Computer Room Water Protection
| Published date | 01 March 1990 |
| Date | 01 March 1990 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047798 |
| Pages | 47-52 |
| Author | Bennett J. Price |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Computer Room Water Protection
Bennett J. Price
Water can enter computer rooms from
numerous sources: air conditioners;
roof,
floor, and wall leaks; backed-up floor
drains; fire sprinklers; and so on.
While insulated power and signal cables
may not be affected by water, splices
in such cables as well as computer
components may be seriously affected.
A wide range of water monitoring and
signaling equipment is available for
subfloor and ceiling installation
to detect and warn of water problems.
This article, about water protection of computer
rooms, is the last of
a
recent series
in Library
Hi
Tech
by this author. The series has discussed the special
physical environment needed for computers, particularly
those computers large enough to require a computer
room.1
Vulnerabilities
The raised subfloor of a computer room usually
contains wiring, plumbing, and smoke detectors. The
wire and cable under
the
floor
is both
signal and power
wiring.
Signal
wiring typically
carries
low voltages
(24
volts or less) so that moisture is not a safety hazard.
While data wiring (one kind of signal wiring) usually
has no splices or connectors below the floor, other
kinds of signal wires do. In particular, the wiring for
smoke detectors and some control circuits for air
conditioners and security systems may have subfloor
splices. While a drop of water on the insulation of a
cable will have no adverse effect, the same cannot be
said for water that works its way into splices. Signal
wiring may or may not be in conduit, depending on
the specific application.
Power wiring always
is in some kind
of protective
covering, usually a thin-walled inflexible metal pipe
called EMT conduit or
a
flexible, plastic-covered spiral-
metal tubing, often referred to as Liquidtite. Lengths
of EMT conduit can be joined with either watertight
or non-watertight fittings but, no matter what type of
fitting is used, lengths of such pipe usually terminate
in junctions boxes screwed to the subfloor; such
junction boxes are rarely watertight. It is in these
Price is a principal systems analyst at the University
of California, San Francisco, California.
— COMPUTER ROOM WATER PROTECTION —
ISSUE
30
(1990,
NO.2)
47
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