Keeping The Humidity Out Of The Basement Linux Server Room

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Keeping The Humidity Out Of The Basement Linux Server Room

Since writing about turning a basement into a large Linux server room, The New Linux Performance Test Lab Is Already Being Expanded, and the most recent follow-up that detailed adding extra ventilation to the basement server room that has 50~60 systems running benchmarks constantly, many have been asking about dehumidification for this server room...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Room-Dehumidifier

[schmidtbag]

Not sure if this is a good idea, but maybe you could have it dump into a flower pot, and never have to water whatever plant you have in there. I but guess with this being a basement full of computers, the water and light quality probably isn't healthy enough for most plants.

Anyway, I hope you have a 2nd one of these, for a backup. It obviously doesn't need to be plugged in - you could probably safely go a few days, or even weeks without a dehumidifier. Basically just for worst-case scenario.

[Michael]

Not sure if this is a good idea, but maybe you could have it dump into a flower pot, and never have to water whatever plant you have in there. I but guess with this being a basement full of computers, the water and light quality probably isn't healthy enough for most plants.

Anyway, I hope you have a 2nd one of these, for a backup. It obviously doesn't need to be plugged in - you could probably safely go a few days, or even weeks without a dehumidifier. Basically just for worst-case scenario.

Given that it dumps up to 70 pints per day, would probably drown most plants. And yeah, the lack of much natural light down there probably would kill off most plants.

If this one were to fail, I can Amazon order a new one and get it in 1~2 days

[sireangelus]

i don't get it- how do computers rise the humidity of a place?

[ossuser]

i don't get it- how do computers rise the humidity of a place?

They don't, but lowering temperature does.

[Veto]

They don't, but lowering temperature does.

But the servers raise the temperature?! If the room is air conditioned the air conditioner should dehumidify as well. A dehumidifier is really just an inefficient (short-circuited) air conditioner.

I don't get it either. Maybe it is an american "electricity is cheap" problem

[torsionbar28]

But the servers raise the temperature?! If the room is air conditioned the air conditioner should dehumidify as well. A dehumidifier is really just an inefficient (short-circuited) air conditioner.

I don't get it either. Maybe it is an american "electricity is cheap" problem

Yeah I also don't understand the problem. Humid air provides more effective cooling than dry air. And humid air will not condense on any heat sources i.e. computers. But since the place will have to be heavily air-conditioned anyways, there shouldn't be much humidity to begin with.

The other concern with dry air is static electricity. The massive chillers we have in the data center at work, also act as humidifiers, to help maintain a minimum humidity level as protection against static.

[Kemosabe]

Yeah I also don't understand the problem. Humid air provides more effective cooling than dry air. And humid air will not condense on any heat sources i.e. computers. But since the place will have to be heavily air-conditioned anyways, there shouldn't be much humidity to begin with.

The other concern with dry air is static electricity. The massive chillers we have in the data center at work, also act as humidifiers, to help maintain a minimum humidity level as protection against static.

Don't mean to offend anyone but sounds like nonsense to me, too.
There is no laundry dryer next to the Penguins and the basement has living room quality...

[ossuser]

Don't mean to offend anyone but sounds like nonsense to me, too.
There is no laundry dryer next to the Penguins and the basement has living room quality...

It is not nonsense, and keeping humidity low is a valid concern for Michael.

Outside air wants to be everywhere, so also in Michaels basement.

It's about absolute humidity, as in the number of water particles in a m3 of air.
(some calculate with number of water particles in a kg of air, which gets airpressure into the formula).

In winter absolute humidity of outside air is low, and air will be dry.
Example:
* outside temp 5 degC, rel hum 80% -> abs hum of the air is 5.5 g/m3
* inside heated livingroom temp 21 degC, -> rel hum of this air will be around 30%
* Michaels basement (for instance 18 degC) -> rel hum of the air will be around 35%

In summer absolute humidity of outside air is high, and the cooled basement would be wet.
Example:
* outside temp 27 degC, rel hum 70% -> abs hum is 18.2 g/m3
* Michaels basement temp 18 degC -> rel hum would be above 100% (which means condensation)

So in summer you will want to dehumidify the basement to an acceptable level.

Also, a dry environment needs to be as dust-free as possible.
Static electricity is only a concern if you have the wrong floor/carpet material and if air is too dry.

Formula used (RELHUM in %, TEMP in degrees Celsius):

ABSHUM g/m3 = 2,2*(RELHUM*(6,112*EXP((17,62*TEMP)/(TEMP+243,12))))/(TEMP+273,15)

[Michael]

At least for basements in the US/Midwest, there tends to be a build-up of humidity. Even without the servers, many tend to run dehumidifiers in their basement to prevent mold, etc. So far with this server room in the basement, I've seen higher than normal humidity percentages thus got this dehumidifier.