Data Center Raised Floor Maintenance and Cleaning

1. What equipment needs to be regularly maintained?

[Bob Cogan]
All electronic equipment within computer rooms, and areas surrounding. The equipment contained inside is highly sensitive and the functions they perform are critical for business operations. Therefore the need for high levels of contamination control within the environments they are stored in is essential and evaluating the environment can be done to control contamination.

2. What maintenance and/or cleaning needs to be done on the Raised Floor and Raised Floor Systems?

[Bob Cogan]
There is a 4 step process recommended:

First and foremost-Is to determine the contamination level in the equipment room or data center to see if it meets Federal Standard 209e. This is done for air quality particulate testing, with special metering devices to monitor the .5 and 5 micron particle sizes per the above 209e standard. Other ranges can be tested, as required. This report is given before and again after the cleaning process for comparison of before and after results.

NOTE: Some sites to forego this step and go directly to the cleaning process. 

Second-DEEP CLEANING: The Raised Floor void (if Raised Flooring with down flow AC is being used) is carefully cleaned, using HEPA filtered vacuums that remove contamination down to the .3 micron range and are 99.97% effective in eliminating dust particles of that size or larger. During this process, all cables, conduits, pedestal assemblies, rigid grid stringers, floor tile edges and all the sub floor is vacuumed and/or hand wiped.

Third-The top of floor is inspected for sticky residue, tape, gum, & any foreign matter by "hands and knees removal", prior to vacuuming and damp scrubbing the raised floor. The areas next to equipment will be cleaned by hand. After the floor is cleaned, a Staticide rinse is done. When the floor is dry, a low speed buffer is used to give the surface a light shine.

Fourth- The exterior of all the equipment in the room will be carefully vacuumed and hand wiped, Careful attention and caution is taken around any
switches, cable connections and cooling fans.

3. When? How often?

[Bob Cogan]
Depends on many factors such as: Construction within the room or to the Raised Floor, surrounding room, human (people entering in and out of the computer room), non-human (organic fibers), metallic (metallic dust from rewiring or refits, metal shavings, wire snip, etc.), paper dust (packing materials) & synthetic fibers (carried into room through clothing, cloth and carpet). All these factors determine how often a room is cleaned.

Typically, we recommend raised floor cleaning a minimum of once per year and surface cleaning 2 times per year.

4. What's the best way to do it?

[Bob Cogan]
With a contract for all or some of the services shown above, by experts who are cognizant of the direct cause and effect relationship between contamination and the different hardware failures. Too often many MIS professionals do not perceive the danger in contamination, especially those cases in which it is not visible to the naked eye. Until it is too late and a disaster occurs!

5. What special training and/or products should a data center/IT manager have on hand to perform the maintenance?

[Bob Cogan]
Learn what the raised floor pros do above and incorporate a maintenance plan with company personnel. Can be done in house, but usually not done in data
centers larger than 1000 s.f. Simple recognition of good housekeeping rules is a start, and being aware of who and what contamination goes in and is left in any sensitive equipment or designated computer room .

6. Is this maintenance on a raised floor something that can/should be done in-house or is it better to hire a professional? If so, what should you look for when finding a professional to perform the maintenance for you?

[Bob Cogan]
Use a raised floor professional who:
1) Can provide references and has been in this niche business for at least 5 years and licensed in their home state.
2) Uses employees who are on their payroll and have been trained to work around operating computer equipment, comply with drug free work policy, who
have cleared the police and terrorist watch list.
3) Can provide documentation of complete insurance coverage for General Liability, Excess Liability and Workmen's Compensation.
4) Can comply with all Federal, State & Company safety regulations and have passed OSHA/HAZCOM compliance program.

CONTAMINATION: THE UNDETECTED DISASTER. Yet, contamination is almost always the hidden, overlooked factor when developing the Disaster Prevention Plan, which is the most important facet of contingency planning.

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