I have a customer who has inquired about the requirement of having a walkway between a set of racks to allow a person to easily get from row to row. They currently have a 36" clearance between 2 of the racks that allows them to pass through. I am not too sure if there are any code compliance issues with sealing off that pass-through with more cabinets. The concept appears to conflict with establishing hot-aisle cold aisles.
Here is the layout:
We have an aisle that is 9 cabinets deep. The aisle next to it also laid out to allow 9 cabinets deep. However, currently there is 7 cabinets deep, with a 36" pass-through, with the 9th rack already in place.
The issue would be an non-issue in a scenario where cabinets are in the middle of the room, from what I understand. However, the 9th racks are butted against an exterior wall.
Is the 36" gap required for access in to that row? I know it is a nice thing to do for personnel, however, not ideal for allocating space for racks in a full datacenter.
An additional note: the area between the 2 aisles is 3ft wide and serves as a hot aisle...
I'd check with code to be sure. There are requirements for either depth of the aisle OR a second exit. This is to prevent someone being trapped if there is a fire or electrical fault. Not as big a deal in a rack of computers, but codes enforcement officers are often quite strict about such things.
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CNN Internet Technologies
Data Center Manager
Thanks for the response Rmgill and I appologize for the delayed follow-up. I just received a call back from the fire marshal in our area and he indicated that as long as we have 36" clearance between the racks, we will not require a second exit.
Question regarding access to aisles
