Track data center air quality: particles, selected gases, temperature and humidity. Guide filtration, identify energy-saving opportunities and keep an operating record.
For equipment rooms, support spaces and the people who run them.
Your cooling air reaches the hardware.Particles: Dust can restrict airflow.Corrosive gases: Some gases can corrode electronics.
AIRBORNE CONTAMINATION
Air quality risks in data centers
Outdoor pollution, generator exhaust and maintenance can change the air reaching your equipment.
Particle buildup: Can foul cooling surfaces.
Corrosive contaminants: Can damage electronic components.
Humidity: Can affect how deposited contaminants behave.
Flair detects changing conditions in real time. When configured triggers are met, automations activate targeted filtration, such as ICON Boost, and keep your team informed. Airlytics records every event.
Use data center air quality readings and a clear response plan to guide contamination control.
Protect uptime.
Particles and corrosive gases can foul cooling surfaces and corrode components. Continuous monitoring shows when conditions change, so your team can respond early.
Keep air quality data on record.
Equipment manufacturers specify operating environments. Airlytics keeps a time-stamped history you can share with operations, auditors and equipment vendors.
Target cleaning and filtration.
Surface cleaning removes settled dust, while monitoring shows where airborne particles keep coming back. Together, they help target cleaning and filtration.
A coordinated data center air quality program
Measure conditions, review the record, interpret changes and plan the response.
Airlytics brings current readings and history together. Review events by location, compare periods and share time-stamped reports for customer audits, facility reviews and operating records.
Compare particle counts with selected ISO targets. For occupied support spaces, Flair’s demand-controlled ventilation (DCV) Index provides a calculated, CO₂-led demand signal.
Particle targets: Review 0.5, 1.0 and 5.0 µm particle counts against the selected class’s applicable ISO targets.
Ventilation energy: In suitable occupied support rooms, DCV can reduce unnecessary outdoor-air conditioning while maintaining required ventilation. Server cooling follows its own controls.
Contamination response: Investigate changing readings, target filtration and review conditions in Airlytics.
See what reaches the filter. See what passes through.
Use In-Duct Flair before and after an HVAC filter to investigate changes in the air moving through your system.
In-Duct Flair
TWO UNITS. TWO MONITORING POSITIONS.
Place one In-Duct Flair before the HVAC filter and a second after it. Follow particle trends on each side to investigate filter performance.
Before the filter:In-Duct Flair · Unit 1
HVAC filter:Central filtration
After the filter:In-Duct Flair · Unit 2
Compare the same particle channels under comparable airflow.
Review upstream and downstream trends in Airlytics.
Investigate changes, then check filter fit, seals and maintenance.
Check the energy opportunity. Pair particle trends with HVAC filter pressure-drop and fan-power records to guide maintenance and investigate avoidable fan load.
Choose room-air filtration around the layout, airflow and contamination concern. Coordinate it with central filtration and maintenance.
ICON M
Add filtration at room level
ULPA filtration, a carbon pre-filter and enclosed UV treatment. Plan placement around aisle containment, service access and the designed airflow.
Boost when needed. Return to Eco. Configured rules restore lower-speed operation after recovery, creating an energy-saving opportunity compared with continuous Boost.
Choose the measurements, connections and monitoring positions that fit your equipment and operating requirements.
For engineers: measurements, controls and standards+
Match the measurement to the question.
Particle count: number per air volume, such as counts/ft³.
PM₂.₅: particle mass concentration in µg/m³. Small particles can rise in number without a large rise in mass.
Selected gases and humidity: context for investigating site-specific contamination. Set humidity limits from equipment requirements and the contamination assessment.
Corrosion testing: metal coupon results complement continuous air readings.
Connect with your building systems.
Flair supports local building management system (BMS) connections through BACnet and Modbus, with MQTT and API options. Your configured BMS sequence carries out the approved response.
Set operating limits from your equipment requirements. Use corrosion testing where specified.
Monitoring points: Select locations around air intakes, equipment airflow and occupied support rooms.
Power and connectivity: Confirm USB-C or PoE power for the selected configuration, alongside the site’s network requirements.
Calibration and maintenance: Follow product documentation and keep service records with the monitoring history.
Engineering references
ASHRAE’s 2011 contamination guidance recommends ISO Class 8 cleanliness, with copper corrosion below 300 Å/month and silver below 200 Å/month. These corrosion benchmarks come from coupon testing, not gas-sensor readings. Apply current thermal guidance alongside the equipment requirements and contamination assessment.
Choose priority zones and the measurements each needs.
02
How to respond
Align reporting, filtration and site responsibilities.
03
How to sustain it
Define equipment service and ongoing technical support.
Data center air quality questions
Does liquid cooling make air quality irrelevant?+
No. Liquid cooling does not remove every air-exposed component. Power supplies, storage and network equipment may still rely on air cooling. Monitor the conditions required by your hardware and cooling design.
Why measure particle count as well as PM₂.₅?+
PM₂.₅ measures mass, while particle count measures number. Reading both helps reveal changes that a mass reading alone can understate.
What does Flair’s ISO targets view show?+
It compares particle counts with selected ISO 14644-1 targets. The ISO 8 example on this page uses the 0.5, 1.0 and 5.0 µm channels in counts/ft³. ISO expresses concentrations in particles/m³, so readings and targets must use matching units. A target comparison does not replace the sampling and testing required for formal classification.
Does Flair replace corrosion coupons?+
No. Coupons assess corrosion on metal surfaces. Flair tracks air conditions. Together, they provide different evidence for the investigation.
Can Flair support a local or on-premises setup?+
Flair supports local BMS connections and project-specific on-premises options. We define the data path, network requirements and available reporting features with your IT team.
PLAN YOUR FIRST STEP
Build your data center air quality program.
Tell us which spaces need attention. We’ll help you define the monitoring, reporting and purification approach.
