Quieting the data center
Let me start by describing the equipment in the farmhouse "data center". There is a wall mounted rack unit in the utility room. It contains – from bottom to top – (1U) a 12 port panel for the phone jacks in the residence; (2U) a 48 port panel for all of the network jacks (only 32 of them are wired); (1U) the Netgear 24 port gigabit switch; empty gap; (1U) the ReadyNAS 1100 with four 2TB drives. There is a temporary board on top where the cordless phone and DSL modem are sitting. Above the rack there is an uninterrupted power supply mounted to the wall.
With that out of the way, here is the real story of the day …
I was very specific with all of the contractors, "don’t bolt anything directly to the back side of the residence." It meant they moved a number of things around but in the end, the compressors, pumps, and circulators are all very quiet. There was one contractor who didn’t listen – me!
I proceeded to bolt the small rack mount unit to the wall. Initially, all was well until the gigabit switch and network storage were installed.
- Netgear GS724TP @ 46.5 dB
- Netgear ReadyNAS 1100 @ 50dB+ (like a Hummer’s MPG, it’s bad and only vaguely documented)
After sending out a request for suggestions, E and C provided a "first order" solution. The diagram is the result. First, a 1/2" panel (blue) gets small pads at the corners and is bolted to the wall in the same holes as the original rack. Next, approximately 3/8" of rubber padding is layered and an intermediate "isolation" panel (green) is bolted to wall panel. Another 3/8" of padding is layered and the rack mount (red) is bolted to the isolation panel.
The results are good but not perfect. The noise from the equipment no longer telegraphs through the wall but the noise level is enough to still be heard if you are in the adjacent room of the residence and there is no other noise.
In case you are still reading and you have looked closely at the first picture and you are scratching your head, don’t worry. You are not hallucinating. The rack mount turned out to be too shallow for the NAS and I have not found/ordered an affordable alternative. So, I sliced the rack diagonally on the sides and riveted new sheet metal sides, adding almost four inches more depth.
If you put legs on that rack I think some of the noise would dissipate down them too.
I couldn’t sleep last night and was overly focused on the noise. I went about completely removing the unit from the wall and isolating it from just about everything. It was perhaps 10-20% quieter in the residence but still audible to me. I think the stuff is just loud
now it’s time for Active Noise Control…
There is another passive solution – it’s nasty expensive and probably overkill, but if you’re looking for real silence, you may have to go this route:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/IsoBoxStu16/
The only issues (besides the nasty price) are:
- Takes up floor space, which you don’t have
- Reduces sound to levels that won’t be picked up on mic in a recording room, but I don’t know if it would isolate well enough to allow a silent house during sleep time
- Can create heat issues with the internally mounted gear