Using Heat to Keep Data Centers Cool: Freeze Protection for Mission-Critical Cooling

Mission-critical data centers run on reliable cooling — and reliable cooling can depend on heat. When the water and condensate that carry heat away from densely packed servers are exposed to freezing temperatures, a single frozen line can shut a cooling system down. With outages that can cost more than $1 million each, freeze protection is not a detail to leave to chance. A new white paper from Delta-Therm, “Using Heat to Keep Data Centers Cool,” lays out where electric heat trace belongs in a data center and why.

Where Freeze Protection Matters

Data centers vary widely in design, but most share the same vulnerable points. Cooling towers and chillers rely on a network of chilled water supply and return lines, equalizer lines, condensate lines, make-up water lines, and drain lines — and freezing in any one of them can compromise the cooling loop, the building structure, and the entire operation. Air handling units generate condensate that has to reach a drain. Relief ducts, roof drains, and gutters all need a clear path to grade. Back-up generators often depend on their own cooling lines, which are just as vulnerable during a cold-weather power event. Wherever water can collect and freeze, heat trace keeps it moving.

Heating cable protects the critical water lines feeding a cooling tower. Source: Delta-Therm.

How Self-Regulating Heat Trace Works

Self-regulating heating cable is the workhorse of freeze protection because it adjusts its heat output automatically to the surrounding temperature — more heat where it is cold, less where it is not. Mounted on pipes, drains, and gutters, it replaces the heat lost through insulation and holds pipe temperatures at or above 40°F, keeping water flowing and drainage clear. On roofs and in gutters, the same approach requires a complete, continuous path of cable to grade, so melt water never refreezes downstream and creates a new blockage.

A typical pipe trace layout using self-regulating heating cable. Source: Delta-Therm.

Control Systems Built for Mission-Critical Duty

Because the stakes are so high, heat trace on a data center is paired with robust control systems rather than a simple thermostat. These controllers typically provide 30mA ground fault protection, ground fault and low-temperature alarms, current sensing, low- or no-current alarms, and power switching to the cable — constantly monitoring the system and flagging trouble before it becomes a failure.

Not Just a Cold-Climate Concern

It is tempting to assume freeze protection is only for northern sites, but every state gets snow. Facilities in Florida, Louisiana, or even Southern California have seen the kind of sudden, severe cold events that put an unprotected cooling system at risk — the white paper points to a bomb cyclone that dropped more than a foot of snow on Lake Tahoe. Northern data centers that use outside air for cooling face the issue too: warm, moist server air still forms condensation, and in sub-zero temperatures that drain path can ice over and send water back into the server room.

There are no shortcuts with mission-critical infrastructure. Engineered heat trace is a practical, efficient safeguard that keeps data centers cool, dry, and running year-round. If you are designing or quoting a data center project, it belongs on the drawings.

Download the full Delta-Therm white paper: Using Heat to Keep Data Centers Cool

Electra Sales represents Delta-Therm’s engineered heat trace solutions. Contact your Electra Sales representative for spec support on your next data center project.