[Outages-discussion] [outages] Equinix CH1 Overheating

Mon Jan 15 15:07:59 EST 2024

"Reuse the ducting" doesn't work well. The cold air has to be blown to
specific rows for the datacenter to work. Remember hot row, cold row. Racks
of servers make great windbreaks since they're giant blocks, blocking any
blowing air, so the cold air has to come in via the cold row ducting to be
effective. Simply opening the doors and bringing fans in only slightly
reduces the ambient temperatures, but it doesn't get cold air where it
needs to go, as heat simply flows in the direction of least resistance to
fill a void. Plus depending upon the failure within the chiller system the
whole system may shut down to prevent the system from eating itself during
a malfunction. Even though the heat exchanger isn't working, the blower
motors may have a physical disconnect in the event of said event.
Residential HVAC systems have safeties that can disconnect the whole system
in the event condensation drains are clogged, for example.

Datacenters in Greenland have other problems as well, despite being in an
arctic environment for many parts of the year. Snow is actually a fantastic
insulator, so you still need HVAC even when the environment is seriously
cold outside. You need a way to pump cold air in and hot air out.

On Mon, Jan 15, 2024 at 1:38 PM Josh Luthman via Outages-discussion <
outages-discussion at outages.org> wrote:

> Fans?  Reuse the ducting?
>
> On Mon, Jan 15, 2024 at 2:36 PM Sabri Berisha via Outages-discussion <
> outages-discussion at outages.org> wrote:
>
>> [moved to -discussion]
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> At a previous life, I worked at a place where we had similar issue, in
>> wintertime, in an SLC datacenter. I floated that idea as well: open the
>> damned thing up, and let the outside air do it's thing.
>>
>> Our local DC guys told us that this would be a very bad idea as it would
>> be difficult to get uniform air temperature: one area would still be very
>> warm, another area might be too cold (the operating temperature of a lot of
>> gear also has lower limits).
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Sabri
>>
>>
>> ----- On Jan 14, 2024, at 7:44 PM, J. Hellenthal via Outages <
>> outages at outages.org> wrote:
>>
>> Damn tear the fricken roof off!!!
>> Not the whole damn thing you psychos just small redirected sections to
>> push in a wanted direction. If needed active your own equipment first !
>> --
>>  J. Hellenthal
>>
>> The fact that there's a highway to Hell but only a stairway to Heaven
>> says a lot about anticipated traffic volume.
>>
>> On Jan 14, 2024, at 21:21, Ross Tajvar via Outages <outages at outages.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>> They tried that:
>>>
>>> IBX Critical Facility Engineers have deployed all available floor fans,
>>> opened all available doors and have engaged local rental company to source
>>> additional fans and portable spot coolers.
>>>
>>
>> On Sun, Jan 14, 2024 at 10:19 PM Jay Ashworth via Outages <
>> outages at outages.org> wrote:
>>
>>> Open the doors?
>>>
>>>
>>> On January 14, 2024 9:52:24 PM EST, Mike Hammett via Outages <
>>> outages at outages.org> wrote:
>>>
>>>> IBX: CH1
>>>> IBX Address: 350 E Cermak Rd, Chicago, 60616
>>>> Number: INC0025932
>>>> Date and Time of Occurrence: 2024-01-14 08:20:49 Site Local Time
>>>>
>>>> To view the incident and its updates, please use Service Insight.
>>>> New update on Incident INC0025932: Equinix IBX Site Staff reports that
>>>> temperatures have stabilized with an average temperature of 120 F degrees.
>>>> One chiller is now fully operational, and another chiller is online but
>>>> operating at reduced capacity. Equinix IBX Critical Facility Engineers
>>>> continue to work on restoring the required 4-out-of-6 chillers to return
>>>> cooling back to normal operations. Portable chillers are currently enroute
>>>> with an estimated arrival time of 21:00 Site Local Time. Upon arrival, IBX
>>>> Critical Facility Engineers and our vendor partner will work diligently to
>>>> get the portable chillers online as quickly as possible. We will send
>>>> another update once the portable chillers are operational.
>>>>
>>>> If not already implemented, Equinix site staff highly recommends that
>>>> customers power down non-essential loads within the data center and/or
>>>> transfer those operations to backup sites to assist with efforts at
>>>> lowering the temperature within the facility.
>>>>
>>>> The severe weather in the Chicago area, contributing to the initial
>>>> failure, continues to hamper efforts at resolution, but our teams are
>>>> working diligently to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. IBX
>>>> Critical Facility Engineers continue to supply outside air to decrease the
>>>> collocation area's temperature, and all fans have been deployed to support
>>>> cooling the IBX.
>>>> • Service Offering: CH1 - Location - Floor
>>>> • Affected Assets: 05
>>>> • Asset Condition: Temperature above operating range
>>>> • Situation status: Under investigation
>>>>
>>>> The next update will be provided in approximately 30 minutes or earlier
>>>> if available.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----
>>>> Mike Hammett
>>>> Intelligent Computing Solutions <http://www.ics-il.com/>
>>>> <https://www.facebook.com/ICSIL>
>>>> <https://plus.google.com/+IntelligentComputingSolutionsDeKalb>
>>>> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelligent-computing-solutions>
>>>> <https://twitter.com/ICSIL>
>>>> Midwest Internet Exchange <http://www.midwest-ix.com/>
>>>> <https://www.facebook.com/mdwestix>
>>>> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/midwest-internet-exchange>
>>>> <https://twitter.com/mdwestix>
>>>> The Brothers WISP <http://www.thebrotherswisp.com/>
>>>> <https://www.facebook.com/thebrotherswisp>
>>>> <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXSdfxQv7SpoRQYNyLwntZg>
>>>> ------------------------------
>>>> *From: *"Mike Hammett via Outages" <outages at outages.org>
>>>> *To: *"outages" <outages at outages.org>
>>>> *Sent: *Sunday, January 14, 2024 2:04:51 PM
>>>> *Subject: *[outages] Equinix CH1 Overheating
>>>>
>>>> Equinix CH1 is overheating due to some chiller failures. The vendor is
>>>> on-site troubleshooting. Ambient temperature is currently 28 degrees higher
>>>> than normal.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----
>>>> Mike Hammett
>>>> Intelligent Computing Solutions <http://www.ics-il.com/>
>>>> <https://www.facebook.com/ICSIL>
>>>> <https://plus.google.com/+IntelligentComputingSolutionsDeKalb>
>>>> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/intelligent-computing-solutions>
>>>> <https://twitter.com/ICSIL>
>>>> Midwest Internet Exchange <http://www.midwest-ix.com/>
>>>> <https://www.facebook.com/mdwestix>
>>>> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/midwest-internet-exchange>
>>>> <https://twitter.com/mdwestix>
>>>> The Brothers WISP <http://www.thebrotherswisp.com/>
>>>> <https://www.facebook.com/thebrotherswisp>
>>>> <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXSdfxQv7SpoRQYNyLwntZg>
>>>>
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>>>> --
>>> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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