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Freedom251 › Blog › CDU

How to Plan Power, Water, and Heat Rejection for a Liquid-Cooled Data Center

By Freedom251 Team · · 14 min read

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Plan a liquid-cooled data center as one coupled electrical, thermal, water and reliability system. Start with measured and forecast IT demand, map heat from the chip to the final rejection or reuse point, then select temperatures, flow, pressure, water treatment and controls from the selected server and coolant-distribution-unit (CDU) requirements. A design that optimizes only cooling efficiency can fail on utility capacity, water availability, residual room heat or maintenance resilience.

The practical sequence is to establish a staged design basis, define the technology and facility loops, size power and cooling for realistic operating states, compare heat-rejection options for the site climate and water rules, and prove the result with modeling, vendor data and commissioning.

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What must be planned together

Liquid cooling changes where heat is collected, not the need to balance every facility resource. IT electrical power ultimately becomes heat, while pumps, fans, chillers, controls and water-treatment equipment add their own loads. The electrical service, distribution system, cooling plant, heat-rejection equipment, water systems and controls therefore need a common set of load scenarios.

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A nameplate rating is not a measurement of actual operating power or heat release. Use workload assumptions, measured data where available and equipment information appropriate to the project stage. Replace preliminary assumptions with current server, rack, CDU and facility-equipment submittals as procurement progresses.

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  • Electrical basis: present IT demand, rack distribution, deployment phases, utilization, credible peaks, conversion losses, cooling auxiliaries and maintenance states.
  • Thermal basis: heat captured by liquid, heat remaining in room air, CDU approach temperature, supply and return temperatures, flow, pressure drop and transient response.
  • Water basis: makeup, evaporation, blowdown, treatment chemicals, leakage and service allowances, reuse, discharge and seasonal restrictions.
  • Reliability basis: target availability, redundancy, isolation boundaries, maintenance paths, failure response and recovery time.
  • Site basis: utility delivery limits, dry-bulb and wet-bulb climate data, water quality and availability, code requirements and any useful heat sink.

Document the assumptions in a controlled design-basis record. Show which values are measured, vendor-provided, modeled or provisional, and identify the date and operating condition for every important number.

Map the complete heat path and ownership boundaries

Draw the heat path before choosing equipment. A typical cold-plate arrangement runs from the processor or other cooled component through the technology cooling system (TCS), into a CDU, across a facility water system (FWS), and finally to a dry cooler, cooling tower, chiller-assisted plant, heat-reuse exchanger or another rejection point. Immersion and other liquid architectures have different interfaces, service procedures and fluid-management needs, so do not treat liquid cooling as one fixed topology.

The CDU as the boundary

The CDU commonly separates the technology loop from the facility loop. It transfers heat while controlling the technology-side temperature, pressure and flow and protecting IT equipment from facility-water contamination or unsuitable chemistry. The CDU temperature approach is a design constraint: the facility loop must be cold enough, after that approach temperature and distribution losses, to meet the server inlet requirement.

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Write a demarcation schedule that states who supplies, owns and controls each loop. Place temperature, pressure, flow and leak sensors where operators can see the condition of both sides. Identify isolation valves, strainers or filtration, expansion control, sampling points, drains, vents and chemical-treatment responsibilities. Define which alarms stop a rack, isolate a branch or transfer to a redundant path, and who responds to a leak or loss-of-flow alarm.

Account for heat that liquid does not capture

Cold plates can remove a large share of component heat, but memory, storage, voltage regulators, network equipment, power-conversion losses, lighting and people may still heat the room. The U.S. Department of Energy describes hybrid configurations in which liquid captures most IT heat while conventional air cooling handles the remainder. Size room air systems and air distribution for that residual load and for the operating condition in which liquid cooling is unavailable.

Step 1: Establish a staged design basis

Build present and future load cases

Create at least a current case, each planned deployment phase, a credible high-utilization case and maintenance or degraded cases. Include rack-level diversity rather than multiplying a single maximum by every rack unless simultaneous operation is credible. Show how many racks receive liquid cooling, how many remain air cooled and what happens when a liquid branch is isolated.

Translate each IT case into facility electrical demand. Include uninterruptible-power-system and transformer losses, power-distribution losses, pumps, fans, chillers, dry coolers or towers, water treatment, controls and other auxiliaries. Model both normal and redundant equipment states; a standby pump or chiller may be energized during testing or a failure even if it is not part of the normal efficiency calculation.

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Record site and operating constraints

  • Available utility voltage, service capacity, delivery schedule and expansion limits.
  • Climate design conditions and seasonal hours suitable for economizer operation.
  • Water source, quality, annual and seasonal allocation, treatment requirements and discharge limits.
  • Local building, plumbing, electrical, environmental and fire codes.
  • Availability target, maintainability strategy, access for replacing CDUs, pumps and heat exchangers, and operator staffing.
  • Potential heat-reuse customers, their temperature and schedule requirements, and the consequence when that sink is unavailable.

