I'm trying to find a decent solution for cooling our mini-datacenter, but can't find much good information on a good solution as we have a number of problems that cannot or are difficult to be addressed.
We have a small 10x13 room with a single rack outputting about 1ton of heat. It was never a properlly built server room, so there's no raised floor or built-in air conditioner. We've been running a portable 1ton unit to death for the last year, and now that we're expanding the servers, we need something better.
Now the problems; we cannot use water cooling (local code prohibits them now due to recent water shortages - though I'm tempted to "greymarket" that and install one myself), we have no openable windows to vent in or out, only office plenum space, plus the building's air only works "sometimes" and never on evenings and weekends meaning ambient heat has to be dealt with as well.
Other challenges include the servers have a low (27) cfm rate and currently experiences a 60-degree temperature climb front-to-back; plus the lack of building air on long weekends in the summer will choke any air conditioning we put in as the hot air will eventually fill up the plenum space. No, they don't even run the fans on the weekend for exhaust.
We had one HVAC guy in who quoted us on a $10K 2.5ton airconditioner in the ceiling, though even he commented that it could burn out if the plenum space gets too hot. In fact, another company on the 9th floor just lost their 4ton airconditioner to that every same phenomena.
So, any ideas, or are we basically hooped until the building management decides to retrofit their air units.
We have a small 10x13 room with a single rack outputting about 1ton of heat. It was never a properlly built server room, so there's no raised floor or built-in air conditioner. We've been running a portable 1ton unit to death for the last year, and now that we're expanding the servers, we need something better.
Now the problems; we cannot use water cooling (local code prohibits them now due to recent water shortages - though I'm tempted to "greymarket" that and install one myself), we have no openable windows to vent in or out, only office plenum space, plus the building's air only works "sometimes" and never on evenings and weekends meaning ambient heat has to be dealt with as well.
Other challenges include the servers have a low (27) cfm rate and currently experiences a 60-degree temperature climb front-to-back; plus the lack of building air on long weekends in the summer will choke any air conditioning we put in as the hot air will eventually fill up the plenum space. No, they don't even run the fans on the weekend for exhaust.
We had one HVAC guy in who quoted us on a $10K 2.5ton airconditioner in the ceiling, though even he commented that it could burn out if the plenum space gets too hot. In fact, another company on the 9th floor just lost their 4ton airconditioner to that every same phenomena.
So, any ideas, or are we basically hooped until the building management decides to retrofit their air units.
