Help! Aircon's failing, what would you do?

[Pinball]

I'm a regular user of many years posting undercover.

 

Here's the facts of situation:

 

 

Network Manager is away and I'm covering.

 

We have 2 Aircon's in our main office where a majority of the school servers are. Ironically we had 2 installed for redundancy!

 

There is a fault where they leak gas and eventually stop pumping cold air out gradually and then give-up.

 

The aircon company couldn't find the leak straight away and were illegally topping up the gas to keep them going. They did this twice over several months.

 

Aircon company find leak in both the separate outside fan units. Units are now out of warranty.

 

There is a debate about it being a manufacturers fault as they shouldn't both have a fault this early in their life but that is an issue for another day.

 

In the meantime the aircon company say repair or replace and won't come out to top up with gas as the decision is on the table with us.

 

I speak to the business manager and explain the situation and my thoughts were that the aircon company might come out to top up the gas if we commit to what we're going to do.

 

He says he want to speak to the Network Manager Monday when he comes back and not do anything before then. In the meantime the server room is getting warmer, currently at 29 degrees and we've got to make it through the weekend yet!

 

I've had the thought of informing the head as in my mind any one person can make an error of judgement but really really don't want to undermime him in any way.

 

Or do people think I should muddle through? I'm not sure of the tollerance of servers before they start to shutdown?

[strawberry]

Cover yourself. Make sure there's a paper trail informing people what will happen if the temp goes up and how likely it is too happen.

[Homer]

Make a case of consequence for not taking action and then let the powers that be make the decision from there and make sure there's a trail if you feel there's a sword to be fell on.

 

But you are right the company is breaching f-gas regulations and can be taken to task for it. Your school could also be in trouble for allowing this to happen, and if you have systems on site with enough refrigerant there should be a log book detailing system volumes/leaks/recharges where applicable - this should detail the work that has taken place. Log sheets should also do the same.

 

TBH if the powers that be decide to repair it (which should be possible depending on the fault) I would look to have another company come in to do the work that are accredited installers of the system manufacturer if possible - they then may be able to work better with the manufacturer to get a good result for you

 

Good luck

Edited October 12, 2017 by Homer

[witch]

I would send an email to the senior leadership team highlighting what might happen if the situation is left as it is.

[eyetea]

Can't agree more with the email the consequences. If you're hosting your email on site cc in a personal email or print it off in case they don't sort it and you can't get to it!

[Pinball]

Just to confirm, I have covered myself with an email to the business manager. His answer to me was verbal though.

[Fazza]

Have you checked what temp your servers can cope with? Look up the operating temperature on the specs and see if 29 degrees is within the limit. In the short term, as long as it's within the operating temperatures of the server(s) you should be OK for the weekend. If it's outside of the operating temperature, you might want to look at shutting down some of the servers to reduce the heat over the weekend and then come in early on Monday to power them back up (unless you can do it remotely from home).

 

For example our Dell R720s have an operating temperature range of 10-35 degrees Celsius. They can operate down to 5 degrees Celsius or up to 40 degrees Celsius for a max of 10% of its annual operating hours without it causing any damage etc.

Edited October 12, 2017 by Fazza

[eyetea]

Just to confirm, I have covered myself with an email to the business manager. His answer to me was verbal though.

I'd request confirmation of what they said via email and possibly CC in the HT

[Pinball]

Update, my colleague sent an email to site team and copied the Business manager in asking for more fans to keep the room cooler. It will just push around warm air I know, but this has prompted the Business manager to contact the aircon company to ask if they can do anything in the meantime. So at least, I don't have to take the matter higher now.

[rad]

Temporary Air con unit needed from Hire company.

 

Cost for this is minimal compared to a failed server/switch/downtime

[Pinball]

Company have now replied and offered the temp unit as mentioned above or will top-up and our BM has gone for the top-up.

 

Thanks guys, just didn't think he was taking it seriously enough and now he's had second thoughts and done something.

[Gibbo]

Start turning servers off, that gets action.