The effects on IT equipment and electrical panels

[pete25]

My question is as follows:

Is IT equipment effected in any way from being too close to electrical panels(480/277 or 208/120V)? Please advise.

 

[Billy_Bob]

So long as the electrical equipment and wiring is encased by grounded metal conduit/panels and/or the IT equipment is encased by a grounded metal cabinet (typical), then there would be no reason to have any problems.

Also if IT wiring to peripheral devices is separated from building electrical wiring or one or both is encased in grounded metal conduit, then there should be no reason to have any problems.

More reading...
(Faraday Cage)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

 

[ron]

I'm sure there is some EMI that gets emitted from panelboards and such, but as mentioned, most enclosed equipment should be relatively harmless to IT equipment.
When I drive under a heavily loaded power line, my AM radio doesn't work so good for the same reason.

 

[don_resqcapt19]

And in the cases where there is an effect on the IT equipment, one of the most common causes is illegal neutral to ground connections.

 

[catchtwentytwo]

My question is as follows:

Is IT equipment effected in any way from being too close to electrical panels(480/277 or 208/120V)? Please advise.

Based on 25 years involvement in large mission critical data centers, I haven't seen any problems caused by the typical CPC (computer power center - AKA: PDUs). These typically have good-sized transformers & circuit breakers and are usually adjacent to IT equipment and cabling.

In MHO, I doubt a panelboard could be worse than that.