Data Center Cooling Resiliency

Data centers operate at the heart of the modern world. As businesses, their downtime is measured not in minutes, but in market value, customer trust, and global operational continuity. With most data centers sharply focused on cyber threats, there is one often-overlooked vulnerability that can bring even the most secure operation to its knees: the silent, steady, and highly predictable failure of buried steel cooling infrastructure.

A leading technology company faced this threat firsthand when severe corrosion was discovered on its 24-inch buried chiller lines supporting a 5.6-megawatt data center. The consequences of failure were stark: losing cooling for just 15 to 20 minutes would require a full data center shutdown, putting worldwide operations and stock performance at risk.

The Cost of Emergency Intervention

Faced with rapidly deteriorating piping, the company moved into emergency mode. Temporary truck-mounted cooling towers and rubber chiller lines were deployed to keep the facility online, costing more than $100,000 per month in rental equipment alone. The accelerated replacement of the main 24-inch steel chiller lines exceeded $2 million.

And all of it could have been prevented.

UTRS Brings Corrosion Expertise to the Rescue

Midway through the replacement effort, UTRS was brought in to evaluate corrosion control needs and safeguard the new infrastructure from suffering the same fate.

Corrosion of buried metal systems is not only predictable, it is 100% preventable with the right engineering approach. Leveraging deep experience in corrosion engineering and industrial infrastructure protection, UTRS designed and implemented a galvanic cathodic protection system tailored to the data center’s fast-moving project timeline.

The system is now installed and performing in compliance with NACE International SP0169, ensuring the new chiller lines are continuously protected from external corrosion and delivering long-term operational assurance.

Why UTRS? Holistic Infrastructure Thinking

UTRS regularly designs the technology infrastructure for large and complex data centers. But this project highlights a core UTRS philosophy: technology infrastructure must be protected from the ground up – literally. Preventing failure means looking beyond server racks, virtualization platforms, and cybersecurity. Eliminating risk requires evaluating mechanical and physical systems with equal rigor. Our ability to seamlessly integrate high-level specialty engineering into complex, high-stakes infrastructure projects made UTRS and ideal partner.

Cooling systems, buried pipelines, and mission-critical mechanical assets cannot be an afterthought. When corrosion advances unseen below ground, the result is often:

• Infrastructure loss that cannot be recovered
• Escalating repair cycles
• Unplanned outages
• Disruptive and costly emergency work

A well-engineered corrosion protection system extends buried infrastructure lifespans indefinitely, and it can often be retrofitted (even after years of wear). But once metal is gone, no solution will restore what has been lost, making proactive assessment vital.

Confidence Restored. Risk Eliminated.

Following UTRS implementation and commissioning of the corrosion control system, the data center now operates with confidence that unseen corrosion will not jeopardize operations, revenue flow, service uptime, or business reputation.

Future chiller line installations for this client will include corrosion control at the design stage, preventing emergency losses before they begin.