Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

I am by no means the computer room cooling specialist at the design office but I have been given another computer room cooling survey job to do. When the work was suggested I jumped at the chance to actually put into practice some lessons learnt from my work at Ft McNair by repeating the process, something I haven’t had the chance to do too much of. A good tick for C4.

The job is a survey and cooling design solutions for the communications closets in the ‘big shop’, USACE’s HQ in Washington DC and the reason I was selected is again because I am the cheapest engineer in the office. This has led me to two thoughts. Why is it always the communication closets that we get called in for? And to compare the clients.

Please won’t somebody think of the communication closets!

Both at USACE HQ and Ft McNair (https://htstrial.wordpress.com/2015/11/11/the-blind-leading-the-blind/) the main server rooms are well served with independent cooling systems. However the communication closets, which largely contain switches for VOIP phones and computers as well as some AV equipment, do not have specialist systems if they have cooling at all. My thoughts of why are:

• If communication closets are added retrospectively as part of a small refurbishment dedicated cooling is either not considered or gets deleted to bring a project under budget because it is a discrete, and possibly disproportionally large, cost.
• In new builds or large office fit outs, because the rooms are small and dispersed by their nature, they are just tied into other systems. Again either because it is easy, or cheap unlike dedicated DX or VRF systems.
• Modern equipment has a higher heat density than its predecessors.
• Creeping regulation. It has been recognised for a while that server rooms require security, indeed I wasn’t allowed into one as I am a dirty foreigner. However the security regulations for communications closets has more recently upgraded them noting their risk. Therefore putting a large efficient grille in the door, leaving the door open or even just putting the switches in the main office are no longer acceptable. But asking the ‘so what’ has been a little slower…
• Any other opinions welcome.

Differing clients.

These clients really are chalk and cheese. This was highlighted by a number of the actions of the USACE HQ team.

• They invited stakeholders. Though I didn’t see who would be paying, I got the warm fuzzy feeling that it wouldn’t be an issue. The facility manager and his assistant, who understand the building which is leased, were there as well as the guys who actually worked on the systems in the rooms. And they were all engaged with the effect they wanted to achieve. At Ft McNair we had a quick chat with the FM, were told they wanted portable coolers, and palmed off with a disinterested programmer who roughly knew where the rooms were.
• They were compiling lists of equipment and its heat rejection. This really is the boring part of the job, which I would be doing, so in my eyes they can pretty much do no wrong. Ft McNair did not have equipment lists. Though presumably they would need them for other purposes than just ours.
• I won’t labour the point but they also had as built plans, answered our RFIs on the spot and were able to talk about emergency power and would research more into the availability of capacity.

So what? Well they actually seemed engaged which made the survey straight forward so, rather than measuring rooms and photographing nameplates, we were able to think and talk through wider issues and solutions. The budget is a lot smaller at $3,000, vs $50,000 for Ft McNair, and Mary has spent half of this just by spending a day out of the office. However, it doesn’t appear that access to money is an issue and as I will be doing most of the work it is irrelevant. My conclusion is not that they are doing the legwork for us because they are short of money, but rather that they are engaged with the project and want to get a positive solution.