this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2023
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Technology
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I don't understand some things in the water consumption.
Why do they need to humidify the air for the datacenter?
Why is there water consumption for cooling? Aren't they recirculating water used for watercooling? Or are they using f*ing tap water then throwing it out?
Water for electricity production, kinda, yes. Could be indirectly attributed to their water consumption as they are using the electricity produced by the sources using water.
Static electricity. Humidified air dissipates static charges before they can build up enough to arc and cause damage to sensitive components.
I worked in a "datacenter" where the humidifier function for the HVAC unit was turned off because it leaked under the floor into an adjoining office when it was trying to humidify. Management refused to fix the unit due to the cost, and saw no issue with running the room with relative humidity in the teens all winter. Madness.
If we didnt run a dehumidifier the humidity in my house would stay above 80% most of the year. We have a decently large dehumidifier and by itself it cant get it below 45%. But 45% is much better then 80+% so it could be worse
Yes of course but you have humans in the house who exhale H2O all the time. A datacenter doesn't have many of those (per square metre or foot or whatever you measure your datacenters in)
The vast majority of it definitely comes from the area in which I live.
Temperature is the more important factor. Even if the ambient air is at 100% humidity, if it is very cold, the relative humidity after heating it will be very low.
That low? Wow.. Your skin must have got chapped every time you went in there.
Yeah and too much is bad too, because it can condense on coolers. I've been told it's also bad for bearings in HDDs when it's too low.
Of course in a datacenter being low on humidity is a much more likely thing as there is nothing to emit humidity (e.g. humans).