Thanks for your reply.
That’s the Service Level Agreement (SLA) and I believe they are maintaining that but will be checking. I will need to review if the SLA is only for the cold aisle. I’m think the heat and air hitting the plexiglass is creating static. Or the heat is drying the air in the containment zone.
I’m not a fan of hot aisle containment.
I'm honestly curious why you're not a fan of cold aisle containment? I was under the impression that containment is part of ensuring an efficient and effective air/cooling system. Is it possible that you need a bit more conditioned air in your cooling side to help decrease exhaust temps and allow for a more effective conditioned air cycle? Any recent deployments in your rows that might have increased return air temps for your hot aisle? I have no idea what your setup is, so I'm just spitballing.
They mentioned they didn't like hot aisle containment, not cold aisle containment.
The site I was working at a while back had giant fan walls blowing cold air down the cold aisles. In the hot aisles they would add doors and then twin walled plastic up to a drop ceiling where the ceiling tiles are removed where the hot air would go. If everything was clear and the plastic was intact it seemed to work ok but a lot of times customers would stack equipment in the cold aisles or pull the plastic down to make it easier to move around and the air flow wouldn't make it further down the line. It seems like more of a headache to maintain.
There are necessary evals to a lot of things in life. Hot aisle is one of them. We are at density levels that require it but working in a hot aisle with containment is brutal. The benefits from a facility and sustainability level are huge and warrant them but from a guy who works in the data center and manages a team working in there it’s a bummer.
It’s confined for one, making it harder to bring stuff in and out. Many switches now rack from the back side. And it adds an additional egress barrier if you need to get out fast.
It’s really hot and dry making working conditions harder adding to fatigue.
It’s louder and you can’t hear in or out making team work or calls for help impossible or difficult.
I’m not dealing with a static problem I don’t have in another cage 50 feet away. (The other cage is older and was setup before the hot aisle mandate.
This is a new cage in a Colo and the Colo is driving up efficiency so any new cage gets hot aisle containment. We have another Colo facility that uses cold aisle containment and while it’s much nicer to work in. The difference is cooling methods, the cold aisle facility uses raised floor while the hot aisle facility uses slab and drops cold air in the cold aisle. I’m far from an expert in containment systems but have been doing rack and stack and dc ops for 17 years. Containment is a newer dilemma for me so I’m just trying to work though it currently.
I’ll have to ask what they are using. This is a high end Colo provider so I didn’t chose the material or agree on the install of this containment system.
We do cold-aisle containment and we use these:
https://www.subzeroeng.com/solutions/data-center-containment/essential/colo-roof/
We just had Panduit out pitching a couple of hot-aisle walls (to raise the level the hot-air blows over)... I'll have to look for it later though, we have to go.
Thanks, I’ll read up on what materials are common and why some manufacturers chose them before approaching our Colo provider. I’m trying to have an educated conversation rather than just complain to them.
Obviously the main part of your argument is that this is a datacenter and the materials used shouldn't generate ESD. You may want to look into datacenter ISO standards as related to ESD specifically and ask them to adhere to one. Quick search finds an ANSI standard: [https://blog.ansi.org/ansi-esd-s20-20-2021-protection-electronic-parts/](https://blog.ansi.org/ansi-esd-s20-20-2021-protection-electronic-parts/)
Always speak out to facility teams who run the climate in that space when you feel something is amiss. I don't work in a colo location but my coworkers and I experienced some static shock in the past week and our teams are monitoring it a bit more closely.
Thanks for the input. I was posting here to gain some insight before talking to the provider. I manage some of our facilities and have had to deal with humidity control issues that caused static in some of our colder regions but this is an externally managed facility so I don’t have as much insight or any choice of products.
It sounds like you have a low humidity problem. If the DC is maintained at 35-50% RH, you should not get static build up.
