Cooling Server Rack with Water? Sensible? Reuse energy for small installation?
- by TomTom
First - this is not a shopping question, this is not so much about concrete prices but about general feasibility. Makes no sense to get looking fo ra manufacturer it the approach is bad.
I am moving my company to new Offices in September, and among them we will expand and consolidate our number crunch cluster. It is so far in a data center. I have a nice room in the basement prepared now.
I think about cooling. We will likely run up a power usage of around 10kw by end of the year. That is a LOT of stuff, and cooling will be expensive. I am located in south Poland, close to the German border. This is an area where water is available for relatively cheap price - "wasting water" is not a concern here. My situation is thus a lot different for example than in Spain ;)
Physics tells me that to heat 1 liter of water by 1 degree I use 1 Calorie (1KCal), and a kwh power is (and we can assume 100% efficiency - water heaters are pretty efficient) 750 Calories. That means that 1 KWH is 750 liter by 1 degree. 10kw and a 20 degree heat would mean that per hour I need 375 liters. That is 6.25 liters per minute and not WHAT much ;) We talk 270 cubic meters here. Even in summer, the significant underground pipes really cool down the water a LOT more ;)
Question: This such an approach feasible? Anyone done that? We talk of a 10kw installation for now. Is it feasible to reuse that heat? The alternative is a decent cooling system that WILL use around 2.5kwh for running. Dropping the water would basically (a) get me a quite cold input compared to the outside air even in summer (I.e. a lower temperature medium to drop the heat in) and (b) replace the need to actually have the outside cooling (which may b problematic - if the air is 22 degree, that is a LOT to fight off, but OTOH the water will be quite cold). I also would possibly save the investment for the outside part of the cooling circuit.
Now, second question - is there a feasible way to heat a house with that? ;) After all, brutally speaking, it is a LOT of energy in that water ;)
If it is a bad idea, I stop here - if it is not, I start looking for suppliers. Maybe my math is wrong?
