About five years ago I had a job in data entry, and we always were freezing cold, even when the weather was hot outside. This made it hard to dress for work. You would want to have shorts on because it was so hot outside, but you would freeze while working. On the other hand, you could wear jeans and a sweater to work, but you would sweat to death on your way from work to your car. I learned to take a sweater with me, and to try to bear the extreme change in temperature. They told us it had to be cold because they needed to have computer room air conditioning.
I had no idea what this meant, so I asked my boss to explain it to me. She gave me the look that said she was tired of explaining computer room air conditioning to everyone, but she told me anyway. She told me that if the computers were to overheat, they could have some serious problems. We had a lot of them, and on top of the weather outside, the machines also generated heat. This caused huge problems if not taken care of, and that was why they had computer room air conditioning that was set so low. We froze, but the computers stayed in good shape.
If you work in an office, you may not have to worry about computer room air conditioning, but if you work in a large place that is packed full of computers, you may have to put up with the same type of air temperature control. You are not going to have any luck talking your supervisors into turn the air conditioning down to a more comfortable level for you, so you might as well adapt. You might want to have a lap blanket with you, and always have an extra sweater in your office or cubicle.
If you are worried about your computer at home, you might not have to worry too much. Though you should make sure you have computer room air conditioning going for your own machine, you don’t have to keep it as cold. Whatever air conditioning you already use should be enough. However, if you notice that your machine is always overheated, you might want to get something else. Overheating can cause damage and lessen the life span of your computer, so make sure it’s okay with the heat levels, and always make sure the fan on the power supply is in good working condition.
Tags: computer room air, computer room air conditioning