This checklist is a planning practice derived from integrated energy, thermal and water guidance; it is not a substitute for the codes or permits that apply at the site.

Step 2: Convert server and CDU requirements into facility-loop requirements

Collect the controlling equipment data

Request current submittals for every planned server platform and CDU. At minimum, obtain allowed facility-water supply and return temperatures, technology-side coolant type and chemistry, minimum and maximum flow, pressure differential, allowable pressure drop, filtration limits, water-quality limits, startup and shutdown sequences, ramp rates and transient requirements. Confirm whether requirements change by rack population, workload or altitude.

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Handbook classes provide context, but a class label is not a universal setpoint. Accessible ASHRAE material includes older class descriptions, while the DOE 2024 guide discusses newer W-class naming such as W17, W27, W32, W40, W45 and W+. Verify the current ASHRAE edition and exact limits with the selected equipment documentation before fixing numerical operating limits.

Calculate flow and pressure at the boundary

For each branch, calculate required flow from the heat duty and permitted temperature rise, then add the pressure loss of hoses, manifolds, quick disconnects, filters, control valves, heat exchangers and the CDU. Check the lowest-pressure rack and the highest-pressure rack, not only the average. Size pumps and controls for turndown as well as peak flow, and verify that a control valve can regulate without excessive noise or unstable hunting.

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Keep the technology and facility fluids compatible with wetted materials, seals, sensors and the CDU heat exchanger. Define sampling frequency, filtration replacement, corrosion control and a response to contamination. A facility loop that meets temperature but violates chemistry or pressure limits is not an acceptable design.

Step 3: Size electrical and thermal systems against operating scenarios

Coordinate the electrical model with the heat model

For every load case, show IT input power, conversion losses and all cooling auxiliaries. The heat rejected by the liquid loop should reconcile with the heat exchanger duty; residual room heat should reconcile with air-side equipment. Include pump heat added to the fluid and fan or compressor heat that reaches the space or water loop.

Use staged sizing when the campus will build in phases. Oversizing a plant can increase capital cost and reduce part-load efficiency, while undersizing distribution can block later deployment. Analyze the transition between phases, including the minimum stable flow for a CDU, minimum loading of chillers or pumps and the control strategy when only part of a plant is occupied.

Use modeling to expose coupled effects

Modeling resources described by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory can evaluate energy, water, controls, electrical and thermal systems and reliability. Use them to compare weather hours, workload profiles, equipment staging, failure states and control sequences rather than relying on one static peak. Keep model inputs traceable to vendor data and update them when equipment selections change.

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Step 4: Select temperatures and heat rejection together

Do not choose a heat-rejection device first and force the server loop to fit it. Start with the equipment operating envelope and CDU approach, then determine what facility supply temperature is achievable in each season. Compare the resulting options for energy, water, resilience, maintenance and lifecycle cost.

Chiller-assisted systems

Chillers provide predictable supply temperature across a wide range of weather and can support equipment with a narrow operating envelope. They add compressor energy, cooling-tower or condenser-water requirements where applicable, refrigerant systems and maintenance. Model part-load behavior and the hours when a non-compressor mode could meet the load.

Water-side economizers and cooling towers

When outdoor conditions and the CDU approach permit, a water-side economizer can reduce or bypass compressor operation. Cooling towers reject heat efficiently in suitable wet-bulb conditions but consume water through evaporation and blowdown and require treatment, plume management and freeze protection where relevant. Include the water-quality and discharge consequences in the operating plan.

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Dry coolers

Dry coolers reject heat without evaporative cooling-water consumption when outdoor air is cold enough relative to the required facility supply temperature. Warmer liquid-cooling classes can widen the hours in which dry coolers or other air-cooled devices are feasible, but the actual result depends on CDU approach, weather and the selected equipment’s limits. Fans consume electricity, and performance can fall during hot design conditions; verify capacity and redundancy for those hours.

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Hybrid and supplemental arrangements

A hybrid plant can combine dry coolers, chillers, towers or economizers so that the lowest-resource mode operates when conditions allow and another mode carries peak or degraded conditions. Define switchover temperatures, valve positions, minimum flow, freeze protection, transition alarms and the state of each loop during maintenance. Ensure the plant can reject the full design heat when a preferred mode or heat-reuse sink is unavailable.

Heat reuse

A nearby process, district system or building may accept recovered heat, but its temperature, flow and schedule must match the data center. Design a bypass to the normal rejection system for periods when the sink cannot accept heat. Reuse equipment, pumps and heat exchangers consume energy and add controls, so evaluate net lifecycle benefits rather than assuming every reuse opportunity improves efficiency.

