If a water leak occurs in sensitive areas of the data centre, the result could be system disruptions, equipment and facility failures or in the worst case, serious technical and structural damage to the entire data centre infrastructure. This could result in operations and all IT services being brought to a standstill. To prevent this kind of catastrophic event, it is advisable to monitor the areas in server rooms and data centres at risk from liquid leaks, either with a spot detector or a system that monitors more expansive areas.

Data centre specialists can act immediately before the water leak threat becomes acute and leads to serious risks and consequences

To achieve this, Daxten, a leading supplier of smart solutions for data centre optimisation, has added SeaHawk leak detection solutions from RLE to its portfolio. The systems use sensors to detect and pinpoint even the smallest leak in the data centre. The SeaHawk will trigger alarms so that data centre specialists, DCIM or BMS systems can act immediately before the threat becomes acute and leads to serious risks and consequences within the data centre.

Close-meshed and comprehensive monitoring of data centre areas at risk of leaks

The SeaHawk monitoring solution can be installed using spot detectors, sensing cables or a combination of both sensor types in areas susceptible to leaks within the data centre. Local deployable zone controllers or distance-read controllers for remote monitoring register and locate leaks then trigger alarms to complete the detection process. If the detector probes and sensing cables come into contact with water, acids, bases or other hazardous liquids, the zone or distance-read controller, depending on which version is installed, triggers an acoustic or optical alarm and generates warnings that are sent to the data centre personnel via SNMP or e-mail. Depending on the model, the controllers have 4 20mA electricity or dry contact interfaces and can communicate via Ethernet, N2, Modbus or BACnet. The latter makes it possible to integrate the SeaHawk leak monitoring solution into overarching monitoring, (DCIM) data centre infrastructure management or (BMS) building management systems.

Modular liquid leak detection system can be configured to meet any requirements

According to the manufacturer, the modularly structured monitoring system can be configured to meet any requirement and scaled exactly to meet individual needs. The solution can thus be deployed anywhere, be it in a small server room, data centre containers, in medium-sized rack environments or enterprise data centres.