How to Manage Data Center Cooling During a Power Outage

From the viewpoint of a data center facility manager, one of the most complex problems they might face is to manage his facility’s cooling level during a power outage. It is very unconventional to connect your cooling system to UPS power because it drains out all the power from your UPS. And things can get complicated when the utility power supply cannot be restored before the UPS runs out of charge, or the backup generators do not fire up to capacity before the UPS drains completely.

So, what do you do under such a situation? You simply cannot afford to turn off the cooling system because the excessive heat will damage the entire facility. Here are some techniques to manage data center cooling during a power outage:

Plan for higher cooling capacity than the actual load: Maintaining the right balance of cooling capacity based on the load that is handled by the data center is critical for lowering your energy cost. But in reality, it may make sense to plan for extra cooling capacity. During a power failure, the reserve capacity can hold off your data center’s excessive heat long enough before auxiliary power kicks in, or the power comes back on.

Use technology to boost your cooling systems: From ensuring that your coolers have shorter restart times to using additional low-pressure chill storage tanks made of plastic (if you use chilled water cooling systems), employ innovation in technology to cool your data center.

Lower the temperature: The average temperature range in a data center is between 68-72 degrees Fahrenheit. Experts recommend that you can even nudge the limit close to 80 degrees and are challenging the belief that cooler is better. By improved monitoring and airflow management, data centers can rely less on coolers (that use electricity to cool things down) and manage power outages more efficiently.

When critical business models depend on such complex infrastructure components, it is wiser to outsource your data center operations to a reliable partner like Lifeline Data Centers where our in-house experts deliver the highest services levels on electrical, HVAC, security, governance, risk management and compliance.. Visit our website to learn more.

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.