Heat-rejection option comparison

Option Strengths Design constraints Questions to resolve
Chiller-assisted plant Stable temperature over broad weather conditions; familiar service model Compressor energy, refrigerant equipment and potentially condenser-water demand What are compressor hours, part-load performance and failure states?
Water-side economizer or tower Can reduce compressor operation in suitable outdoor conditions Evaporation, blowdown, treatment, discharge and weather dependence What wet-bulb hours and water allocation are available?
Dry cooler Can avoid direct evaporative cooling-water use Fan power, hot-weather capacity and dependence on achievable liquid temperature Can the CDU and servers accept the supply temperature at design summer conditions?
Hybrid plant Uses different modes for weather, water and reliability conditions More valves, controls, operating procedures and commissioning effort Are transitions, isolation and degraded modes fully tested?
Heat reuse with backup rejection Potentially useful output instead of rejected heat Requires a dependable sink and adds interface equipment What happens when the customer is offline or demand is low?

Step 5: Make the water plan explicit

Calculate the complete water balance

Estimate source-water withdrawal and consumption for each season and operating mode. Include tower evaporation, blowdown, drift or purge where applicable, makeup for leaks and maintenance, treatment-system waste, cleaning, commissioning and discharge. Separate water that is withdrawn from water that is consumed or returned, and document the accounting method used by the project.

Dry heat rejection can reduce direct cooling-water needs when climate and operating temperatures allow. A water-side economizer can reduce compressor operation, but it does not automatically eliminate tower water use. Compare the energy and water balances for the actual weather file, operating schedule and control sequence.

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Evaluate water quality and treatment

Source-water chemistry affects scaling, corrosion, biological control, filtration and heat-exchanger life. Define allowable conductivity, hardness, suspended solids, biological control and chemical residuals with the equipment supplier. Provide sampling points and a procedure for out-of-specification water, not just a design value.

Consider blowdown reuse carefully

The DOE describes reverse osmosis treatment of cooling-tower blowdown as one way to produce reuse makeup water. RO increases electricity use, creates a reject stream and adds treatment, monitoring, maintenance and operating cost. Include those loads and wastes in the facility model; water reuse is not a free efficiency gain.

Step 6: Design controls, resilience and failure response

Define failure scenarios before choosing redundancy

Write an action for each credible failure: pump trip, CDU outage, loss of a power feed, failed temperature or flow sensor, closed valve, contaminated fluid, high pressure, low pressure, loss of make-up water, tower or dry-cooler fan failure, chiller trip and loss of a heat-reuse sink. Specify alarm priorities, automatic isolation, ride-through time, orderly IT throttling or shutdown, manual actions and recovery checks.

Redundancy is useful only when isolation and controls preserve it. A common header, shared control panel, single water-treatment skid or inaccessible valve can defeat nominally redundant equipment. Show maintenance states on piping and electrical one-lines and verify that a technician can isolate one component without interrupting the remaining load.

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Sequence modes deliberately

Document startup, normal operation, economizer enable, chiller enable, heat-reuse enable, low-ambient protection, high-temperature operation, emergency shutdown and restart. Set deadbands and ramp rates to prevent oscillation when valves, pumps and chillers respond at different speeds. Interlock IT enable with proven flow and acceptable temperature, pressure and chemistry.

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Commissioning: prove flow, controls and heat rejection

Commissioning must be part of procurement and construction, not a final inspection. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory identifies pressure testing for leaks, flow tests to verify valve operation and flow rates, controls-sequence verification and load simulation as useful techniques. Interrupted liquid flow can cause outages or equipment damage, so test protective actions before production service.

  1. Pressure and leak test: test each technology and facility segment at the approved pressure, document results, inspect joints and verify that relief devices and drains are correctly configured.
  2. Flush and verify fluid condition: clean piping, confirm filtration, sample fluid and record chemistry before connecting production IT equipment.
  3. Prove flow paths: command every pump and valve through its range, measure branch flows and pressure differentials, and verify the lowest-flow rack meets its requirement.
  4. Check sensors: calibrate temperature, pressure, flow, leak and water-quality sensors; confirm their tags, alarm thresholds and trend visibility in the control system.
  5. Run control sequences: test startup, normal operation, economizer transitions, chiller staging, low-ambient protection, loss of a sensor and automatic isolation.
  6. Simulate load: use a safe heat source or approved IT-load procedure to demonstrate that the system meets demand, maintains temperatures and rejects heat in each operating mode.
  7. Test failures and recovery: trip pumps, power feeds, fans and CDUs as planned; verify alarms, redundancy, orderly IT response, manual procedures and restart sequencing.
  8. Close the record: capture as-built drawings, setpoints, calibrated instruments, test data, open issues, operator training and seasonal retest requirements.

