Dust is a collection of fine particles of matters called airborne. Deep cleaning of dust and airborne in the data centre and server room helps to prevent a variety of problems; from impaired power efficiency to server equipment failure. As modern server circuit boards and computer chips get smaller, dust more easily causes head crashes and contact intermittence.
Computer room and data centre are like living organism, they are capable of responding to excessive dust air pollution. Dust generally consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources such as soil, dust lifted by weather (an aeolian process), volcanic eruptions, and pollution. Various microparticles, heat sources and electrostatic charges lead to disruptions in the data centre, as well as fires and pollution in the server room. Depending on the industry, special requirements to clean indoor air, ie concentration of microparticles used in the production areas should not exceed the prescribed limits. Consequently, there is a division into classes of air cleanliness in accordance with the terms of technological processes, committed in these cleanrooms.
Dust and Airbone in the Data Centres
Zinc and tin whiskers
Whiskers are small metal filaments that grow from electroplated steel floor plates, bars in the ceiling and other metal components. Because tin and zinc are efficient conductors of electricity, these filaments can cause shorts when they break off, circulate in the air and come in contact with circuits.
Electrostatic dust
Hazardous dust, as well as dust and lint particles from clothing, cardboard, paper and other seemingly benign particles, can become static-charged and interfere with servers causing data loss, erroneous commands, resets and other issues.
Why Clean the Data Centre?
What would happen, if there is no regular cleaning in the data centre? As mentioned, the most direct result of contaminant is overheating. Why? Dust and pollutants in the data centre are usually light-weight. If there is air flow, dust or dirt will move with it. The cooling system of the data centre is largely depending on server fan which can bring the dust and dirt into the cooling system. The accumulation of these contaminants can cause fan failure or static discharge inside equipment. The heat dissipation will need more time and heat emission efficiency is limited.
Dust and dirt can also largely affect the lifespan of data centre equipment as well as their operation. Cleaning and uptime usually run hand-in-hand. The uptime of a data centre will be reduced if there are too many contaminants. Cleaning the data centre regularly would be a good deal to reduce data centre downtime and extend the lifespan of data centre infrastructure equipment, comparing the cost of restarting the data centre and repairing or replacement of the equipment.
Data centre cleaning can offer an aesthetic appeal of a clean and dust-free environment. Although it is not the main purpose, a clean data centre can present a more desirable working environment for telecom engineers, especially for those who need to install cable under a raised floor or working overhead racks and cabinet. No one would reject the cleaning data centre.
How does the cleaning prevent downtime in the data centres environment?
Data centres refer to the cleanroom class ISO 8 for cleaning and to maintain the necessary standard, it is necessary to carry out cleaning work on the part of the service level manual. In accordance with the requirements of the ISO cleanliness, class 8 dust in the air in the engine rooms shall not exceed 0.75 mg / m 3 at a particle size of not more than 3 mm. Excessive pollution of microparticles leads to failure of the servers equipment. Dust-laden air passes through the server, leaves chips dust particles, which are the cause of electrical breakdowns that could damage the server hardware. These breakdowns are caused by dust accumulating property of static electricity up to 5000 V. In periodic such clearance servers by vacuum cleaning and purging antistatic equipment reduces the risk of breakdowns. Also, due to air purge restores the natural functioning of the data centre after the construction and repair work, carrying not only pollution but also are the cause of leakage of data centres.
In many server rooms, cable trays contaminated debris since the time of the construction of the data centres. It remains in building material, pieces of packaging equipment, dirt from shoes, outdoor trash are the main sources of pollution server rooms. Regular cleaning of the data centre helps reduce the frequency of repair of engineering equipment and reduces the operating costs for its maintenance.
On the cover of raised floor, data centre permanently accumulates dirt, which appears as a result of operating the data centre, and improper care of the floor tile. Lack of regular cleaning of the surface of the plates reduces the conductivity of antistatic coating several times.
Cleaning, by own unprofessional staff, can lead to costly downtime in server rooms. When you contact a company that specialises in serving the data centre, the only item of expenditure for cleaning will be the charge of cleaning services that includes the rental of equipment and personnel costs. In this case, you do not need to spend money on training own staff, high-tech cleaning equipment, special clothing and detergents.
Specialists cleaning company will determine the level of contamination of the data centre and the list of required services for general cleaning, as well as help to make the rules of service, in which the frequency and scope of work are determined by taking into account the specific features of the data centre and the client’s wishes.
