[60238] in North American Network Operators' Group

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Re: Humidity ranges?

daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Richard Parker)
Mon Aug 4 16:49:15 2003

Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2003 13:48:38 -0700
From: Richard Parker <richard@electrophobia.com>
To: <nanog@merit.edu>
In-Reply-To: <3F2EBBE6.4080000@expertcity.com>
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu


For a datacenter with a single controlled area the ideal range for relative
humidity (RH) is in the neighborhood of 35% to 50%.

Here are some data points:

  1)  Static electricity is minimized when RH is at or above 35%.

  2)  RH below 25% can cause embrittlement of hygroscopic materials
      such as paper.

  3)  RH above 65% can cause mold growth and metal corrosion.

  4)  Humans are most comfortable when the RH is between 20% and 60%.

  5)  RH above 50% in cold weather can cause condensation inside of
      outer=A0walls (or on equipment itself if the facility has an
      external door or window that opens directly into the controlled
      area). =20

Sean Donelan wrote an informative post on a related subject a few year back=
:

  <http://www.cctec.com/maillists/nanog/historical/9810/msg00276.html>

-Richard


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