There are right ways and wrong ways to handle your data center’s cooling system, and knowing the difference is critical. Mishandling your cooling system doesn’t just cost you money; it also harms the environment and risks destroying IT assets. But by investing in smart data cooling systems such as liquid immersion, your data center will be much easier to manage.

Mishandling often occurs due to lack of awareness of the latest available technology. Older cooling technologies are exceedingly inefficient, but your data center manager may not know advanced cooling technology exists or that it’s easy to convert your old system to a new one. Knowledge can go a long way in steering data centers toward more responsible cooling.

Let’s look at the true costs of mishandling your data center cooling and explore how a liquid immersion cooling system will save you money and resources.

Data Center Cooling Done Wrong

Data center cooling can be quite complex, and there is a wide range of ways to handle this critical process. New methods have been developed over the decades in response to the growing need to dissipate server heat. Typically, each generation of cooling systems is more efficient than the last.

If you’re using an outdated cooling system, you’re running an inefficient technology that wastes electricity and money, burns through natural resources, and exposes IT equipment to hot spots and overheating. In fact, most data center inefficiency is caused by old cooling systems.

A prime example of data center cooling done wrong is attempting to run high-density computation in a conventional air-cooled environment. The denser installation of processors emits more heat than an air conditioner can handle. This is asking for trouble. Servers will eventually overheat, electronics could melt, and you may have to shut down your entire data center.

It doesn’t take a serious mistake for data center cooling to turn dangerous, but mistakes can worsen the situation. For instance, air cooling requires complex air flow calculations and containment strategies. If these are incorrect, you’ll have problems with overheating.

Bad Cooling Costs You and the Environment

Aside from the IT equipment, cooling systems rank among the biggest resource drains in a data center. Air cooling may be a legacy system, but its need for refrigeration and a large power infrastructure make it more costly and complex.

The electricity you buy to power the cooling system is an additional expense and emits carbon into the atmosphere. Burning electricity to run a poorly configured cooling system runs up operational expenses and adversely affects the environment. In fact, some large data centers use more environmental resources than entire countries. As much as half of the electricity used in data centers powers inefficient air cooling systems.

Endangers Your Assets

One of the more insidious problems with mishandling your data center’s cooling system is that you expose expensive IT assets to possible damage. For example, outdated cooling produces uneven temperatures. Even if you set the data center to have a cool enough average temperature, some areas will exceed that.

Suppose you have a rack in a location that happens to get warmer than average. Processors may slow down or a fan may fail, and you could end up disabling thousands of dollars’ worth of IT equipment. Even worse, you may lose sensitive customer data, all because of a poor cooling solution.

Even when the damage is minor, overheating and uneven heating result in wear and tear on servers, cooling equipment, and electrical infrastructure. Humidity extremes are also a risk. As a result, you’ll have to spend more on maintenance and repairs.

Avoid these risks altogether by investing in an efficient cooling system like Green Revolution Cooling’s (GRC) liquid immersion technology. The entire cooling volume maintains a stable temperature with a range of only two degrees, and the immersion coolant protects IT equipment against humidity.

Results in Costly Overcooling

In an attempt to prevent hot spots, you may be tempted to cool the data center below what’s strictly necessary. Many data centers do this, which adds costs of its own. For one thing, this burns through more economic and environmental resources—you overuse resources to accommodate poor cooling.

You’ll also make the room unpleasantly cold for IT staff who work there. Plus, running air conditioners too hard produces unsafe noise levels and strains the electrical infrastructure. This is not a sustainable solution and should be seen as a warning that it’s time to look for a better cooling system.

By contrast, liquid immersion cooling from GRC protects your servers against hot spots without the need to overcool. The tanks effortlessly dissipate heat from even the highest-density racks. In addition, the cooling ability of liquid is more than a thousand times more powerful, making it the most sustainable approach.

Liquid Immersion Cooling Is the Right Way

Liquid immersion cooling is like jumping in the water on a hot day —this is how data center cooling is supposed to work. It efficiently handles any amount of server heat and reduces financial costs, environmental problems, and server damage.

No more costly overcooling in a failed attempt to compensate for uneven air cooling. Sidestep the unnecessary electrical infrastructure, raised floors, and other complications stemming from outdated air cooling. Instead, experience the silent compact grace of liquid immersion cooling as you operate a clean and efficient facility.

Control Cooling Costs with GRC

You’ve seen how mishandling your data center’s cooling system can cost money, harm the environment, and damage expensive IT equipment. You’ve also seen how efficient liquid immersion is the right way to cool a data center.

Now’s the time to upgrade to a system from GRC. Whether you’re building a new data center or retrofitting an existing facility, consider the massive savings available by using responsible clean cooling. It’s the smart way to address the direct and hidden costs of poorly done data center cooling.

GRC’s liquid immersion cooling is easy for technicians to use. And as the leading green cooling solution, it’s proven to reduce your total costs. Contact GRC now to learn how to make your data center more profitable and sustainable.