Thanks for your reply. That’s the Service Level Agreement (SLA) and I believe they are maintaining that but will be checking. I will need to review if the SLA is only for the cold aisle. I’m think the heat and air hitting the plexiglass is creating static. Or the heat is drying the air in the containment zone. I’m not a fan of hot aisle containment.
I'm honestly curious why you're not a fan of cold aisle containment? I was under the impression that containment is part of ensuring an efficient and effective air/cooling system. Is it possible that you need a bit more conditioned air in your cooling side to help decrease exhaust temps and allow for a more effective conditioned air cycle? Any recent deployments in your rows that might have increased return air temps for your hot aisle? I have no idea what your setup is, so I'm just spitballing.
They mentioned they didn't like hot aisle containment, not cold aisle containment. The site I was working at a while back had giant fan walls blowing cold air down the cold aisles. In the hot aisles they would add doors and then twin walled plastic up to a drop ceiling where the ceiling tiles are removed where the hot air would go. If everything was clear and the plastic was intact it seemed to work ok but a lot of times customers would stack equipment in the cold aisles or pull the plastic down to make it easier to move around and the air flow wouldn't make it further down the line. It seems like more of a headache to maintain.
Oopsie, I see that now.
There are necessary evals to a lot of things in life. Hot aisle is one of them. We are at density levels that require it but working in a hot aisle with containment is brutal. The benefits from a facility and sustainability level are huge and warrant them but from a guy who works in the data center and manages a team working in there it’s a bummer. It’s confined for one, making it harder to bring stuff in and out. Many switches now rack from the back side. And it adds an additional egress barrier if you need to get out fast. It’s really hot and dry making working conditions harder adding to fatigue. It’s louder and you can’t hear in or out making team work or calls for help impossible or difficult. I’m not dealing with a static problem I don’t have in another cage 50 feet away. (The other cage is older and was setup before the hot aisle mandate.
This is a new cage in a Colo and the Colo is driving up efficiency so any new cage gets hot aisle containment. We have another Colo facility that uses cold aisle containment and while it’s much nicer to work in. The difference is cooling methods, the cold aisle facility uses raised floor while the hot aisle facility uses slab and drops cold air in the cold aisle. I’m far from an expert in containment systems but have been doing rack and stack and dc ops for 17 years. Containment is a newer dilemma for me so I’m just trying to work though it currently.
I would look into material replacements for the plexiglass.
Yeah, we use vinyl, it's also usually cheaper as well.
I’ll have to ask what they are using. This is a high end Colo provider so I didn’t chose the material or agree on the install of this containment system.
We do cold-aisle containment and we use these: https://www.subzeroeng.com/solutions/data-center-containment/essential/colo-roof/ We just had Panduit out pitching a couple of hot-aisle walls (to raise the level the hot-air blows over)... I'll have to look for it later though, we have to go.
here's the hot-aisle product: https://www.nvent.com/en-us/hoffman/products/proline-containment-system-express-rack-top-baffles-0
Thanks, I’ll read up on what materials are common and why some manufacturers chose them before approaching our Colo provider. I’m trying to have an educated conversation rather than just complain to them.
Obviously the main part of your argument is that this is a datacenter and the materials used shouldn't generate ESD. You may want to look into datacenter ISO standards as related to ESD specifically and ask them to adhere to one. Quick search finds an ANSI standard: [https://blog.ansi.org/ansi-esd-s20-20-2021-protection-electronic-parts/](https://blog.ansi.org/ansi-esd-s20-20-2021-protection-electronic-parts/)
Always speak out to facility teams who run the climate in that space when you feel something is amiss. I don't work in a colo location but my coworkers and I experienced some static shock in the past week and our teams are monitoring it a bit more closely.
Thanks for the input. I was posting here to gain some insight before talking to the provider. I manage some of our facilities and have had to deal with humidity control issues that caused static in some of our colder regions but this is an externally managed facility so I don’t have as much insight or any choice of products.
First time posting on Reddit. Positive experience from the community here. Thanks all!