Server Rooms

Servers and server rooms are an important part of many businesses. Because servers and other computers are sensitive to temperature, HVAC ventilation is an important component of any professional or amateur server room. If you own or operate a server room, here's what you need to know about establishing proper mechanical ventilation. 

Why Use Ventilation in Server Rooms?

Virtually all pieces of electronic equipment generate heat when turned on. This includes computers, monitors and so on. Typical electronic devices come with built-in ventilation systems, including fans and blowers, to eject heat as needed. This makes most server rooms naturally warm places. If server rooms are not ventilated, they may become too hot for the electronic devices to operate safely. 

Server room ventilation is multi-faceted. Hot air must have a means of leaving or escaping the room, and cool air must be able to enter. The ventilation system must also have a thermostat to measure the temperature of the room and activate ventilation devices as needed.   

Heat is not the only reason that ventilation is such an important part of any server room. Other reasons these rooms need their own ventilation systems include:

• Dust. Dust that builds up inside electronics can cause them to overheat. Dust can also cause malfunctions in most modern technology. Good ventilation can prevent buildup of dust.
• Humidity. Ideally, relative humidity in a server room will be maintained between 40% and 60%. Good ventilation prevents high humidity from building up inside server rooms, keeping conditions right for servers and other types of electronics.

Equipment for Your Server Room

When designing your server room, it's important to purchase the right equipment. Below are some common types of equipment that businesses use to keep air circulating. 

• Shutter wall mounted exhaust fans. With easy installation and powerful performance, these louvered wall mount fans are typically built-in and hard-wired to the building's electrical system. These fans eject air from the server room and keep air inside flowing. Wall mounted fans are typically available at variable speeds. 
• Utility ventilator fans. Utility ventilator fans can be installed in the wall or ceiling to remove warm, humid air. 
• Motorized impeller wall exhaust fans. Motorized impeller wall exhaust fans are installed in the sub-floor to push conditioned air into the server room.
• Multi-purpose duct inline fans or centrifugal duct inline fans. Once the motorized impeller wall exhaust fans are used to push conditioned air into the room, the hot air must be removed. Inline fans are installed to serve this purpose. 

Best Practices for Installation

Every data center is different. Size, number of servers, location in the building, natural occuring temperature and other factors all come into play when installing your server room ventilation. Work with a data center HVAC installer to ensure that your data center is properly ventilated. Other best practices include:

• Install sensors (multiple thermometers, thermostats, humidistats and hygrometers) to monitor air temperature and humidity in the room.
  
• Install professional-grade ventilation equipment to increase air flow.
• Use filters to clean the air that enters the data center/server room.
• Plan for redundancy; if one fan fails, another one should activate.

Who Needs Server Room Ventilation?

Any business with a large collection of electrical equipment and or servers in one location should anticipate maintaining good clean air conditions and temperature control. IT companies, online merchants, government agencies, universities, laboratories, emergency services organizations, hospitals, server farms and even some homes have server rooms. The size of the room depends on the needs of the organization or entity using the server room. 

Server room ventilation needs vary not by industry, but by size and scope. A large organization is more likely to need a full-scale server room with multiple redundant systems, whereas a homeowner who converts a closet into a server room is more likely to rely on one hand-made system. 

Purchase Your Server Room Ventilation Equipment Today

Industrial Fans Direct is your source for shutter wall mounted exhaust fans, utility ventilator fans, centrifugal duct inline fans and other products. We can answer your questions as you choose products for your server room ventilation system. Contact us today at 866-727-1060 to find out more about purchasing a ventilation fan to meet your needs.