What is the difference between spot coolers, portable air conditioners (“portables”) and mini-split or ductless air conditioners?

Air-cooled spot cooling units, spot coolers and portable air conditioners are the same.  These units appeared on the market in the early 1980’s to provide cooling for factory workers, hospitals, data rooms, high rise buildings and anywhere extra cooling is needed.  Portables are practical, self-contained units on wheels for cooling a spot, room or area where IT equipment, people or other assets need cooling or humidity removal.  Portables are available in many capacities and voltages from about 1 Ton to about 10 Tons.  If it is impossible or impracticable to exhaust the hot air created by the a/c unit to the outdoors, portables typically include a duct kit for directing the warm air into the ceiling space in a commercial building.  These units are unsuitable for residential applications.

If larger units are needed for the job, exterior units are required because doors create capacity limitations.

A “mini split air conditioner” is a ductless split unit.  The evaporator section (indoor unit) and condenser (outdoor unit) are separated, or split.   The indoor section mounts on the wall and cools just one area.   Ductless units are permanently mounted and lack portability.

What is the difference between a residential and commercial portable air conditioner ?

These units are unsuitable and will not work for commercial buildings.  A residential portable air conditioner has plastic housing, small condensate tanks, or they evaporate the condensation on the unit’s hot coils, exhausting it into the warm air discharge duct.  A window to exhaust the warm air created by the air conditioner is required to create actual air conditioning because air conditioners create more hot air than they do cold air.  Because electrical amperage is limited in residences, the residential portable units are typically available in no more than 12,000 BTU’s (1 Ton of cooling capacity).  The commercial wheeled portable air conditioners will have larger condensate tanks than residential units, in addition the commercial units tend to have sturdier sheet metal cabinets or housings.

What is the difference between spot coolers, portable air conditioners (“portables”) and evaporative coolers (swamp coolers)? Unlike air condoners, evaporative coolers contribute moisture to the environment because there is no compressor with circulating cold refrigerant to dehumidify.  Evaporative cooling is used in dry cleaners, restaurant kitchens and shops where high moisture and low operating costs are acceptable.  Air conditioners remove moisture from the environment, dry the air and improve the quality of the environment.

What features should I look for when selecting a spot cooler or portable air conditioner?

Construction – Not all portables air conditioners and spot coolers are built the same.   Sheet metal cabinets are better than plastic cabinets.  All residential units are housed in plastic cabinets and some of the inferior quality commercial units have plastic cabinets.  Superior commercial grade units are made of sheet metal and will last about a decade with continuous use.

Warranties - The major (and most expensive) components of a portable air conditioner unit or spot cooler are the compressor and the fans.  It is important these are covered.  Other components tend to be relatively inexpensive to repair or replace.

Cooling Capacity – 12,000 equals one ton by official weights and standards.  When comparing units, sometimes a sell may claim their unit is, say, one ton capacity.  Make sure to ask what the BTU capacity is for the particular unit you are considering.   A seller may call a 10,000 BTU their “one ton unit” and another may call a 14,000 BTU spot cooler a one ton unit.   That’s a 40% difference in actual cooling capacity in two spot coolers that are both called “one ton”.

Controls – For reliability and simplicity of use, simple mechanical controls are a better option.  Some manufacturers provide a digital thermostat (typically a battery operated residential wall thermostat) mounted to the unit to set the temperature.  While helpful in rare cases, cold air actually falls on the thermostat from the front of the unit and gives an incorrect reading, shutting off the a/c unit when the rest of the room needs cooling.  Some portable units offer wall-mounting the digital thermostat which detects the temperature at the place on the wall where the thermostat is mounted.  In most cases, simpler is better for controlling your portable air conditioner.  A dial-type temperature controller is less complicated, more reliable and does not require new batteries.  If the temperature rises, the dial-type thermostat will call for the unit to engage, activating the air conditioner and will usually last several trouble-free years.

Residential units are unsuitable and will not work for commercial buildings.  A residential portable air conditioner has plastic housing, small condensate tanks, or they evaporate the condensation on the unit’s hot coils, exhausting it into the warm air discharge duct.  A window to exhaust the warm air created by the air conditioner is required to create actual air conditioning because air conditioners create more hot air than they do cold air.  Because electrical amperage is limited in residences, the residential portable units are typically available in no more than 12,000 BTU’s (1 Ton of cooling capacity).  The commercial wheeled portable air conditioners will have larger condensate tanks than residential units, in addition the commercial units tend to have sturdier sheet metal cabinets or housings.

