UPTIME INSTITUTE ATD Technical Paper Series: Makeup Water

UPTIME INSTITUTE, LLC

Accredited Tier Designer Technical Paper Series:

Makeup Water

This Technical Paper supplements Data Center Site Infrastructure Tier Standard: Topology.

Prepared by Uptime Institute Professional Services, LLC

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UPTIME INSTITUTE ATD Technical Paper Series: Makeup Water

An objective of the Uptime Institute’s (Institute) Data Center Site Infrastructure Tier Standard Program is the consistent application
of infrastructure availability concepts to facility systems supporting data center critical environments. This technical paper provides
a summary and follow-up to questions and discussion during the Accredited Tier Designer (ATD) curriculum presentations in
September 2009 concerning alternate sources of water necessary to sustain operation of evaporative condenser water towers.
Consistent with the concept that the loss of Public Utility electrical power is a design condition rather than a failure mode, the
loss of the Public Utility domestic water must also be addressed as a design condition.

In response to a question during the presentation of the ATD curriculum, consider the impact of providing a Concurrently
Maintainable source of water supply for evaporative cooling towers without regard to the availability of the community or
district water mains (Public Utility domestic water). This is primarily an issue for evaporative cooling situations because of the
volume of water required to maintain functional water level in cooling towers, but applicable to any facility infrastructure that
depends on the availability of water to operate the cooling system.

As with many Tier-based design considerations, providing a Concurrently Maintainable source of water for evaporative cooling
towers can be accomplished through adaptation of traditional design solutions rather than inclusion of unique or complex
design elements. Commonly accepted "rules of thumb" provide a means to develop boundaries of the solution, although
specific engineering is required for each application based on load and ambient conditions.

Assumptions:
a. Each 1,000 kilowatts (kW) of cooling load (approximately 285 refrigeration tons) requires about 855 gallons per minute
(gpm) of condenser water flow through the evaporative cooling towers, at 3 gpm of condenser water per ton of cooling.
b. For the purposes of estimating water requirements, evaporation consumes about 1% of condenser water flow, and drift
consumes another 0.5%. During periods of emergency conditions, cooling tower "blow-down" (purge flow to remove
mineral buildup in condenser water) will be suspended to conserve condenser water. Thus a source of water is required
to replenish, or "makeup" about 1.5% of condenser water flow to sustain evaporative cooling process.

Using the above assumptions, the amount of makeup water necessary to sustain evaporative cooling for 1,000-kW load for
24 hours is:

(855 gpm) X (60 minutes/hour) X (24 hours/day) X (1.5%) or approximately 18,500 gallons.

This volume of water is equivalent to 18,500 gallons / 7.5 gallons per ft3, or about 2,500 ft3 of water.

Thus, the evaporative cooling tower makeup water for a "megawatt-day" (1,000 kW for 24 hours) is approximately 18,500 gallons
(2,500 ft3) of water depending on local ambient conditions.

A design based on (3) 150-ton cooling towers could provide an N+1 solution for the 285-ton cooling requirement mentioned in
Assumption (a.), and with the appropriate piping configuration could meet Concurrently Maintainable topology requirements.
Moreover, an on-site, Concurrently Maintainable makeup water supply for the evaporative cooling towers could result from a
topology that included a 9,250-gallon or 1,250-ft3 condenser water storage tank in the form of a sump for each cooling tower.

Considering the footprint of some popular 150-ton evaporative cooling tower choices, many of these products are typically 8 to
9 feet wide and 10 to 12 feet long. A sump with a footprint about the same size as a 150-ton cooling tower (9 feet X 12 feet)
and about 12 feet deep has a volume of approximately 1,250 ft3 and will contain 9,250 gallons.

Consistent application of Tier concepts requires that the amount of makeup water for evaporative cooling towers stored on site
provide an equal duration of operation as the fuel supply for the engine-generator system. The preceding example discusses the
volume of makeup water for a megawatt-day. The volume must be adjusted to meet the site cooling load and operating duration
necessary to meet project requirements. A megawatt-day of makeup water will support a 2-megawatt load for 12 hours, while
supporting a 4-megawatt load for 12 hours will require 2 megawatt-days of makeup water.

A recently constructed Tier III Certified data center has 8 in-ground condenser water sumps, one for every chilled water machine
and condenser tower. Each condenser water sump (condenser water storage tank) is 14 feet wide X 16 feet long with over
12.5 feet of useable water depth, resulting in over 160,000 gallons of storage integrated into the condenser water system. Using
the above example, this provides nearly 9 megawatt-days of makeup water.

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UPTIME INSTITUTE ATD Technical Paper Series: Makeup Water

Moreover, with adequate planning, a thermal energy storage tank integrated into the chilled water system as part of a Continuous
Cooling solution, may also provide a large volume of readily available water stored on site to sustain evaporative cooling
processes during a disruption of Public Utility domestic water.

While detailed calculations considering the rise and fall of wet-bulb temperatures over a 24-hour period may indicate that less
makeup water is required to sustain a specific load in a specific location, such calculations are beyond the intent of this paper.
This paper demonstrates that meeting the requirement to provide on-site storage of makeup water for evaporative cooling
towers is in fact a straightforward and manageable solution.

Related Publications
• Tier Standard: Topology
• Accredited Tier Designer Technical Paper Series: Engine-Generator Ratings

Further information can be found at www.uptimeinstitute.com/resources.

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