Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

Overview

IBM Greenford is a large tier 3 data centre, so it has a considerable amount of M&E equipment to keep the data centre running 24 hours a day and additional parts to increase the system redundancy in N+1 configuration.  IBM has their own on site facilities management (FM) team, Kirby are the subcontractor doing the construction and Atkins provide the specialist electrical support.

I have recently visited site for a meeting regarding an issue with the new pumps being installed and to familiarise myself with the installation of the Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) system in the new purpose built building.

Pumps

The IBM site has an open loop industrial chiller system so the pumps supply water from an open aired tank to the chiller units. The old pumps are Worthing Simpson which are no longer available and are therefore being replaced by high efficiency Grundfos pumps.

The issue is the new pump kept going out of service and the FM team believe the pump is experiencing cavitation. The main cause of the problem is unknown; the meeting was exploring the potential causes and solutions with the contractor and an engineer from Grundfos via skype. Due to the issue with the pump, IBM want the pumps to be individually tested to confirm the performance matches the specification prior to installation and commission as soon as possible.

UPS

The new UPS system is being installed in a new building that has been built adjacent to the current East UPS system. Once the UPS system has been installed, each part will be individually tested before the system can be commissioned. A series of commissioning documents are currently being written by the construction team and will be reviewed by Atkins.

Below are some photos of the current battery rack and UPS control panels:-