Temperature and Humidity For Small Business Technology
As we approached the cooler and drier seasons, monitoring the environmental conditions in your small business is critical to ensure the uptime and reliability of your technology. Maintaining the recommended temperature and humidity levels in your small office can help reduce unplanned downtime caused by environmental conditions and save your small business thousands of dollars.
What is the recommended temperature?
Operating your small business technology for extended periods of time at either high temperatures or low temperatures greatly reduces the reliability and longevity of those components and will likely cause unplanned downtime. The recommended ambient temperature for your IT technology is to keep it between 68 degrees and 78 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal system reliability. This recommended temperature range gives you a safe buffer for your equipment in the event the air conditioning or heating fails while making it easier to maintain a safe relative humidity level.
The agreed-upon standard in the computer industry says that your equipment should never be operated when the ambient temperature has exceeded 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
What is the recommended humidity?
Relative humidity (RH) is most commonly defined as the amount of moisture in the air at a given temperature in relation to the maximum amount of moisture the air could hold at the same temperature. The recommended relative humidity level for small businesses is between 45% and 55% to give you optimal performance and reliability.
When your relative humidity levels are too high, you can get water condensation and corrosion in your hardware. This will give you component failures in your computers. As we approach winter, most often the relative humidity lowers. This will cause electrostatic discharge. This can also cause damage to sensitive components. If your small business is experiencing static electricity, consider purchasing a humidifier for your small business. This will help increase the life of your components and small business technology.
Contact us to find out more details about temperature and humidity levels for your small business.
