Time to prepare data centre chillers for cool weather corrosion!
Author: Isha Jain
The approach of fall and winter means cooler temperatures are on their way. For data centres in northern climates, that also means some chiller systems used to cool excess server heat can be turned off to save energy. Cortec has encouraged maintenance personnel to follow seasonal layup best practices in order not to let corrosion costs swallow up those energy savings.
Corrosion problems during chiller shutdown
Seasonal shutdown of data centre chillers makes them vulnerable to internal corrosion for two key reasons. Firstly, the normal water treatment chemicals are no longer running through the system. Secondly, the empty system may have residual moisture that incites corrosion throughout the pipes and bundles. Resulting corrosion problems may not show up until later, such as when the chiller system is turned back on and corrosion products plug the system or leaks appear. Even if higher Iron content in the water is the only sign that corrosion has occurred, the underlying metal loss can eventually lead to shortened service life for the chiller.
Seasonal layup made easy
The Cooling Tower Frog is an excellent low-labour method of slowing down or even eliminating offline corrosion. All that is needed is to place these water-soluble pouches in the chiller’s drained water box, slit open the water-soluble packaging, and shut all chiller openings. During the layup period, Vapor phase corrosion inhibitors will diffuse out of the Cooling Tower Frog and form a protective molecular layer on metal surfaces inside the chiller. At start-up, the chiller can simply be filled and started as normal without removing the Cooling Tower Frog, which will simply dissolve in the makeup water.
Offset corrosion and energy costs
Cooler winter temperatures offer a great break to data centres facing high energy costs from chillers. To make the most of those energy savings, data centre managers should also do their best to offset potential corrosion problems and costs simply by taking advantage of the Cooling Tower Frog. Contact Cortec to learn more about this easy seasonal chiller layup solution.
