Have Fun With CRAC (Computer Room AC)

HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

Bryan Orr

Training, Careers, Airconditioning, Self-improvement, Hvac, Business, Education, Refrigeration, Heating, Ac, Apprenticeship

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 13 June 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of the HVAC School podcast, Bryan interviews Pat Ward, an HVAC technician who specializes in servicing and maintaining computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units for data centers. They dive deep into the unique challenges and setups involved in cooling these critical facilities.

Pat provides an overview of data centers, explaining that they are essentially industrial-scale computer rooms that generate immense amounts of heat from the servers and need precise environmental controls. CRAC units are specialized air conditioning systems designed to maintain the temperature and humidity within tight parameters suitable for electronic equipment.

Unlike typical comfort cooling, CRAC units supply air around 70°F to avoid excessive dehumidification. Humidity control is crucial, often requiring supplemental humidifiers or dehumidifiers. Pat discusses common configurations like air-cooled direct expansion (DX) units as well as chilled water systems with computer room air handlers (CRAHs). Redundancy is a major consideration, with units networked together to stage capacity and provide backup.

The conversation covers many other topics related to data center cooling such as:

Using economizers and free cooling with outdoor air when conditions allow
Potential issues with mildly flammable refrigerants in these applications
Typical maintenance tasks like coil cleaning, filter changes, and refrigerant checks
Accessing and navigating the control systems which often require passwords
Advice for technicians new to working on CRAC units, like studying the equipment layout
The massive scale of large data center installations with arrays of 20+ CRAC units
Causes of overheating and how to avoid them
Growth opportunities in the CRAC niche of HVAC

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The free education provided by HVAC school is made possible by our great sponsors.
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0:18.9	Refrigeration technologies at Refrigge Tech.com.
0:23.0	June 22nd is National HVAC Technician Appreciation Day.
0:27.0	It's no secret that trades people like us are undervalued in this country.
0:31.0	We also have a big skills gap in the HVACR trades and Copeland is working to fill that
0:36.0	gap with their commitment to trades education. They're staying involved with high schools, trade
0:41.4	schools, and field education and the White Rogers Connect
0:43.9	app and all of its utilities help technicians in the field. Copeland showing its
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0:54.7	navact tools to prepare techs for the A2L transition as well as plenty of great Copeland
1:00.0	swag. Find out more at HVacr School.com slash Copeland-Suipstakes. You're going to want to write this one down
1:07.1	HVacr School.com slash Copland dash sweepstakes. Carrier and carrier.com.
1:14.0	I've been a carrier dealer for many years.
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1:23.7	Find out more by going to carrier.com.
1:26.7	Look, sometimes when you're in need of some dehumidifications or some, what, yeah, some heat or something.
1:41.6	Back in the day, like my old man said,
1:45.0	you can learn something you might have forgot
1:48.0	or let me tell you.
	...

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