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One of the most vital rooms at any company is the server room or data centre. The servers in your data centre contain the information that keeps your business running smoothly each day.

Dust is the enemy of functional electronics. That is why one of the most important things you can do to protect your servers and data is to regularly clean the server room.

What Can Happen If You Do Not Keep Your Server Room Clean?

Failure to clean the server room thoroughly on a regular basis can have serious consequences for your business.

• Servers and equipment can break down. A build-up of dust has an insulating effect, trapping heat. Additionally, it can adversely impact moisture and conductivity. As a result, your electronics may not work as well as they would if they were free of dust. In extreme scenarios, they may stop working altogether.

• You can lose valuable data. If your servers do overheat and crash, they may take their data with them. Losing your company’s data could lead to catastrophic outcomes.

• You may waste time and money. If your equipment keeps struggling or breaking down due to dust and overheating, you will spend unnecessary time and money making repairs or replacements. Both would be better spent on other aspects of your business.

• Sanitation is important in the server room, just as it is anywhere else. Sanitizing the environment will help to prevent illnesses and keep workers safe, healthy and comfortable.

Special Considerations for Cleaning Server Rooms and Data Centres

Now you understand the importance of cleaning the server room. But cleaning data centres is trickier than cleaning most office environments. In fact, improperly cleaning the server room could actually lead to electronic failure.

Here are a few special considerations to take into account as you are cleaning.

1. Moisture

It is common to use water to clean most rooms, especially while mopping up floors. But cleaning with water in a server room can be a big mistake. It only takes a few drops to destroy electronic equipment, and it is all too easy for moisture to end up where it does not belong. For that reason, you should not use water.

2. Dust

The whole point of cleaning your server room is to get rid of dust. But did you know that the wrong approach can just circulate dust in the air?

The way to get around this issue is to make sure that you have a HEPA filter in your vacuum. The filter will trap the dust, ensuring that once you vacuum it up, it does not just wind up right back where you found it.

3. Static

When you are wiping down electronics, you need to be mindful of static discharge. Sometimes, all it takes is a little bit of static to render a device completely unusable.

Thankfully, you can protect your electronics from static discharge with antistatic cleaning chemicals.

4. Delicate Equipment

Generally speaking, hardware is fragile. Even though your servers have protective casing, the reality is that they need to be treated gently so as not to damage any components.

What is Involved in Server Room Cleaning?

Cleaning the server room is an involved job. Here are the tasks you need to complete for a thorough deep cleaning:

• Electronics. Your servers, server racks, and rack tops all need to be vacuumed and wiped down. Again, make sure you are using a HEPA filter and antistatic cleaning chemicals! Otherwise you may create more problems than you solve.

• Raised floors. You probably have a raised floor in your data centre which you run cables underneath. You should mop your floors clean weekly—but remember, you should not

  apply water to the mop! Just use it dry. But do not use a broom. Doing so will just circulate particulates, scattering them around. Every few months, you also should vacuum the raised floors. Following the vacuum job, you should use the mop again, but this time, apply appropriate cleaning chemicals to it first.

• Subfloor. You only need to worry about cleaning the subfloor a couple of times a year. This is an extensive, time-consuming job that involves getting under the raised floor with a vacuum. Go slowly. Divide the room up into areas measuring a maximum of 24 square feet. Then, work through them one by one. After vacuuming, you may need to sponge off residual dust and dirt.

• Ceiling plenum. Just as you likely run cables under a raised floor, you also probably have additional cables traversing the area called the plenum in your ceiling. Cleaning the plenum is a similar process to cleaning the subfloor, and likewise should happen about twice a year.

• Other surfaces and equipment. Now and again, you should wipe down your doors and doorknobs, windows, light fixtures, and any miscellaneous equipment or supplies you keep in the data centre.

How Frequently Should You Clean the Server Room?

Cleaning the server room or data centre is an ongoing job. The frequency with which you need to do so varies from task to task, as we discussed above.

• Plenum and subfloor: Every six months

• Raised floor: Weekly quick mopping, vacuum every three months

• All other deep cleaning: Every three months

Basic cleaning should be done every day, just as in other rooms in your facility. That means that you should throw away trash, remove unnecessary clutter, and wipe down frequently-used surfaces.

Why Work With Professional Cleaners for Data Centres and Server Rooms?

This question may seem like it answers itself if you read the sections above. Cleaning a data centre can be veryinvolved. Here are the reasons to consider bringing in the pros:

• Specialized cleaning supplies. Rather than worrying about whether you have selected safe cleaning chemicals for your electronics, leave it up to a professional cleaning team to bring the right supplies for the job.

• Experience. Some of the safe cleaning procedures recommended for server rooms are very specific—for example, cleaning subflooring one 24-square-foot section at a time. By bringing professional cleaners in to handle tasks like these, you will be assured that all steps are being carried out in the optimal way to protect your equipment.

• Attention to detail. Chances are good that your in-house staff have a wide range of responsibilities. If cleaning the server room is just one of them, it is likely they will not be able to bring their full focus to the job. But when you work with a cleaning service, that professional team will be focused 100% on cleaning the server room. As a result, you can expect a much higher level of attention to detail, resulting in a meticulous, spotless data centre once the work is complete.

• Save time and money. By freeing up your in-house staff, you can have them work on other projects, making progress toward your company’s goals. Additionally, hiring professionals is less expensive than dedicating man hours of your own, shopping for cleaning supplies, and possibly even having to replace equipment if your team makes a mistake (which brings us to the next point).

• Peace of mind. A single mistake by your in-house cleaning team can be very costly for your business. When you hire professionals to take care of data centre cleaning, you can rest easy knowing your sensitive electronics are in safe hands.

Let Us Protect Your Equipment and Data With Professional Cleaning Services

Cleaning the data centre or server room is a demanding job calling for specialized expertise and supplies.

Not only that, but it is arguably the most high-stakes cleaning job on your premises. Doing it right can help safeguard your equipment from dust, preventing servers from overheating. Doing it wrong, on the other hand, can be a disaster for your business operations.

Boss Construction Cleaning helps numerous businesses throughout BC to safely and thoroughly clean dust and debris from their server rooms, protecting their data.

When you contact us for a consultation, we can come up with a cleaning schedule that fits your needs.

We can help you with deep cleaning your data centre several times a year as needed, or we can take care of your daily server room cleaning needs. We also can set up a schedule for both.

Ready to begin? Please give us a call now at (778)899-2006 to schedule your consult.