Data Centre - Heat Swimming Pool

[Aldmi]

Wondered if anyone had seen this:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-64939558

 

Our Head has asked me to contact them and look at applying for one

 

Does anyone know much about it?

 

My first thought was if its getting that hot its going to be using a lot of data and will absolutely hammer our network. A lot of our switches are way best the recommend life cycle so big concern it would cause an outage

[robintech]

be slightly worried if refund of electricity costs is at a later date and the company folds

 

Edit: The website says they pay it upfront https://deepgreen.energy/heat

"We pay for all the electricity our boilers use - upfront - based on your existing /kwh charge."We pay for all the electricity our boilers use - upfront - based on your existing /kwh charge.

Edited March 16, 2023 by ittech2342323

[3s-gtech]

I *think* the design is a lot more standalone from your current infrastructure than you’d think - these are a datacentre in a box rather than a server rack. That also means that installation isn’t just plugging in a box! The connection to a network could well require orders of magnitude better than what you have, and it’s not just sticking it on a VLAN.

 

It does make a lot of sense in heat terms though - all heat coming from a computer is waste so why not use it? I wonder if they’d work in warm-air heating applications too?

[Davit2005]

Isn't it possible to submerge a motherboard in a fish tank of oil, obviously the right oil :-)

 

I'd even be tempted to pump the hot air out of the cupboard at home where I have a switch, NAS and various other IT equipment (if I could) , certainly in the last summer the temp in the cupboard was up to 36 degrees, during recent cold spell it was as low as 19 degrees.

 

It needs to be considered though, i.e. humidity etc. not that it is a major concern for my setup.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Davit2005

[6Foot2]

Link: Only good news in this thread [News that makes you smile/feel happy] - Page 9

[bald_pig]

Isn't it possible to submerge a motherboard in a fish tank of oil, obviously the right oil :-)

Mineral oil PCs used to be a niche high-end thing, but completely possible.

I'd even be tempted to pump the hot air out of the cupboard at home where I have a switch, NAS and various other IT equipment (if I could) , certainly in the last summer the temp in the cupboard was up to 36 degrees, during recent cold spell it was as low as 19 degrees.

 

It needs to be considered though, i.e. humidity etc. not that it is a major concern for my setup.

Colleague did this with his bitcoin miners in the good old days, garage full of miners with the heat being vented into the house in winter!

[enjay]

My first thought was if its getting that hot its going to be using a lot of data and will absolutely hammer our network. A lot of our switches are way best the recommend life cycle so big concern it would cause an outage

 

I suspect standard school infrastructure isn't up to the spec they'd want for their data centre (thinking back to my time working for an ISP and what our "server" room looked like!), but the electricity saving could easily fund a Cisco switch, a redundant fibre line, big UPS, etc. so it is worth seeing what they'd want. They want their datacentres housing somewhere, and supporting a school is good for the brand image, so they might even be up for helping you with the pre-reqs.

[Bumhug360]

Linus did the same thing with the pool in his house