This is a common misunderstanding people have about commercial cooling systems. People are often more familiar with the residential air conditioning systems that cool down their homes, and extend that knowledge to commercial cooling.

There are many overlaps when it comes to residential air conditioning and commercial air conditioning in Whittier, CA. Refrigerant-based split systems are common to both, and the packaged units found on the rooftops of so many commercial buildings are sometimes used for smaller homes (although they often aren’t on the roof). But commercial systems are larger, more complex, and more varied because they must target a range of different needs within a facility. This is where we get to server room cooling.

Have you ever gone into a server room when there’s no cooling inside it? It’s hot in there, and also stuffy. The compact collection of computer systems and other vital electronic devices creates an immense amount of heat in a small space. It’s nothing like an office pool or the floor of a retail store. 

Furthermore, the electronic equipment in a server room is extremely sensitive, not only vulnerable to heat but also dust and high humidity. It’s a location that needs special attention when it comes to climate and humidity control.

In a way, server rooms have similar needs to manufacturing and industrial facilities—not necessarily with the size of equipment, but the amount of cooling and ventilation needed for purposes other than providing comfort for people inside them.

Commercial HVAC isn’t only to provide comfortable spaces for employees, customers, clients, tenants, etc. It can also serve to protect equipment and to facilitate processes. Server room cooling aims to keep essential equipment from overheating and suffering irrevocable damage and data loss that will end up harming the operations of a business.

Now that we’ve laid out the difference between what server rooms need for cooling compared to other commercial requirements, you can understand better why your facility’s commercial AC isn’t able to cool the server room.

Simply routing ductwork from the central AC into the server room is insufficient for climate, ventilation, and humidity control in this room. You also can’t simply open up the door to the server room and expect that this will be enough to protect the equipment inside. 

Server room cooling must be customized for the space, and the space needs arrangement to allow the cooling to work effectively. Racks must have spacing to permit airflow between them to remove heat, and the spacing of the racks must allow for the right amount of ventilation.

The cooling system has to target a specific temperature, often lower than what people require for cooling, to keep the equipment from overheating. The server room must also have humidity controls and humidity monitors: few things will rapidly ruin sensitive electronic devices like excess moisture.

To have the best possible customized server room cooling for your business, no matter what it is, leave the work to our expert team.

Trust to Greenleaf Heating & Cooling: Your R e s i d e n t i a l a n d Commercial Experts Serving All of Southern California Since 1956.