The rising temperatures of the lazy, hazy days of summer time are an arduous enemy of modern data centers. As a result, the cooling systems of these data centers get pushed to their limits. While putting sunscreen on your servers won’t do the trick, you can take advantage of a plethora of innovative technologies and strategies to beat the summer heat. To best maintain efficiency, read on for 10 tips to ensure your data center is summer-ready.
Use Regularly Scheduled Maintenance
Sustaining the uptime of a data center throughout the heat of summer involves regular maintenance and upkeep. Therefore, you must do scheduled preventative maintenance for peace of mind. Furthermore, the knowledge that everything within the facility is in proper working order helps prevent disastrous downtime.
Keep on Adjusting the Thermostat
Surprisingly, warming up your data center is one of the top 10 tips to ensure your data center is summer-ready. Many people aren’t aware that data centers can operate at a warmer temperature efficiently. Equipment specifications outline that the majority of IT tech can run safely at 80°F. Every degree above the standard offers cost savings on utility bills.
Optimize Supply Air Temperature
Besides turning up the thermostat, examine if any CRAC units can be put on standby or turned off, as many cooling units operate at a higher cooling capacity than necessary. CRACs also work more efficiently when the return air to the unit is warm. Make sure the return doesn’t have any cooled air seeping in.
Rethink Architecture and Layout
Hot and cold aisle design concepts work wonders for boosting a data center’s cooling efficiency. Utilizing hot or cold aisle containment and implementing system strategies can help to reduce energy use and costs. Rethink the layout to meet your specific needs before the peak of summer.
Make Proper Use of Blanking Panels
Blanking panels expertly block open spaces in your rack and ensure the cold air passes through your active equipment. Insert these cost-effective panels into empty spaces or open slots existing in your server racks.
Apply Thermal Management Strategies
Intelligent thermal management systems can monitor and identify hotspots with wireless sensors. Take advantage of these systems to create a strategy to adjust changing server room conditions.
Spread Out Heat Loads Evenly
Redistributing heat loads throughout server racks reduces the presence of hot spots in a room. First, check the temperatures of racks from top to bottom. Then, relocate servers to better spread out the load.
Employ Liquid Cooling Methods
This budding cooling concept is an alternative ideal to standard air cooling. As a total immersion cooling system, your energy savings can rise through the roof.
Clean, Clean, Clean the Server Room
A thorough cleaning job before summer not only refreshes the space but helps identify and rectify potential issues. Prevention is the key to spotting problems that may otherwise slip through the cracks.
Check for Cable Blockage of Airflow
Performing cable housekeeping can facilitate smoother airflow. Check behind server racks for any cabling that’s blocking exhaust air from flowing properly. A blockage can cause exorbitant back pressure that overheats the server. To be ready for the summer ahead, consider replacing your power cords with practical cable assemblies.
Look no further than PowerWhips for your data center cabling needs. We design and manufacture our prefabricated IEC 60309 PDU power whips to meet international standards and any voltage ratings. No matter the requirements of your data center, our high-quality cable systems are built for the best efficiency.