Server Room Cooling

[JOSEPH GENAVIA]

Hey guys what specifics do i need to know or standards do i need when designing for a server room.

 

[cda]

Not my area but


How cold the owner wants it?

24 hour temp monitoring and notification?

Clean air?

How many sq ft is it?

 

[Msradell]

The type, specifications, redundancy etc. are not covered by code in most cases. They are mostly determined by the customer depending on how critical the server room is to their operation. I've seen them is simple if a couple of room air conditioners stuck thru the wall to have complex as double and sometimes even triple redundancy.

Of course once you know the customers requirements such things as heat load in the room, insulation etc. will need to be known before you can spec equipment.

 

[TheCommish]

the equipment in the room will govern the heat output, and the cooling does not have to be down to the 70deg range, only to what the operating range of the equipment and then more if the customer wants to spend more on capacity and people comforts.

 

[jeffc]

The Washington state energy code has a economizer exception in our energy code for server rooms. Install a VRF cooling system with a high seer rating and you are good. Would be nice if you could harvest the server room heat and put it into the building (assuming you are in a heating climate). Servers are way more heat tolerant that most people realize. We have some server rooms in Seattle that run reliably with a room temperature of 80 degrees. Microsoft did a study where they put severs under a tarp and they ran just fine. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/ar...tware/intense-computing-or-in-tents-computing

 

[JOSEPH GENAVIA]

Thanks for the responses, I thought there'd be more complicated requirements for this other than meeting heat loads. Thanks!

 

[north star]

$ ~ $

What is the size of the Server Room ?.......FWIW, I agree with **jeffc**
in that most Servers are heat tolerant......What else, if anything will
be in the Server Room ?.......The room should be surrounded by very
good thermally insulated assemblies.

We have some facilities with small Server Rooms, and we have the
ambient temp. set at 67 - 69 degrees F.

$ ~ $

 

[JOSEPH GENAVIA]

$ ~ $

What is the size of the Server Room ?.......FWIW, I agree with **jeffc**
in that most Servers are heat tolerant......What else, if anything will
be in the Server Room ?.......The room should be surrounded by very
good thermally insulated assemblies.

We have some facilities with small Server Rooms, and we have the
ambient temp. set at 67 - 69 degrees F.

$ ~ $

THE SERVER ROOM IS ABOUT 400 SQ FT AND THE HEATING LOAD IS ABOUT 92000 OR ROUGHLY 8 TONS, WE WILL DESIGN FOR 10 TONS AND OWNER DESIRES FLOOR STANDING FCU'S.

 

[jar546]

Don't forget about NEC 645.10 for disconnecting power along with tying your HVAC into the fire alarm system for monitoring along with any EMS connections

 

[cda]

THE SERVER ROOM IS ABOUT 400 SQ FT AND THE HEATING LOAD IS ABOUT 92000 OR ROUGHLY 8 TONS, WE WILL DESIGN FOR 10 TONS AND OWNER DESIRES FLOOR STANDING FCU'S.

Not into hvac but seems a lot for 20x20 room

 

[JOSEPH GENAVIA]

Not into hvac but seems a lot for 20x20 room

Well the 92000 btu/h was just the equipments heat load.

 

[Paul Sweet]

It would be best to use two units. One unit should be adequate when the server isn't running at full capacity,and it will be less likely to short cycle. You will also have part capacity when (not if) one unit fails. Be sure the units are designed to cool properly at low ambient temperatures.

The server is probably more heat tolerant than the IT staff. Most of the ones I know like igloo temperatures!

 

[Meyer]

Do server rooms need outside air supply? If not is there any code to support that?

 

[mark handler]

Talk to you CA Energy Consultant
The CA Energy Code considers it as a "Covered Processes - Computer Rooms"

2019 Nonresidential Compliance Manual- Covered Processes - Computer Rooms
10.4 Computer Rooms
10.4.3 Prescriptive Measures
10.4.3.1 Economizers
10.4.3.1 Reheat/Recool
10.4.3.2 Humidification
10.4.3.3 Fan Power and Control
10.4.3.4 Containment
10.4.4 Healthcare Facilities
10.4.5 Additions and Alterations
https://ww2.energy.ca.gov/2018publications/CEC-400-2018-018/chapters/10_CoveredProcesses.pdf