Would you watercool a server?

[contink]

Just thought I'd ask if anyone has ever tried their hand at watercooling a server system?

[Ric_]

Surely it is just tempting fate... what's wrong with a room full of cold air?

[contink]

Surely it is just tempting fate... what's wrong with a room full of cold air?

 

Knew someone had to ask that question..

 

Well, I was wondering if anyone has gone that route... and as to a room full of cold air, erm where would this room be exactly, especially in a primary school?

[Joedetic]

A cupboard with air con...not a big deal.

 

I personally am not a big fan of water cooling. I know it uses de-ionised water so is non conductive but it just seems inherent with hassle when air con could fix this issue just as well.

[SYNACK]

Water cooling may be to mantanance intensive for a server as you would need to shut it down once a month to change the coolant. Otherwise it would just clog up and overheat when the coolant becomes to thick.

[torledo]

Knew someone had to ask that question..

 

Well, I was wondering if anyone has gone that route... and as to a room full of cold air, erm where would this room be exactly, especially in a primary school?

 

You'd be surprised how relatively inexpensive installing a small wall-mounted A/C unit would cost - in whatever room or large cupboard you use for you're servers.....if you use a cupboard you don't really have the density of servers that needs air cooling, just knock a hole through for exhaust heat to escape. ;-)

 

A/C should be a necessity so the money has to be found by senior mgmt if there are no other adequate methods of cooling.....trust me they all find the money when it becomes a requirement.

[Michael]

Simple answer "no", but as already mentioned, look into AirCon.

[Geoff]

About £1400 for our 5Kw AC in our office. Ironically the server room A/C was actually less, £1200, even though it's a more beefy unit, 7Kw. I guess the cost reflects the labour charges and how easy it was to run ducting.

[gaz350]

anyone seen the water cooled racks? big heat exchanger on the back doors of the rack cooling the air before it goes back into the Server Room. After telling the Architects to keep water pipes away from the server rooms roof i would feel a bit foolish suggesting such things now