To find out how much cooling a server room requires, one must first find the heat load by working through a few steps. The first step is to find the total power consumption. One must add up the power ratings (in watts) of all the equipment in the server room, including the servers, any switches, and other devices that are powered but not necessarily part of a "server." The second step is to convert power consumption into something more useful to an air conditioning contractor, like BTUs. Each watt of power consumed generates about 3.41 BTUs per hour.3. Take into account the server room's dimensions: Think about the server room's overall size, which includes its length, width, and height. Remember to consider the walls, windows, and doors in relation to potential heat gain or loss. 4. Think about other heat sources: Include other likely sources of heat in your calculations, like lighting and people, who give off a lot of warmth—around 400 BTUs per person, on average. 5. Build in some extra capacity: It's usually a good idea to add a safety margin of about 10 to 20 percent to your final number to ensure that the cooling system you select can reliably and safely handle the workload without being pushed to its limits.After you have calculated the overall BTU demand for cooling, choose a suitable cooling system that satisfies or surpasses this capacity.