.

As these kinds of server room air conditioning units happen to be sat on wheels (casters) they can be moved very easily around the room and so if there is a particular hot spot in the room they can be moved to this to deal with it. Plus as these need far less energy to power them they cost much less to run and so this helps to save the business money.

So what this means it some type of ac is provided for the room to ensure a consistent temperature may be maintained whatever the conditions outside are like. Plus it has to dehumidify the space allowing removal associated with a excess humidity.

Computer Room Air Conditioner

The size with the air conditioning system used inside a server room ought to be of an capacity that may cope not just removing the heat generated from the computer equipment in the room but also natural heat energy. Also since this equipment is at use 48 hours a day, 1 week every week it have to be a unit which has been designed using a continuous rating as opposed to the ones that are used for domestic use and can only be used infrequently.

When it comes to selecting the correct air conditioner you can find two types on the market available. There will be the portable or monoblock air conditioner or even the fixed split air conditioner systems.

As their name suggests portable air conditioners are all-in-one units that you simply just place in the server room. These extract not just heat but a great deal with the additional humidity coming from a room by drawing it down a flexible form of hose comparable to that found over a tumble drier measuring 125mm in diameter typically. The open end on this hose will need to get vented outside with the room through whether window that is certainly open or creating a dent in a very wall through which the hose might be placed.

Every portable is the same in this you will find none which can be totally self contained so that they don't have a vent pipe, the heat collected must be extracted somewhere. Each flexible hose is commonly around 2 to 2.5m in length which cannot be extended since the hose does radiate some heat back in the room and in case you make use of a longer hose then really this heat will wind up straight back to the room which you are looking to cool. So lowering the effectiveness of their cooling abilities.

Also when the hose stretches beyond a particular length there's a possibility in the buildup of back pressure that will prevent the hot air from escaping. This results inside the thermal reduce in the conditioner being tripped so stopping the entire process of cooling. As you're sending hot air along the hose it really is critical that a lot of fresh air is able to enter the area from another source such as being a vent, window or door to balance everything out.

In operation terms the portable models less difficult the identical because the fixed air cooling systems. They have fully automatic thermostatic controls to permit that you adjust the temperature up or down to suit the applying where being used. However, that which you will find is that most portable air conditioners aren't provided with a sophisticated timing system.

When it appears to fixed air conditioners these normally contain two parts. Within the server room it a unit mounted high over a wall which is then connected by a chord to a outside unit which carries power and refrigerant between the two. Not only creates this change tend being a great deal quieter but better a lot more operation.

What the indoor unit does is re-circulates exactly the same air so you do not require any sort of external ventilation, so making these units cool the bedroom more efficiently. In most cases the system situated outside will be either mounted on a bracket on the ground or on the wall.

There are self install systems available that have pre-charged refrigerant chords that have a super easy connection on these to allow the internal and external units to be joined together. Generally the maximum length that these chords set you back is between 4 and 5 meters which can not be extended. If you are doing need a longer chord then you definitely will have to arrange to own your air conditioning system professionally installed. Remember it's against the law for almost any system which requires venting of refrigerant pipes in to the atmosphere. So you'll should employ the assistance of the approved contractor like you would make usage of a CORGI registered professional to set up gas equipment.

Every self install air cooling system today comes having a handheld remote control feature that enables the units to be turned don and doff at certain times from the day should there certainly be a necessity to do so. Also they allow one to automatically control the temperature.