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Cooling, Compressed Air and Process Valves for Data Centres
Data centre cooling is the one plant system that can’t take a day off. The chillers, pumps and valves that carry heat away from the data halls run around the clock, and when one of them falters the IT load has nowhere to put its heat.
Control Gear Group, specialists in compressed air and industrial equipment, was founded in 1973 and is based in Treforest, Pontypridd. We supply, install and service plant-room equipment with on-site engineers across South Wales and the South West, and we supply UK-wide.
What Does Data Centre Cooling Plant Need From a Supplier?
Four things: cooling that never stops, redundancy you can prove, energy use you can defend, and refrigerant records that stand up to inspection.
Facilities and M&E teams need plant that keeps running, uses as little energy as possible and comes with paperwork that satisfies an F-Gas audit.
Continuity comes first. The government’s data centres factsheet for the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill cites the 2022 heatwave, when two data centres serving the NHS failed. Most sites design against that risk with N+1 redundancy: one more chiller, pump or valve train than the load needs.
Redundancy only works if the standby plant is ready. A spare chiller with a slow refrigerant leak, or an isolation valve that no longer seals, looks like N+1 on the drawing and behaves like N on the day.
50+
years of industrial equipment experience
Atlas Copco Chillers, Process Coolers and Free Cooling
Energy is the next pressure. Every kilowatt the cooling plant draws counts against power usage effectiveness (PUE), the ratio of total site energy to IT energy. In the UK climate, free cooling from cool ambient air cuts how hard the chiller compressors have to work.
Free Cooling With the TCA
As an Atlas Copco Premier Distributor, we supply, install and maintain the Atlas Copco process cooling range. Atlas Copco is one of the world’s largest compressed air manufacturers and also builds industrial chillers and process coolers. For data centre plant, the TCA chiller is the usual starting point: 60 to 1,200 kW, free cooling when the ambient air drops below 12°C and optional adiabatic panels for hot spells. Our Atlas Copco chillers and coolers page sets out every model.
The Wider Chiller Range
The rest of the range fills the gaps around it.
TCS air-cooled chillers from 20 to 700 kW, with multiscroll compressors and a low-GWP refrigerant option.
TCX packaged chillers from 15 to 500 kW for smaller halls, comms rooms and plant-room process loads.
TDV adiabatic process coolers from 64 to 737 kW, which cool water below ambient by pre-cooling the inlet air through wetted pads.
Adiabatic coolers raise one question we can’t settle for you. The HSE’s guidance on dry and wet cooling systems says units that spray water onto the heat exchanger should be assessed for Legionella. Agree that with your water hygiene adviser before you choose between dry and adiabatic coolers.
Every Chiller Brand Serviced
You don’t need Atlas Copco chillers to use us. Our F-Gas certified engineers service and maintain all brands of industrial chiller, so a mixed fleet can sit under one maintenance plan.
Atlas Copco SMARTLINK remote monitoring reports chiller status and alarms between visits. A rising discharge pressure shows up as data before it shows up as a hot aisle. Our chiller service plans pair that monitoring with scheduled maintenance, so the standby chiller is checked as carefully as the duty set.
F-Gas Leak Checks and Records
Chillers hold fluorinated greenhouse gases, and the operator carries the legal duty. Under the government’s rules for checking F gas equipment for leaks, equipment holding 5 to under 50 tonnes of CO2 equivalent needs a leak check at least every 12 months, and 50 to under 500 tonnes at least every 6 months. At 500 tonnes or more you must fit a leak detection system.
Our engineers carry out the documented leak checks and keep the service log your auditor will ask for. When a chiller is due for replacement, we specify low-GWP refrigerants such as R32 and R454B, which lowers the CO2-equivalent charge.
Process Valves and Actuators on Chilled-Water Loops
A chilled-water system is only as reliable as the valves that route it. When an isolation valve passes, you can’t take a chiller out for service without draining part of the loop. Process valves are a growing part of our business, and our process valves and actuators page lists the full range.
We supply the valve types data centre loops depend on, selected by pipe size, pressure, temperature and the glycol mix in the loop:
- Butterfly valves, including high-performance, lined and triple-offset designs, to isolate chillers and pump sets
- Check valves to stop reverse flow through an idle pump
- Gate and globe valves for isolation and flow regulation on larger pipework
- Actuators and controls matched to the valve, the duty and the building management system signal
For actuated valve packages, we also supply from Festo’s process automation range. Festo is the German automation manufacturer, and as an official Festo partner we have access to its full catalogue and direct manufacturer support. Details are on our Festo pneumatics and automation page.
