Industry
CRAC for Data Centres & IT Infrastructure | Australia
Data centres are the core CRAC use case. The cooling architecture decisions, such as perimeter versus in-row, hot-aisle containment and the setpoint envelope, directly drive PUE and capital cost. Getting them right at design stage is far cheaper than fixing them after the room is live.
CRAC Services designs, services and decommissions precision cooling for Australian data centres of all scales, from edge and comms rooms through to hyperscale data halls. Our work covers all topologies (DX, CDW, CHW, in-row and rear-door), all major brands (Vertiv Liebert, Schneider Uniflair, Stulz, Daikin Applied, Mitsubishi Heavy and Climaveneta), and density profiles from a traditional 5kW per rack up to high-density AI pods cooled by liquid.
We also partner with construction companies, builders and main contractors delivering data centre projects. If you need a construction partner that understands data centre cooling requirements through design, fit-out and handover, we provide thermal design input, equipment selection, ARC-licensed installation and commissioning, Site Acceptance Test evidence, and ongoing CRAC servicing under one contractor. That means the cooling is specified, installed and proven by the same team that maintains it.
On the delivery side, the cooling scope is built to recognised references: ASHRAE TC 9.9 for the thermal envelope, AS/NZS 1668.2 for ventilation and outdoor air, AS/NZS 5149 for the refrigerant circuits in DX plant, AS/NZS 3666 for any cooling tower or condenser water, and the Uptime Institute Tier model for redundancy and concurrent maintainability. Refrigerant work is carried out under ARC (ARCtick) licensing, and engineering sign-off uses RPEQ where a Queensland project requires it.
For builders, the practical value is a cooling partner who reads the brief, flags the high-density and redundancy decisions early, hits the program with commissioning evidence at handover, and stays on for the maintenance contract. That continuity removes the gap that often opens between the installer and the long-term service provider on a data centre fit-out.
Typical configurations
CRAC patterns
we deploy
Considerations
Key considerations for Data Centres & IT Infrastructure
01
Set-point envelope
Operating at the warmer end of the ASHRAE TC 9.9 recommended range (a cold-aisle target in the mid-20s C) cuts cooling energy without a reliability penalty for most modern IT, and is set at commissioning.
02
High-density bridging
When rack densities push past roughly 10 to 15kW, perimeter cooling runs out of airflow. In-row cooling, rear-door heat exchangers or liquid cooling become the economic answer.
03
Concurrently maintainable
Tier III and above need cooling that can lose any single CRAC unit, and allow planned maintenance, without a thermal alarm. That drives N+1 unit counts and concurrently maintainable water paths.
04
Design-to-maintenance continuity
Specifying, commissioning and maintaining the cooling under one contractor keeps the SAT baseline, asset register and service history aligned from day one of operation.
FAQs
Frequently asked questions
Do you work with construction companies on data centre projects?
Yes. We work with builders, main contractors and fit-out teams delivering data centre projects across Australia. We provide thermal design input, equipment selection, ARC-licensed installation and commissioning, Site Acceptance Test documentation at handover, and the ongoing CRAC maintenance contract. Using one contractor for design through to maintenance keeps the commissioning baseline, asset register and service history aligned.
What standards do you design and commission data centre cooling to?
Cooling is built to ASHRAE TC 9.9 for the thermal envelope, AS/NZS 1668.2 for ventilation and outdoor air, AS/NZS 5149 for the refrigerant side of DX plant, and AS/NZS 3666 for any cooling tower or condenser water. Redundancy follows the Uptime Institute Tier model, and energy efficiency follows NCC Section J. Refrigerant work is done under ARC (ARCtick) licensing.
What cooling topology suits a data centre build?
It depends on load and density. DX CRAC suits small to mid-size rooms with no central plant. Chilled water CRAH suits large halls with central chiller plant and is more efficient at scale. Above roughly 10 to 15kW per rack, in-row cooling or rear-door heat exchangers are needed, and above about 30kW per rack, liquid cooling. Most halls mix topologies, and we model the right combination for the brief.
Can you maintain the cooling after the data centre is built?
Yes, and that is the point of using one contractor. After commissioning we hold the asset register, the SAT baseline readings and the alarm configuration, so maintenance starts with full knowledge of the plant. We run quarterly and annual CRAC servicing, emergency fault response, and trend the readings so slow drift is caught before it affects the data hall.
Related services
CRAC services for Data Centres & IT Infrastructure
Locations
Where we serve Data Centres & IT Infrastructure
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