How does the cold weather data center respond?

How does the cold weather data center respond?

If your data center is in a cold area, don't worry. Many data centers are running in cold weather, including Facebook in leroo, Sweden, their data centers have a lot of tips for dealing with cool cold weather. You need to pay attention to them.

Matt Spencer, chief technology officer of Cologix, which operates data centers in Canada and Minnesota, says cold weather is a unique challenge for data centers, especially in fuel (generators) and cooling, in addition, it limits the customer's development and staff's on-site work problems. If you do not have the remote capabilities and contingency plans for each data center, you will spend a lot of time on stable environments and uninterrupted services.

Schneider Electric, an infrastructure operation project manager, said that in a cold environment, the data center needs to prepare for the protection of personnel and equipment.

In a cold environment, the key to operation is to pay attention to maintenance. Secondly, some measures should be taken for the environment, and special design should be provided for the staff.

 

Cold weather will freeze facilities outside the data center, including drainage pipes, fuel systems, heating coils for HVAC, cooling towers, and humidifying devices. If the air-conditioning unit begins to leak water, snow and frost will block the tuyere. In this case, light will lead to difficult air circulation, and heavy will lead to the entire system shut down. So pay attention to maintenance is crucial, it is necessary to regularly check all modules of the heater, engine oil heater, battery heater to ensure normal operation, and develop a strict maintenance plan.

The Compass data center is planning to build a plant in Minnesota. It has a deep understanding of the cold weather. If boiling water is spilled into the air, it will instantly become water vapor and ice. Chris Crosby, CEO of the Compass data center, said they needed some warm-up measures during the construction process, with a budget of $50 thousand to use propane during winter construction. For the construction of data centers in the cold environment, some products must be specially designed, such as generators requiring insulation and heater generator casings; humidity problems and cold environments also need special treatment, for example, an efficient humidifier is provided. In order to protect the customer's equipment, the anti-static wrist strap and other protective measures are required. If the ultrasonic humidifier is used, the effect is more obvious than that of the traditional humidifier.

If the road is blocked, how can we enable normal staff access to the data center? Data Centers generally require 24x7 services. How do left-behind staff protect them? In the event of low temperatures, heavy coats and gloves are essential.

Maintenance process for cold weather facilities:

· Ensure that the remote monitoring panel is opened normally. If the heater in the generator cylinder is faulty or does not work, an alert can be issued to facilitate countermeasures.

· Added inspection of the external facilities of the data center

· Ensure that the temperature probe works properly

· Frequent monitoring of weather forecasts, delaying or suspending maintenance work in bad weather

· 24x7 device access is ensured through cleaning/snow shovel

· Ensure that the standby battery start device is ready

· Reserve enough ice-removing products

· Reserve key components of generators, uninterruptible power supplies, air conditioners, and other equipment

· Keep in mind the Corrosion Characteristics of salt

You need to pay attention to the following questions: Have you prepared fuel additives to prevent weather deterioration? Is the heater of the generator working properly? There are countermeasures for the water freezing problem of fuel, cooling tower and air conditioning unit. Are they sealed?