Dust is fine particles of matter which harms health and function of the electronic equipment and can cause downtime. Studies have shown that around 75% of Data Centre & Server room hardware failure due to inadequate cleaning of dust and other contamination. 80% of dust and dirt entering your comms room or server critical area does so on feet. A professional data centre cleaning service can help to control dust in your server room and comms room which may increase the lifespan of your hardware and can help to prevent hazard in your critical environment.
Common Contaminants in Data Centre & Server Room
Ferrous metal particles
Ferrous metal particles come from printers, tape drives, worn parts in HVAC units new floor tiles, conduit pipes and various mechanical parts. Because these metal particles are conductive, they can cause electrical damage to circuits boards, resulting in downtime.
Concrete dust
Unsealed concrete releases fine dust into the air that consists of calcium, silica and other by-products that are abrasive and corrosive. Even when concrete is sealed, these seals can break down over time and should be inspected regularly.
Corrosive gases
Gaseous contaminants such as sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogen dioxide, chlorine, ozone and others cause copper and silver corrosion. Over time, these contaminants cause corrosion of delicate metal parts and wiring in modern circuit boards and chips.
Zinc and tin whiskers
Yes, 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.
Chlorides/salts
Anyone who has been to the beach knows how quickly the salty air can cause corrosion on vehicles and other metal objects. Data centrss and server rooms that are located in coastal areas must be careful of airborne salinity levels.
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.
Data Centre Cleaning ISO 14644 Standard
A cleanroom or clean room is an environment, typically used in manufacturing, including of pharmaceutical products or scientific research, as well as aerospace semiconductor engineering applications with a low level of environmental pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, aerosol particles, and chemical vapors. More accurately, a cleanroom has a controlled level of contamination that is specified by the number of particles per cubic meter at a specified particle size. To give perspective, the ambient air outside in a typical urban environment contains 35,000,000 particles per cubic meter in the size range 0.5 μm and larger in diameter, corresponding to an ISO 9 cleanroom, while an ISO 1 cleanroom allows no particles in that size range and only 12 particles per cubic meter of 0.3 μm and smaller.
Traditional Approach
Traditionally, data centre operator uses “Sticky mats”, which uses adhesive or glue, at the entrance of their equipment room to “prevent” dirt on staff’s shoe from entering the comms room or server room.
