Rant: A server room meltdown in Phoenix made me rethink cooling entirely

I was working on a client's server setup in Phoenix last August, temp hit 118 outside. Their AC failed over a weekend, and by Monday three drives were toast and the UPS was screaming. They didn't have any temp monitoring or backup cooling, just fans pointed at the racks. Now I'm torn between pushing for portable AC units or arguing for in-row cooling solutions for smaller budgets. Anyone else had a close call with heat that changed how you spec out cooling for clients?

3 comments

3 Comments

nina_harris3921d ago

A buddy of mine @jessica_miller had a similar thing happen in his office in Tucson. He spent two grand on a fancy portable AC after his first meltdown, and it's been running like a champ for three years with just basic filter cleaning. Sometimes the simple backup plan really is all you need, not the full engineering solution.

jessica_miller22d ago

Phoenix in August is brutal, but a lot of these "meltdowns" come down to people ignoring basic maintenance. Fans pointed at racks is obviously a bad move, but buying fancy in-row cooling for a small office seems like overkill. Most places just need a backup plan like a window unit and a cheap temperature sensor that texts you. I've seen way more problems caused by bad power strips than heat, honestly. Unless they're running a crypto mining rig or something, a portable AC for under a grand usually does the job fine.

jamiekim21d ago

$2000 for a portable AC that's been running three years sounds like a decent deal, but what's the actual cooling capacity on that thing for a server room with a few racks? I've seen those units struggle when you have more than a couple servers spitting out heat, especially when the ambient temp outside hits 115 and the compressor has to work twice as hard. Did your buddy size it for the peak load or just grab whatever was on sale at Home Depot?