How to compare candidate designs

Score each option against the same boundaries and load cases. Avoid declaring a universal winner because climate, workload, server and CDU specifications, water constraints, operating strategy and utility rules change the result.

Comparison axis Evidence to request
Equipment compatibility Server and CDU supply-temperature range, flow, pressure, chemistry, transient and pressure-drop limits
Heat capture Liquid-captured duty, residual room and ancillary heat, air-system capacity and failure-state heat load
Energy Pump, fan, compressor, treatment and controls power by weather hour and deployment phase
Water Withdrawal, consumption, evaporation, blowdown, treatment, reuse, reject stream and discharge
Climate fit Dry-bulb and wet-bulb hours, design extremes, freeze or high-ambient operation and economizer hours
Reliability Redundancy, isolation, maintenance states, failure response, controls independence and recovery time
Cost and staffing Capital, replacement cycles, chemicals, service contracts, operator workload and phased expansion cost
Heat reuse Sink temperature, capacity, schedule, interface ownership and backup rejection when unavailable

Quantify capital and lifecycle cost with project data. Generic efficiency percentages or water-saving claims are not transferable between sites.

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Common planning mistakes and corrections

Sizing from nameplate power alone

Problem: Nameplate values are treated as simultaneous operating load and heat release.

Correction: Build workload-based scenarios, include conversion and auxiliary losses, and reconcile electrical and thermal models.

Assuming all room heat disappears into liquid

Problem: Air systems are removed from the design even though residual and ancillary heat remain.

Correction: Quantify every non-liquid load and retain air cooling for the residual and liquid-system outage case.

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Choosing a dry cooler without checking temperature margin

Problem: A dry cooler is selected before accounting for CDU approach and hot-weather conditions.

Correction: Verify server and CDU limits, calculate facility supply temperature by weather hour and provide another rejection mode for extremes.

Treating water reuse as automatically efficient

Problem: RO or another treatment process is credited with water savings while its electricity, reject stream and staffing are ignored.

Correction: Model energy, water, chemicals, waste and maintenance together.

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Leaving commissioning until the end

Problem: Flow imbalance, wrong valve positions or unstable sequences are discovered after IT installation.

Correction: Put pressure tests, flow tests, controls demonstrations and load simulation in contracts, factory tests and site acceptance plans.

Assuming guidance is a code

Problem: A framework or handbook table is used as a mandatory project limit.

Correction: Apply current local codes and utility requirements, then verify operating limits with the selected equipment and authorities having jurisdiction.

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A practical decision sequence for project teams

  1. Freeze a design-basis register with current and forecast IT load, rack mix, phases, redundancy and site constraints.
  2. Obtain current server, CDU and heat-rejection submittals, including flow, pressure, temperature, chemistry and transient requirements.
  3. Draw the TCS, CDU, FWS, air-side and final-rejection boundaries, assigning ownership, sensors, valves and alarms.
  4. Model electrical, thermal and water performance for normal, peak, maintenance, failure and future-growth cases.
  5. Shortlist chiller, tower, economizer, dry-cooler, hybrid and heat-reuse arrangements against the comparison axes.
  6. Choose control sequences and failure responses before finalizing redundancy or equipment quantities.
  7. Validate utility, water, discharge, code and permitting assumptions for the actual location.
  8. Procure with measurable acceptance criteria and commission every loop, control mode and degraded state.
  9. Operate with trending and periodic retesting; update the model as workload, equipment and climate data change.

What the evidence supports—and what it does not

Liquid cooling can move a substantial portion of IT heat into a controllable water loop, potentially enabling warmer facility temperatures, economizer operation or dry heat rejection. It does not guarantee a particular water reduction, efficiency gain, supply temperature or rack density. The result depends on the server platform, CDU approach, workload, climate, water rules, controls and operating strategy.

The DOE Federal Energy Management Program summarizes the hierarchy this way: “The second priority is to reuse as much waste heat as possible (measured as energy reuse effectiveness) and then reject unusable waste heat through dry coolers when possible to save water (measured as water usage effectiveness).” Apply that principle only after confirming that reuse is practical and that the equipment can operate within its specified envelope.

The DOE 2024 guide also cautions: “No design guide can offer ‘the most energy-efficient’ data center design, but these guidelines can provide efficiency benefits for a wide variety of data center scenarios.” Treat that as a reason to model and commission the actual facility, not as a promise of a universal topology.

Historical rack-density examples in the 2024 guide, including observed 60 kW racks in 2013 and later racks above 125 kW, provide context for why liquid cooling is being adopted. They are not sizing targets for a new project.

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