Jason, There is defiantly a large difference between "comfort" cooling systems and "computer cooling systems. The key words are latent load and sensible load. Computer equipment is mostly sensible load. While standard office type spaces are mostly latent load. The Liebert/APC will also be built with heavier duty parts, such as larger coil surfaces, fans/blowers rated for constant use (24/7), etc. So while they are more expensive, there defiantly is a large difference between the products. What your seeing is that most cooling systems are designed for a 95 degree ambient outside temp, once above that they quickly lose their heat rejection abilities. Also remember for it to be 95 degrees on the roof, it only needs to be about 80 degrees outside, give or take, depending on what the roofing material is.
There are also some strategies that could be employed before purchasing additional cooling, but it would be hard to recommend anything without seeing a picture or the racks/space. Hope this helps Brendan Mannella From: Martin James Gehrke [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2011 9:25 AM To: Brendan Mannella Subject: Fwd: [lopsa-discuss] Budget Cooling ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Jason Healy <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> Date: Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 9:12 AM Subject: [lopsa-discuss] Budget Cooling To: LOPSA General Discussions <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> We're a school with a small server room that we're trying to keep cool (about 4 racks, plus some telco gear). We have a dedicated AC unit in the room right now, but it isn't able to keep up with the load in the space we have (the airflow isn't great). Room is hovering around 75 F with AC on full blast 24/7. On hot days it gets worse, and if the unit were to fail we'd go over temp pretty quickly. Called in a few vendors like APC and Leibert, and they're pitching an in-row or wall-mount unit, but it's pretty pricey. Meanwhile, our regular AC vendor is pitching another wall-mount unit similar to what we have in the room already: http://www.e-comfortusa.com/products/mitsubishi-pkaa24ka4--puya24nha4-mr-slim--wall-mounted-mini-split-ac-cooling-only-system--24000-btu/5543 On the one hand, the "normal" unit is much cheaper. However, it lacks a few nice features (SNMP reporting on errors, for example, should a pump fail). Given that the unit we have can't keep up, I'm not sure if I want another of the same type. Meanwhile, APC/Leibert are telling me that I'm crazy to consider another "comfort" unit in this space, as they're not rated for this kind of use. The units they sell are pretty and shiny, but are 5x the price (plus installation). I feel like the in-row form factor might help us, as it would suck more hot air from the back of the rack rather than let it mix into the room. I need a little help cutting through the FUD on this one. Is "comfort" cooling so much worse that it's worth the extra $$$ for a data-center unit? Since we're a school, I need to save where I can (I'm also trying to get some better UPS in this room, so money I save on cooling can go towards power). Since the space isn't a "proper" data center (no hot/cold aisle, no raised floor, etc), I'm not sure where I should prioritize my funding. Any thoughts for cooling on a tight budget? Thanks, Jason -- Jason Healy | [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> | http://www.logn.net/ _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
_______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators http://lopsa.org/