Construction – Not all portables air conditioners and spot coolers are built the same.   Sheet metal cabinets are better than plastic cabinets.  All residential units are housed in plastic cabinets and some of the inferior quality commercial units have plastic cabinets.  Superior commercial grade units are made of sheet metal and will last about a decade with continuous use. 

Warranties - The major (and most expensive) components of a portable air conditioner unit or spot cooler are the compressor and the fans.  It is important these are covered.  Other components tend to be relatively inexpensive to repair or replace.

Cooling Capacity – 12,000 equals one ton by official weights and standards.  When comparing units, sometimes a sell may claim their unit is, say, one ton capacity.  Make sure to ask what the BTU capacity is for the particular unit you are considering.   A seller may call a 10,000 BTU their “one ton unit” and another may call a 14,000 BTU spot cooler a one ton unit.   That’s a 40% difference in actual cooling capacity in two spot coolers that are both called “one ton”.

Controls – For reliability and simplicity of use, simple mechanical controls are a better option.  Some manufacturers provide a digital thermostat (typically a battery operated residential wall thermostat) mounted to the unit to set the temperature.  While helpful in rare cases, cold air actually falls on the thermostat from the front of the unit and gives an incorrect reading, shutting off the a/c unit when the rest of the room needs cooling.  Some portable units offer wall-mounting the digital thermostat which detects the temperature at the place on the wall where the thermostat is mounted.  In most cases, simpler is better for controlling your portable air conditioner.  A dial-type temperature controller is less complicated, more reliable and does not require new batteries.  If the temperature rises, the dial-type thermostat will call for the unit to engage, activating the air conditioner and will usually last several trouble-free years.

Unlike air condoners, evaporative coolers contribute moisture to the environment because there is no compressor with circulating cold refrigerant to dehumidify.  Evaporative cooling is used in dry cleaners, restaurant kitchens and shops where high moisture and low operating costs are acceptable.  Air conditioners remove moisture from the environment, dry the air and improve the quality of the environment.

Sudden changes in temperature, both at home and at work, they can disappear contained in the computers, sometimes irrecoverable.

Sudden changes in temperature are not only bad for humans. The computer also suffers, but instead of catching a cold may suffer a loss of data. These problems arise mainly in summer and are caused “by the rise and fall of temperature in offices and at home because they are put on and remove the air conditioning,” says Miguel Ruiz, Recovery Labs technical director .

Computer parts themselves being out of step with those variations of degree and that computers do fail and can not access the data. To avoid them, do not put the computer to the equipment if you turn off and on much or attempt to restart after the ruling.

YOU MAY LOSE YOUR DATA IF THE TEMPERATURE CHANGES

At 35 degrees and a fever.

While all computers have a fan system that generates a flow of air to prevent overheating, there are problems if the machine much temperature increase and down at once. “Working at 35 degrees is a problem for any electronic device, said Ruiz, although the problem is that the computer does not reach 100 degrees, but then reduced. The PC may be about 45-50 degrees in temperature, while the hard disk can reach 60.

The hardest thing, the blackout, dust and water

Blackouts are the main causes of data loss in computers, according to figures provided by American Power Conversion “, followed by the storms. The powder is also another enemy in the computer malfunctions, also if it affects the hard drive, increases the problem. Damage from water have led some companies to design a keyboard resistant to liquids and even sudden shock.

TIPS FOR NO SPOILER ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES

Do not plug them barefoot
One of the recommendations made from American Power Conversion “. Nor can we plug in electrical equipment with wet hands.

Without antenna storm
In cases of storm, not only necessary to unplug the power cord, but also the antenna. Should be in televisions, computers and audiovisual equipment in general.

Cables without tape
The joints or seams should not be made with tape, transparent tape or other materials not approved. If you have a device with a bare wire, change it immediately.

No gluing them to the wall
This rule also applies to computers that have the ventilation system in front and behind, so they need space to drive and take the air. The same goes for televisions and stereos.

A plug for each
You must use a socket for each application. And connect each device at a different time so as not to produce an electrical overload.

Jay Morgan, Louann Turner and Glenda Cooper

Glenda Cooper, President and CEO of Spot Cooling Systems, Inc and Jay Morgan, Business Development Director of Spot Cooling Systems, Inc. recently met with Louann Turner, a Property Manager for PM Realty Group. Louann was the lucky winner of our recent survey contest.

