We all know what it’s like to take things for granted on a daily basis in the data center. One of the most important items that we tend to forget about (when things are working smoothly) is the temperature in server rooms. All is good when things are nice and cool, but if air conditioners and spot coolers backfire, people get owly, business stops, and money is lost. The facts of data center life are reality in times like this. So where is the best place to turn when you need to cool off? Well, before you rush out into the cold, make sure you have the right tools for the job.

The Predicament
Micky Hunt, manager of support services at Cole Systems Associates (www.colesys.com) knows all too well what can happen when things heat up in the server room. He says conditions could have become “unacceptable” if the HVAC system in Coles Systems’ office failed due to new equipment being added.

According to Hunt, the building’s air conditioning was not providing enough cooling for existing server equipment. He says trying to resolve this problem ultimately caused Cole Systems Associates to purchase Atlas Sales & Rentals’ (510/713-3313; www.atlassales.com) Kwikool 5-ton portable air conditioner. Hunt says the company was also faced with having to shut down the servers until the problem was resolved, if the building’s HVAC system failed. “Of course,” Hunt says, “this was an unacceptable situation.”

Hunt says Cole Systems Associates did some shopping around before they settled on Atlas Sales & Rentals. He explains, “We had several HVAC contractors come in and provide estimates to provide a solution that would provide adequate cooling and a backup solution in case of failure. The contractors all proposed a 5-ton unit installation for primary cooling, while using the existing solution (3-ton) as a backup solution if and when the 5-ton solution failed.” Hunt says the two units combined would provide an 8-ton solution for his computer room. “The problem we faced,” he says, “was that solution costs were too high. The average estimated cost was $40,000. So eventually we started to pursue other solutions, which ultimately brought us to Atlas Sales & Rentals.”

Hunt says he considered a number of options before settling on the right one for his situation. He comments, “In my search for other solutions, I used the Internet to get an idea of what types of solutions were available in the 5-ton cooling range. I discovered that there were several portable units that could provide the cooling requirements we needed.” Hunt says this made sense to him, so he started checking out several air- and water-cooled units and made some phone calls to different providers that offered these types of units.

According to Hunt, he made several calls and had solid responses from three different vendors. He says he chose Atlas Sales & Rentals, ultimately because of the company’s responsiveness and knowledge of the situation he was in (not to mention the company’s knowledge and experience with these types of units). He notes, “We worked with Fred Herbst in the Bergen, N.J., offices. He was very knowledgeable about product information and scheduled an appointment to survey our server room so we could come up with the best solution for our situation. Fred was excellent in providing a recommendation and the preparations necessary prior to installing the unit.”

Implementation Stage
After you nail down the solution you want, you move into the implementation stage. This can sometimes be a headache, especially if you do not consider all the angles in terms of what might or might not happen. But Hunt says because his plan was well laid out, his experience was on the positive side. He says, “Implementation went extremely well for us. We had all the prerequisite installation tasks completed in one week, and the unit was delivered and installed the following week, as scheduled. In our case, all we needed to do was select a location in our server room, install the required electrical outlet, provide a way to drain the water (the unit comes with its own pump; you need to provide only a host and location for the water that is collected), and supply venting to remove the hot air from the server room.”

After the solution is implemented, there’s always that daunting period when you have to wait to see if you made the right decision. In other words, is the solution working as expected? As for Hunt’s situation, he says his Kwikool 5-ton portable air conditioner has been installed for almost a year and has worked extremely well (without a single issue). He adds, “It provides 5 tons of cooling, and the thermostat is conveniently located on the front control panel. The panel is very easy to use and also provides several cooling options.”

No Regrets
In addition to having no issues during the past year, Hunt says he has absolutely no regrets at all. He explains, “The unit has worked as designed and has provided the solution we needed at a total installation cost of $6,500 (vs. the $40,000 cost for a building-provided solution). If and when we need more cooling, we are ready to install a second unit because we know how easy the first installation was for us. For a 5-ton solution, the unit is only half the size of a standard server rack. The unit is also on wheels, which are locked on final positioning. If necessary, the unit can be replaced easily by disconnecting the power, hoses, and ducts, and wheeling in a replacement.”

All in all, Hunt says Atlas Sales & Rentals’ Kwikool 5-ton portable air conditioner has definitely solved the company’s server room heat problem. He concludes, “The server room maintains a temperature of 68 degrees, and we have the portable unit providing primary cooling with the existing building equipment providing a temporary solution if the portable unit should fail. To date, the building unit has failed twice in the last year, and the portable unit provided by Atlas Sales has been running 24/7 with no issues.”

Atlas Sales & Rentals offers a full line of cooling, heating, and dehumidification products. The company’s air-cooled portable air-conditioning systems are a popular choice for end users and industry professionals. The units are popular because they can be installed virtually anywhere, usually in a short time frame. They can also be used for both permanent and temporary cooling. All the Kwikool portable air-conditioning models come with microprocessor digital controls and Easy-Touch control panels. They can also be controlled remotely.

One fact that you can be sure will not go away anytime soon: Heat in your dedicated server rooms will remain an issue, especially with faster processors in smaller servers. But when it comes to securing your data and ensuring business continuity, it is well worth the effort to shop around for the right solution.

by Chris A. MacKinnon

Atlas Sales & Rentals Kwikool 5-ton Portable Air Conditioner

An effective, portable air-cooled spot cooling system for data center server rooms

“The unit has worked as designed and has provided the solution we needed at a total installation cost of $6,500,” says Micky Hunt, manager of support services at Cole Systems Associates (www.colesys.com).

(510) 713-3313
www.atlassales.com