Why Liquid Cooling Is Rapidly Gaining Adoption
Data centers operate at high power densities, and cooling directly affects both operating cost and reliability. As AI and HPC workloads grow, traditional air-based solutions become harder to scale without significant overprovisioning.
This is why many operators are turning to Liquid cooling. By transferring heat with liquid close to the IT load, they can support dense racks while keeping thermal conditions under tighter control and making better use of the existing cooling plant.
For teams responsible for Data center commissioning, liquid-based systems are a mainstream design choice that must be handled explicitly in requirements, design reviews, testing, and day-to-day operations.
Unique Risks of Liquid-Cooled Infrastructure
Introducing Liquid cooling changes the risk profile in ways that do not appear in a purely air-cooled design. Leakage becomes a central concern, so manifolds, hoses, valves and quick connectors near IT equipment must be chosen and verified with that in mind.
The coolant and the materials it touches also have to work together over the long term to prevent damage and loss of performance. Integration with the central plant is another key point: if the cooling equipment is not engineered and tested carefully, a single malfunction can impact a large part of the data hall. Solid engineering and disciplined chiller commissioning are therefore essential risk controls.
Commissioning Scope for Liquid Cooling Systems
The overall logic of Data center commissioning stays the same, whether the design uses air, liquid, or a hybrid. The process still runs from clear Owner’s Project Requirements through design review, installation verification, testing and handover.
What changes is the technical content: liquid loops, rack interfaces, operational limits and failure handling must be described just as clearly as power and air, and they need to appear explicitly in the commissioning plan and in the test strategy.
Typical scope elements
On that basis, the commissioning scope for Liquid cooling typically focuses on a defined set of activities:
- Review the design of primary and secondary liquid loops against the Owner’s Project Requirements.
- Plan and execute structured Chiller commissioning and verification of CDUs or other distribution units.
- Inspect piping, connections and leak-detection measures to confirm that the installation is robust and serviceable.
- Flush and pressure-test the liquid circuits before start-up.
Conduct functional testing of pumps, valves, sensors and control logic, including communication with BMS or DCIM. Ultimately, commissioning must provide solid evidence that the liquid-cooling system can support the planned IT load in a controlled, predictable way, both in normal operation and when predefined faults are introduced.
Functional Performance Testing (FPT) under load
Functional performance testing (FPT) is the point in Data center commissioning where the design is proven in operation. In a data center level-based approach, these tests sit in the middle and upper levels, as systems move from basic checkout toward fully integrated behavior.
For Liquid cooling, FPT under load should confirm that each rack receives the required flow and supply temperature, that control sequences behave as specified, and that alarms and interlocks react appropriately. Test campaigns should cover different load conditions, rapid load changes and defined fault scenarios, and the results must be captured in a consistent way so they remain useful over time.
Documentation, monitoring, and ongoing commissioning
For modern facilities, commissioning does not end when the first test campaign is complete. Ongoing documentation and monitoring are important to keep Liquid cooling systems performing as intended. The commissioning team should hand over clear records of design assumptions, test procedures and results, together with system descriptions that operations staff can use in day-to-day work.
Monitoring of key indicators - for example supply and return temperatures, differential pressure or leak-detection status - makes it easier to spot deviations early.
Periodic re-testing as part of ongoing Data center commissioning helps ensure that later changes in load or control strategy do not erode safety margins or efficiency.
What This Means for Data Center Owners and Operators
For owners and operators, the move toward Liquid cooling offers clear advantages but also raises the bar for control and documentation.
When the solution is well designed and thoroughly tested, it can support higher rack density and more stable thermal conditions while lowering the overall cooling demand. If it is poorly engineered or not properly verified, the risk of technical faults and service disruption increases.
A structured Data center commissioning approach provides a practical way to manage this shift: requirements are stated clearly, designs are challenged, the installation is checked in the field, and performance is proven with evidence. That reduces uncertainty around capacity and operation and makes investment decisions for high-density, AI-focused facilities easier to justify.
How CxPlanner supports liquid cooling commissioning
CxPlanner is a commissioning software designed to give structure and clarity to complex projects. The platform helps teams plan and document work around Liquid cooling in a consistent way by:
- Providing clear system and test overviews.
- Using configurable checklists for commissioning and QA/QC.
- Managing punch lists and issue follow-up.
- Planning and coordinating test sequences with built-in scheduling.
Teams can use CxPlanner to organize chiller commissioning, flushing and leak tests, and functional tests for liquid loops in one place. For mission-critical sites, the platform also supports level-based data center commissioning, from early equipment checks to fully integrated system tests.
Field data is captured once and carried through into reports and handover documents, so evidence of what has been tested and accepted remains available over the life of the facility.