Server Room Airborne Contamination: The effects dust has on IT equipment will to a degree depend on the type of dust and can be outlined under 4 headings.

Mechanical effects: This includes obstruction of airways (overheating), interference of moving parts, abrasion, optical interference, interconnection interference and deformation of surfaces (magnetic media). It also insulate components causing overheating and failure. During data room refurbishments equipment is often contaminated with plaster dust which is very abrasive, and can insulate component parts on the PCB.

Electrical effects of dust: These include impedance changes, and electronic circuit conductor bridging.

Chemical effects: Dust settled on a printed circuit board (PCB) can lead in certain circumstance (depending on the dust) to component corrosion (copper creep) and/or electrical short circuiting.

Absorption of moisture: Dust with a high deliquescent relative humidity, like cementitious dust can absorb moisture from the data room, causing the dust to become wet. Which will cause chemical problems (as above) electrical problems, it is now conductive and increase abrasion (mechanical). The final effect is to reduce the relative humidity in the room causing problems with static.

Mitigate these effects by having regular cleaning to ISO 14644- 1 2015 plus all accessible surfaces free from dust. Cleaning is much less expensive that the damage dust can cause. Contact Stephen Yates.

Further reading: Data Room Contamination