How to Monitor Car Storage Environments
Filed under: environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, Security Monitoring, temperature monitoring, water leak monitoring
As a car aficionado, I love the idea of storing precious vehicles in the harshest of winter months, especially in a state like Maine. If I had my dream car (ahem, BMW M5) I would certainly put it in a place I know would keep my car safe from any harm. The question is, “How does a storage facility keep my car safe?” What precautions would it take to make sure Annabelle is safe? (yes, I named my fictional car) Implementing environmental sensors will certainly make me feel safe. Read more
Follow me on Twitter
Preventing Disasters With Environmental Probes
Filed under: environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, power monitoring, temperature monitoring, water leak monitoring
Environmental sensors prevent disasters. Have you ever been in a situation where you lose a server or all of your data center to something as silly as a water leak or a… lightening strike? Amazon has, sort of. On August 7th, Amazon experienced a temporary data center outage in their Dublin data center. They claimed that it was due to a lightening strike, but later admitted it was due to multiple internal technical faults, resulting from the lightening strike. Read more
Follow me on Twitter
Summertime Data Room Monitoring: Part 1
Filed under: Data Center, environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, temperature monitoring, water leak monitoring
It’s June and you know what that means? Summer is on the way. For most of us that means going to the beach, playing outside, and going to drive-ins with friends and family. But for IT Administrators, it’s all of that plus monitoring offices and Data Centers from being affected by the summer weather. This is the first part in an ongoing series to help those IT Administrators monitor and prevent a cataclysmic event from unfolding. Read more
Follow me on Twitter
Ravica Environmental Monitors Begin Where Mayberry Ends
Filed under: environmental monitoring, Intelligent Sensors, motion detector, SensorProbes, smoke detector, water leak monitoring
Growing up in a small town had some advantages, including a feeling of security. For example, when our family would leave town on vacation, the police department kept an eye on our home. Patrol cars drove by our house periodically, day and night, ensuring that our home and possessions were safe. In this way, it was if our small town was in the very capable hands of our own Andy Griffith. These days, law enforcement departments don’t necessarily have the resources to protect property this way.
Fortunately, we can have that sense of trust with a Ravica environmental sensor. Ravica security monitors placed in your property can alert you to the presence of property hazards like smoke and water. While you are away, you can still feel secure knowing you will be alerted to hazards as soon as they happen.
Environmental Monitoring Sensors: More Than Just Fancy Smoke Detectors
Filed under: environmental monitoring, humidity monitoring, SensorProbes, smoke detector, temperature monitoring, water leak monitoring
During a conversation this week, an associate of mine explained that his business is growing exponentially. His operation expanded from 5 locations to 18 locations in just 2 years. Considering the national economy during this last 2 years, I found this to be an astonishing and noble feat. But then he casually mentioned something else: one of his centers recently lost data due to a water leak. He mentioned it almost in passing, as if losses of this nature were to be occasionally expected.
Sadly, this type of water damage is fairly common. Not as common as the Old Spice Guy videos on YouTube, but common nonetheless. Read more
Environmental Monitoring During the Winter Months
Filed under: environmental monitoring, General, water leak monitoring
Today, we had our first major snow storm of the season. I’m a transplant to the northeast and winter in
Maine is still a jarring experience for me. My hometown of Vancouver, WA basically shuts down at the first sight of snow and doesn’t reopen until all the white stuff has melted away, which in a normal year is sometime before 4 pm on the same day. Around here, you just prepare, plow through and get on with business.
Winter requires some special preparation for the inside of your facility as well. With snow and ice comes the threat of water pipes bursting and power outages. Make sure that your facility is protected by having a back-up generator in place. You should also be sure that the main water pipes and any pipes that are running along uninsulated walls have been winterized. Read more
~JessicaFollow Me on Twitter
Avoiding water damage during floods
Filed under: environmental monitoring, water leak monitoring
This past weekend, the remnants of tropical storm Ida showed up in Southern Maine as a rain-soaked nor’easter. Fortunately, for us, we didn’t see the wide spread flooding and coastal erosion that other areas experienced further south on the New Jersey and Delaware coasts. 
Seeing all the news footage of flooded streets made me think about how important it is to be prepared for water infiltration due to flooding. According to the Red Cross, floods are among the most frequent and costly natural disasters, causing more than 90% of the damage related to natural disasters. On average, floods cause more than $4 billion in damages worldwide, per year. Proper preparation is equally important for businesses and homeowners.
Complete Environment Monitoring
Filed under: airflow monitoring, environmental monitoring, Intelligent Sensors, motion detector, SensorProbes, water leak monitoring
A soup to nuts environmental monitoring solution includes more than just temperature readings, humidity monitoring and smoke detection. If electronic equipment is in the area, it is often a good idea to monitor for other environmental conditions:
- Monitoring for water leaks
- Voltage monitoring for electrical brownouts or complete electrical loss
- Motion detection and automated photo delivery
- Airflow monitoring
Water leak detection systems in the server room
Filed under: environmental monitoring, water leak monitoring
With the importance placed on temperature and humidity monitoring and detecting hotspots in the data center, it is easy to forget that the second most common cause of catastrophic failure are water leaks. Whether your server room is located near refrigeration equipment used for building cooling, building facilities like bathrooms and kitchens or air conditioning units, precautions need to be taken.
Prevention
It all starts at the building planning level. Having an initial survey, to know if your building is in or near a flood zone, sounds like a no brainer, but it’s surprising how many people I speak with on a weekly basis that are in the heart of a flood zone with no water monitoring system in place. Once you know the situation your server room is in, it is important to take the necessary precautions by having the proper drainage installed, including a sump pump. This protects you in the event flooding becomes present.
Data center in hot water
Filed under: environmental monitoring, temperature monitoring, water leak monitoring
So here I was, thinking about what today’s blog would be, and my buddy Mitch gave me today’s title. Although a corny title, it describes an issue that happened with a customer of mine. The good news is that Ravica’s probes helped save the day.
Joe, the Admin for an ISP, had purchased multiple water sensors and temperature sensors for his six data rooms. Around 3:20am on a Sunday he got an alert from his SensorProbe. Apparently, the temp in one of the server rooms was rising. Since he was on call, he decided to get into his truck and see what was going on. On his way to the building, he received another page. The water sensor had triggered. He was now very concerned.
Once he reached the data center, it was obvious to him what had happened. One of the valves of the heating system started to reached its limit. This quickly caused the temp of the pipes to rise, which is what triggered the temperature sensor.
The relief vales reached their breaking point and started to spray water all over the first data room. He was quick to let me know that he shut down the water and saved the other data rooms from being soaked, since they were in line and showed signs of having the same behavior.
That means the investment in the temperature monitoring probes saved them thousands of dollars. If that isn’t the best reason to buy then I don’t know one that is!
- Jimmy D