PVC Curtain Data Centre Info
A PVC curtain data centre is a common cheap solution to cold or hot aisle containment, and from over 6 years experience in data centre enclosures we have seen poor versions of this type of product and good versions.
The generic PVC curtain product are a very good product for Room temperature applications as well as freezer rooms but as soon as they are implemented into a data center several problems arise.
They are designed for (Usually Freezer applications)
- Low temperature
- Low humidity
- Low air pressure applications
Data Centers are, so a specialised product is required.
- High temperature (Especially when cold aisle containment is used)
- High Humidity
- High Air Pressure
The net effect of these temperatures and humidity after time is:
- Health implications (High temperature and humidity speed up the release of volatile organic compounds in PVC)
- They leak a considerable amount of air. Air tightness is a problem.
- They warp and distort in high humidity and high temperatures (enabling further air leakage)
- curtains eventually fall off their hangers onto the floor
- they crack and break due to the high humidity
The health implications when PVC is exposed to high humidity, high temperatures are quite serious. New PVC curtains have a strong “new” smell. The whiff of bad air you get from PVC is called polyvinyl chloride and its emission is accelerated with high humidity.
We have a range of products with low VOC designed for data centre applications.