Monitor Temperature-Controlled Environments with Temp and Humidity Alerts

Historically, monitoring of temperature-controlled environments has been one of the most important factors to monitor for sensitive applications. Whether you’re monitoring server rooms to tell when the AC goes off and jeopardizes costly IT equipment and data servers containing valuable information, or a medical office refrigerator containing perishable vaccines, temperature is one of the most critical parameters to monitor to keep things safe.

Temperature Monitoring in IT Server Rooms

With the advent of low-cost solid state Relative Humidity (RH) sensors, customers with many, diverse applications are reviewing their decision about monitoring humidity as a parameter that may be needed to protect product quality or safety. For example, the temperature monitoring of IT servers is generally managed by an air-conditioned room, so temperature and humidity are kept at safe levels. However, a closer look at servers operating in summer months in humid environments has demonstrated that the AC is working very hard to keep temperatures at thermostat set points. 

Humidity Alerts for Temperature-Controlled Environments

While temperatures are maintained within safe operating levels for the most part, RH can creep up significantly as the dehumidification function of the AC system is overwhelmed by 85%-90% humidity.  

This is often not a serious problem unless the AC outlet is directly discharging onto electronic racks.  In that case, the humidity and temperature of IT racks may be cooled to below the dew point, leading to potential condensation on sensitive electronics.  Over time the condensed moisture will corrode connectors, leading to system performance degradation or, in the extreme, failure.

Easier to understand may be the case of valuable manuscript storage where extremely high humidity levels may lead to mold or mildew while low levels may lead to paper or parchment cracking. Here, both would be important to monitor.

How Temperature Alerts Protect Assets

The following table describes various applications where both temperature and RH may be considered and some guidelines as to whether or not adding RH monitoring and alerting may be beneficial.

Table 1: Factors to consider when deciding to monitor Temperature and Relative Humidity

With the low cost of digital RH sensors, adding humidity monitoring can be a cost-effective choice that more and more customers are making.