Compressed Air for Plant Rooms and Sprinkler Pipework
Data centres aren’t heavy compressed air users, but the air they do use matters. Dry-pipe and pre-action sprinkler systems keep their pipework charged with supervisory air or nitrogen, so the system can tell a real activation from a leak.
We are one of the longest established Atlas Copco Premier Distributors in the UK, and compressed air has been our core business for over 50 years. We size compact compressors with dryers and filters for supervisory and plant-room duties, then service them on a fixed schedule.
For planned work or a breakdown, we keep a hire fleet that can cover a compressor while it’s away. Our air compressor rental packages include dryers, filters and receivers.
On-Site Nitrogen for Sprinkler Pipework
Nitrogen is the alternative supervisory gas, because dry nitrogen limits the oxygen and moisture that drive corrosion inside sprinkler pipework.
Our industrial gas generators use Atlas Copco PSA and membrane technology to produce nitrogen on site at purities up to 99.999%, with no cylinder deliveries to manage. We supply and service the air and nitrogen plant, and the sprinkler system itself stays with your fire protection contractor.
Filtration, Hose and Pipework
Cooling water carries debris, and debris fouls heat exchangers. We supply side-stream filtration for chilled-water and condenser loops as an authorised Pall industrial filtration distributor of well over 20 years’ standing and an official 3M Cuno distributor.
Standby generators depend on clean diesel. Fuel that sits in a tank for months collects water and particulates, and the generator only finds out during a test or a mains failure. Our industrial and process filtration team supplies fuel filters and carries out condition monitoring, sampling and analysis, alongside panel, bag and HEPA filters for air-handling plant.
Chillers and pump sets vibrate, and rigid pipework passes that vibration on. Stainless steel metallic hose takes up the movement. Our assemblies meet Class 1 of EN ISO 10380 and the Pressure Equipment Directive 2014/68/EU, with material and test certification on request.
One Maintenance Partner for the Data Centre Plant Room
Our engineers can put the compressor and chiller under a single service plan, so one visit schedule and one report cover the plant room. We hold ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 accreditation and provide 24/7 emergency breakdown cover in South Wales and the West. Before a capacity upgrade, an energy audit of your compressed air shows what the plant room actually uses.
Chilled-Water Plant and Monitoring
Chilled-Water Plant and Monitoring
Atlas Copco TCA, TCS and TCX chillers, TDV adiabatic coolers and F-Gas service of all chiller brands, with Atlas Copco SMARTLINK remote monitoring under our chiller service plans.
Pipework, Loops and Sprinkler Supply
Pipework, Loops and Sprinkler Supply
Butterfly, check, gate and globe valves with actuators, metallic hose connections, and compressors, dryers and on-site nitrogen generators for sprinkler supervisory supply.
Water, Fuel and Air Quality
Water, Fuel and Air Quality
Pall and 3M Cuno process filtration, generator fuel filtration, AHU filters.
Pressure Systems and F-Gas Compliance
Pressure Systems and F-Gas Compliance
Every air receiver in that plant room is a pressure system. Under the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000, it must not be operated until a written scheme of examination, drawn up or certified by a competent person, is in place. We prepare Written Schemes of Examination for compressed air systems, because a receiver failure injures people and can take cooling plant down with it. Our F-Gas leak checks are documented the same way.
Talk to Control Gear About Your Data Centre Plant
The South Wales AI Growth Zone announcement in November 2025 placed new data centre sites along the M4 corridor from Newport to Bridgend. That corridor sits inside the area our engineers already cover, with the chillers, valves, compressed air, nitrogen, filtration and hose behind data centre cooling handled by one team.
Our scope has a clear edge. We don’t supply CRAC or CRAH units, data-hall air conditioning or gaseous fire suppression. Our work is the chilled-water and process plant behind them.
If you’re planning a cooling upgrade or a new maintenance contract, send us your chiller schedule with makes, refrigerants and charge sizes, plus your valve list and any compressed air or nitrogen plant. Our engineers in Treforest will review the F-Gas position, standby capacity and service intervals together, then arrange a site survey. Call 01443 843126 or use the contact form to book it.
Get in touch
Contact Control Gear today
Tell us about your site and we’ll come back with the right service, audit or system recommendation.
- Visit us Heol Groeswen, Treforest Industrial Estate, Pontypridd, Rhondda Cynon Taff, CF37 5YF
- Call us 01443 843126
- Email us enquiries@control-gear.com
Mon–Fri · 09:00–17:00
24/7 emergency call-out available