Should the data center have a full glass wall on the front side? TIA 942 standards, heating and cooling
Data center cooling, Data center design, Data Center Layout, Hot Aisle/Cold Aisle, TIA 942, TIA 942 Standard
We are building a Datacenter in a new building, it will be located within the offices of various department. It will be on TIA 942 Standards, the only question which arises is that should the Data center have Full Glass wall on the Front Side? Keeping in mind that the Hot Isle is facing the Glass Side. Will there be any issue with cooling? Because the building will have a HVAC unit and the Data Center will have its standalone CRAC Unit with Raised flooring.
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ASKED:
February 24, 2010 7:22 PM
UPDATED:
March 1, 2010 6:06 AM
Answer Wiki:
Any particular reason why you want/need a glass wall outside of visibiliy pleasing to the eye? I've seen various data centers with a front glass wall where the main entrance door to the DC and they had no issues with the heating and cooling of the rooms. You should review the various glass vendors to confirm they can withstand constant heat.
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Glass walls look fancy but I rarely see them. You have to ask yourself why do we need this and what are the risks and the costs and base your decision on that.
Glass is a very poor insulator and if used must be included in the heat calculations for both the cooling losses to surrounding areas and heat gain to other areas.
Most cases the use of glass is a security risk and the comment on the use of glass in the hot isle is becoming more relevant as modern servers can reach temperatures of 40deg c in the hot isle, this could certainly cause the glass to crack unless the expansion rate is carefully considered.
If the glass wall can’t be removed place a frosting on the non computer side and a false plaster wall on the computer room side. Problem solved.