APC: Cooling strategies for IT wiring closets and small rooms

The design of data centers and large computer rooms always includes a cooling system.

Yet many IT devices are located in distributed spaces outside of the computer room in closets, branch offices, and other locations that were never designed with provisions for cooling IT equipment.

The power density of IT equipment has increased over time and the result is that distributed IT equipment such as VoIP routers, switches or servers often overheat or fail prematurely due to inadequate cooling.

The typical approach to this problem is to ignore it, deploy equipment, and then respond with corrective action if and when equipment overheats and / or fails.

More and more users are finding this approach unsatisfactory and demand a more proactive approach to ensuring the availability of distributed IT equipment.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the basic principles of cooling small, distributed IT environments and to provide guidance for the effective specification and design of supporting cooling systems.

This APC white paper looks at:
- Suitable operating temperature for wiring closets
- The basic principle of heat removal
- The five methods of cooling closets
- Effect of UPS on closet cooling system
- Attributes of effective fan-assisted ventilation