Spot Cooling Systems, Inc would like to thank all participants of our recent contest. We received a great response.  Over 97% of all survey participants responded with favorable comments about Spot Cooling Systems’ incredible service.

High-Density Computing Clusters

The rise in the use of blade servers and virtual servers has greatly increased the potential amount of power consumed per rack, as well as the resulting heat output. While the heat dissipated by a 2 ft by 2.5 ft rack is currently about 10 kilowatts or more, experts estimate that designs for future equipment will require dissipations of 30-50 kW in the same rack space.(2) The trend toward increased power consumption has been documented in several studies, including one recent five-year study of 19 computer rooms that showed that power consumption rose by 39% from 1999-2005.(3)

Changes in Technology

Traditionally, advances in technology have occurred at an extremely rapid rate, as illustrated by “Moore’s Law,” which predicts the doubling of semiconductor performance approximately every 24 months. Historically, increased computational abilities have led to increased power consumption and heat loads. Datacenter managers should take these trends into account when planning for future expansion. According to Gartner Research, “Without careful planning and coordination between the data center facilities staff and the server procurement staff, data centers will not be able to increase power or cooling in line with increases in server deployments…through year-end 2008, heat and cooling requirements for servers will prevent 90 percent of enterprise data centers from achieving the maximum theoretical server density.” (4)

Isolating Hot Spots

Hot Spots are areas in a datacenter that are not properly cooled, often resulting in temperatures that exceed recommend conditions for maximum equipment reliability and performance. Hot spots are not necessarily caused by a lack of cooling capacity and commonly occur in datacenters with sufficient or excess cooling capacity, but can be caused by poor circulation or improper air flow.

Zone Hot Spots can be present over fairly large areas in a datacenter and occur when the temperature at all air intake levels of a rack or cabinet are too hot, due to expelled air flow that is not properly routed.

Vertical Hot Spots occur over a small area and often affect a single server rack. They occur when equipment at the bottom of a rack consumes the available supply of cold air and devices higher up in the rack pull in the hot air exhaust of adjacent equipment or ambient air.

Strategies to Improve Datacenter Cooling

Datacenter managers can take several steps to meet datacenter cooling challenges, including choosing the right rack, increasing datacenter energy efficiency, using liquid cooling units, and taking advantage of environmental monitoring.

1. Select The Right Rack And Accessories

To fully maximize equipment cooling, when selecting a server rack consider intelligent and space-efficient design features that various rack models offer, including frame profile and capacity for increased packing density. Use blanking panels to manage air flow efficiency and select a rack with built-in channels for better cable management and improved air flow. Fully perforated doors and top panels can help improve ventilation as well. Also consider server rack accessories that will improve cooling, including fans, enclosure blowers, and rack air conditioners. In addition, consider using energy-efficient power supplies, such as 220V power, which significantly increases available amperage into the server rack, using fewer circuits while providing a more balanced power load. This can reduce the overall number of PDUs needed to power equipment, leaving more space for airflow.

2. Aim for Energy Efficiency

There are several steps you can take to reduce overall energy consumption and resulting heat loads in your data center. To begin with, consider hiring an expert to conduct room diagnostics, measure airflow, and correct any cooling problems identified. Next, conduct a thorough audit of your equipment and determine if any servers can be consolidated or discarded—this process can cut power consumption in some organizations by up to 30%. (5) Finally, clean up any clutter under your datacenter floor, including cabling, that might be impeding air flow.

3. Deploy Liquid Cooling Units

As power-intensive applications and server densities have increased, Liquid Cooling Packages (LCPs) have become a valuable alternative to ambient air cooling and can better meet the cooling challenges presented by high-density computing clusters. These modular, temperature-neutral high-density cooling solutions utilize air/water heat exchangers to provide uniform, effective cooling. Liquid cooling units use a special horizontal airflow with constant-temperature cold air provided at the front intake and hot air removed from the rear of the enclosure. They can be mounted at the rack base, in a rack “side car.” Fully-loaded LCPs have a 30kW cooling output with three cooling modules possible per equipment rack, and controlled variable speed fan and water flow based on actual heat load generated in a cabinet.

4. Use Environmental Monitoring

These devices allow administrators to proactively monitor rack and server room temperature, including hot spots, at any time and from anywhere and provide protection to mission-critical applications. They also allow administrators to continuously monitor amperage draw per circuit, water leaks, and physical security and can send alerts automatically via SMTP/SMS/SNMP when conditions exceed established thresholds. This allows IT managers to quickly respond to any irregularities before they become larger problems. Environmental monitoring devices also help administrators in future planning, as they provide valuable data that can be used for trending analysis.

