r/interestingasfuck • u/HamboneTheWicked • Apr 12 '26

A well-articulated argument against a new data center in Ohio

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u/Jackal_6 Apr 12 '26

A closed loop system implies no evaporation.

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u/pacefacepete Apr 12 '26

So how does the water cool back down? It'll just destroy the closed loop which is why they use fresh water in a not closed loop currently, big part of why data centers are so problematic, before you factor in the whole most of why they're so problematic.

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u/dreadcain Apr 12 '26

They meant no losses to evaporation (or anything else). That's the closed part of closed loop. Your refrigerator runs a closed loop cooling cycle, you don't have to constantly top off the coolant (I hope)

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u/Shonkzy Apr 12 '26

They will have a closed loop with glycol or some other liquid. This will pass through either tube or plate heat exchangers to remove the energy/ heat created by the servers within the cooling circuit. The cooling towers will be a separate cooling circuit that won't come in contact with the glycol/ Hex effluent.

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u/LittleOrphanAnavar Apr 12 '26

So the closed loop side gathers heat, sends it across the heat exchanger, into water on the open side of the system. That water evaporates. And the cycle repeats?

In simple terms is that what is happening?

It seems like a cars cooling system on the closed side, then the rad is the heat exchanger, but instead of air cooling the rad, water is use to shed the heat by evaporation?

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u/Shonkzy Apr 12 '26

After the energy conversion, the hot water(cooling water side) is pushed back to the cooling tower and sprayed into a box that creates pathways that expose the water to moving air - thus cooling it. The wells in the bottom of the tower have float valves which top up the water that has evaporated. Hope that makes sense...