Accredited Tier Designer

Technical Paper Series:

Makeup Water

October 2017

M akeup W ater | October 2017

Abstract
This technical paper provides clarification of the makeup water storage requirements for
compliance with Uptime Institute’s Tier Standard: Topology and provides commentary on
calculation methodologies to meet those requirements when using evaporative cooling systems.

Concurrently Maintainable Source of Water

An objective of the Uptime Institute Tier Standard is the consistent application of infrastructure availability concepts
to facility systems that support data center critical environments. Consistent with the concept that the loss of public
utility electrical power is a design condition rather than a failure or maintenance mode, the loss of the public utility
water supply must also be addressed as a design condition.
Consider the impact of providing a Concurrently Maintainable water supply for evaporative cooling towers without
regard to the availability of the community or district water mains (public utility water). This is primarily an issue for
evaporative cooling systems because of the volume of water required to maintain a functional water level in cooling
towers. However, it is also 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
necessitating the 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, technology, and ambient conditions.
Example
Assumptions:
a. Each 1,000 kilowatts (kW) of cooling load (approximately 285 tons refrigeration [TR]) requires about
855 Imperial gallons per minute * (gpm) of condenser water flow (1,027 U.S. gpm or 3,887 liters per minute) 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; drift and blow-down consume another 0.5%. Thus, a source of water is
required to replenish—or “makeup”—about 1.5% of condenser water flow to sustain evaporative cooling processes.
c. Using the above assumptions, the amount of makeup water necessary to sustain evaporative cooling for a 1,000-kW
load for 24 hours is:
(855 gpm) x (60 minutes/hour) x (24 hours/day) x (1.5%) =
≈ 18,500 gallons (22,218 U.S. gallons or 84,103 liters).
This volume of water is equivalent to 18,500 gallons (7.5 gallons per cubic feet [ft 3]), or about 2,500 ft 3 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 ft 3) of water depending on local ambient conditions.
A design based on three 550-kW cooling towers could provide an N+1 solution for the 1,000-kW 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 (1,250-ft 3) condenser water storage tank in
the form of a sump for each cooling tower.
Considering the footprint of some popular 150-ton (527.5-kW) evaporative cooling tower choices, many of these
products are typically 8 to 9 feet (ft) wide (2.4 to 2.75 meters (m) wide) and 10 to 12 ft long (3 to 3.6 m). A sump with
a footprint about the same size as a 150-ton cooling tower (9 x 12 ft) and about 12 ft (3.6 m) deep has a volume of
approximately 1,250 ft 3 and will contain 9,250 gallons (11,109 U.S. gallons or 42,051 liters). In this example the
configuration is N+1 where N=2, therefore two sumps would equate to 2,500 ft3 of N water storage capacity in order
to support the cooling load for 24 hours.

*
In this Technical Paper, ‘gallons’ and ‘gpm’ refer to Imperial gallons, not U.S. gallons, unless otherwise noted.

M akeup W ater | October 2017


Moreover, with adequate
planning, a thermal energy
storage tank integrated into a
chilled water system as part
of a Continuous Cooling
solution may also provide a
large volume of readily
available water stored
on site.
M akeup W ater | October 2017
Tier Requirements for Makeup Water
Application of Tier concepts requires that the amount of makeup water for
evaporative cooling towers stored on site must be sufficient to provide a
minimum of 12 hours of on-site makeup water storage that adheres to the
requirements of the Tier objective. For a Tier I site, this is a single 12-hour
storage solution with a single distribution path. Tier II requires redundant
makeup water storage solutions. To provide 12 hours of on-site makeup water
when any single storage solution is isolated for planned activities, Tier III
requires 12 hours of Concurrently Maintainable and Tier IV requires 12 hours
of Concurrently Maintainable and Fault Tolerant makeup water systems.
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. One megawatt-
day of makeup water will support a 2-megawatt load for 12 hours; two
megawatt-days of makeup water will be required to support a 4-megawatt
load for 12 hours.
For instance, a recently constructed data center with Tier III Certification of
Constructed Facility has eight in-ground condenser water sumps (condenser
water storage tank), one for every chiller and cooling tower. These are in a 2N
configuration where N=4 sumps. Each condenser water sump is 14 ft wide x
16 ft long with more than 12.5 ft (3.8 m) of usable water depth, resulting in
more than 160,000 gallons (192,152 U.S. gallons or 727,374 liters) of installed
storage and over 80,000 gallons (96,076 U.S. gallons or 363,687 liters) of N
storage integrated into the condenser water system. Using the above example,
the 80,000-plus gallons of N storage provide well over 4 megawatt-days of N
makeup water.
Moreover, with adequate planning, a thermal energy storage tank integrated
into a 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 water.
For most data center owners, the 12-hour makeup water minimum
requirement is calculated by determining the makeup water required for the
worst-case hour, based on the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and
Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) extreme wet bulb conditions, and
multiplied by 12. This methodology is easy to calculate and allows for a highly
conservative safety factor. However, wet bulb temperatures typically change
hour by hour throughout the day. Attempting to calculate the 12-hour makeup
water requirement for the worst-case 12-hour profile requires an intense
engineering analysis.
ASHRAE does not publish hourly extreme weather values. Therefore, a different
set of data—that is similarly reliable and based on engineering analysis—would
have to be used, which may or may not be available in certain regions. A
reliable and documented set of weather data that provides historical
information must be used whenever statistical prediction weather data sets
are not available.
 The type of evaporative technology considered (e.g., open cooling towers,
indirect evaporative heat exchangers) will affect the worst-case 12-hour
weather profile, as different technologies have varying factors that determine
Various safety factors may
the rate of evaporation. Additionally, various safety factors may need to be
need to be applied to account
applied to account for future potential weather changes, or allow tolerances for
for future potential weather
potential inaccuracies in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) water
changes, or allow tolerances
for potential inaccuracies in evaporation calculations. Close collaboration with the OEM is required
the original equipment throughout this type of analysis.
manufacturer (OEM) water
evaporation calculations.

Conclusion
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, if calculations are based
on a worst-case hour multiplied times the hours of storage duration.
Calculations become more detailed and complex when considering the rise
and fall of wet-bulb and dry-bulb temperatures over a 12-hour, or
longer, period.

M akeup W ater | October 2017

 Modifications
ATD Technical Paper Series: Makeup Water, Version B. All updates
specific to this version are effective October 2017.

Related Publications
Tier Standard: Topology

Accredited Tier Designer Technical Paper Series

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