When considering datacenter management, cooling is only one piece of the puzzle. Other key considerations include intelligent power management and KVM console management tools. The team at 42U specializes in assessing needs, creating solutions, and supporting our clients, to ensure that IT professionals maximize their use of current technologies to improve overall business performance.

Emergency Portable Cooling System

With proper planning, the right portable cooling system will keep your facilities operating and personnel comfortable when air conditioning disasters and/or emergencies strike.  Processes have become highly dependent on the operation of facility air conditioning systems. When the main air conditioning fails, computers, servers and telecommunications equipment can overheat rapidly.  Systems will have to be shut down and operations suspended, resulting in losses that can quickly become devastating.  What happens when your air conditioning goes down and you are experiencing one of these emergencies?

Emergency computer room cooling units tough enough to do the job must be available at a moments notice.

The Portable Cooling System Industry Depends On

At ExtraCooler® we have been devoted to solving emergency heat removal situations such as HVAC operations coming to a dead stop, computer room air conditioning struggling to keep up with server demands, and air conditioning maintenance since 1984.  And in those 25 plus years, we’ve come to fully understand what it takes to restore full industrial air conditioning with a portable cooling system.  To meet industry’s relentless need for continuous cool air, we developed the ExtraCooler® portable cooling system that can handle any size cooling crisis, even in times of natural disaster. Our computer room cooling units have become the answer to IT and industrial air conditioning downtime. Even if the power goes out, we have AC generator portable units to power the ExtraCooler® spot coolers, available for immediate shipment.  The versatile ExtraCooler® portable cooling system proves its worth during emergency situations world wide, when more than just supplemental cooling is needed.

Here are a few examples:

• A major International Airport lost cooling in its telephone equipment building. Clearly an emergency cooling situation. Spot Cooling’s crews responded with about two-dozen portable computer room cooling units, keeping the airport operational until the problem was fixed.
• One of Dallas, Texas’s major convention hotels lost its entire cooling system and Spot Cooling immediately deployed over 75 portable cooling system units.
• Spot Cooling provided the Secret Service with 10 units for the White House.
• The U.S. Coast Guard in Kuwait recently procured several ExtraCooler portable cooling units.
• Medical Center Complex in Houston, Texas lost large cooling units during the tropical storm flood. Spot Cooling’s crew deployed over 120 portable air-conditioning units to save lives.
• The Ft. Worth, Texas Stockyards used our portable cooling system to cool prized bulls during the Livestock Shows.  Not quite an emergency, but another example of the variety of applications for our products.

There is a fast, easy solution for when you need supplemental cooling or your main air conditioning system shuts down. We routinely work with companies for contingency planning.Call Spot Cooling Systems in Dallas, Texas and let us help you solve your emergency and back-up cooling dilemmas.

Our Products in Action

Similar to a conventional air conditioning system, a spot cooler pulls air into a condenser, cools it, then circulates it back into a given space. But spot coolers are different in that they’re portable – often on wheels – and easy to move or transport. This attribute alone makes the spot cooler a convenient solution for various business and industry needs. For instance, spot coolers can temporarily stand in for faulty or broken air conditioning systems until repairs can be made. In business settings where temperature is vital – for example, in server rooms, computer rooms, and media rooms with large amounts of electronic equipment – an immediate spot cooling installation can make all the difference.

Portable Air Conditioners are also ideal for use in areas that don’t usually have air conditioning, but which temporarily require it for a specific project. For instance, if an event were to be held in a normally non-air conditioned space, a spot cooler could quickly turn that space into an event-ready venue. What’s more, spot cooler can be controlled on demand, enabling the user to make cooling adjustments as they’re required. This makes them particularly useful in settings where groups of people will be gathering – such as company or industry events. And finally, spot coolers are usually available in various size units, making them an ideal temperature control solution for jobs both big and small. From large events to small space cooling needs, spot coolers have proven to be practical tools for temperature control needs.

Ultimately, portable air conditioners can provide a flexible and efficient solution to potentially significant temperature control problems. They’re also easy to install, and can be arranged for quickly and easily via specialists in power generation or temperature control. In situations where temperature control issues could pose an emergency – such as in hospital settings – fast resource arrangements are vital. The fact that spot coolers are compact, easy to transport, simple to use, and easy to arrange for quickly makes them ideal for a wide range of businesses and industries.