Air Conditioning in an ICT room

The Problem

Our new ICT room was opened in September 2000. We had used an old Science lab and managed to cram 20 Celeron 600Mhz base units with monitors into a very small classroom. The LEA were unable to remove the heater, which is centrally controlled although it was actually very rarely turned on.

The temperature in the room was very high, often in excess of 90 degrees. Although the Headteacher, Governors, and other staff all agreed we were not able to install air conditioning until the Summer of 2002.

Our solution was to go for a 30,000 btu, ceiling mounted cassette style unit with an outside condensing unit. The cost of this unit, including fitting was approx. £3000 plus VAT

I cannot evaluate the unit properly yet, because the LEA have not been able to install a power supply!

The unit is very discrete, and I am sure it will make a difference in the room.

Another solution is to use flat screen monitors instead of CRT ones. These cost approxiamately £150 extra each, and so the actual initial cost is the same. The air conditioning unit does require maintaining, not to mention the additional cost of running the unit and the difference in running costs between CRT and LCD monitors.

Our new rooms have 30 LCD based systems in and are a delight to work in. They also have the added advantage of huge amounts of desk space which transform the way that the room can be used.