Itwerx has looked after server rooms for businesses across Seattle, Bellevue and Snohomish County since 2005. This is about getting one through a hot spell intact without a datacenter budget behind it.
Why one AC unit is not enough
Summer is the highest-risk season for HVAC failure, and most small and mid-sized businesses do not have the cooling budget or the redundancy of a real datacenter. If a location has a server room, wiring closet or similar enclosed space that needs cooling, a single AC unit is not an adequate plan. If that unit fails in the middle of the night, an enclosed room can heat up to the point of equipment failure in as little as ten minutes.
The fix: two units, each sized for the full load
Two AC units, each individually capable of handling the entire cooling load on its own, solve the problem in two ways at once. They tend to last longer than a single unit run continuously, because the load alternates or shares between them, and if one does fail it is an inconvenience to schedule a repair around rather than a middle-of-the-night emergency and a room full of overheating equipment.
For retrofitting an existing space, split units are usually the easiest option to install without major construction. Reliable brands in that category include Mitsubishi Electric, LG Electronics, Daikin Comfort and Fujitsu, though the specific brand matters less than making sure the room has two independent units, each rated for the full load, rather than one unit and a hope.
It is a small line item compared to the cost of a server room that cooked itself over a hot weekend while nobody was watching.
Itwerx Corp is a service-disabled veteran-owned small business providing IT services across Seattle, Bellevue, Everett and Snohomish County. This is the kind of thing our hardware lifecycle work deals with – talk to us about yours.
