When it comes to flood protection for data centers, there is only one goal: Water must never enter the data center.
Once flooding occurs, power distribution systems, UPS systems, and water-cooling systems may fail simultaneously. IT equipment may short-circuit, and data may be damaged, often resulting in downtime measured in minutes and losses measured in tens of millions.
Therefore, what data centers truly need is not “symbolic flood protection,” but verifiable, calculable, and manageable flood-resilience capability.
As a technical service provider specializing in building disaster prevention and standards compliance, Shanghai Weiwang, based on the FM 1-40 and ANSI/FM 2510 systems, has launched the FD-02 FM Approved Quick-fit Buckled Flood Door, upgrading flood protection from “experience-based judgment” to engineering-based quantitative control.
1. Why Are Data Centers Becoming More Vulnerable to Flooding?
With the increasing frequency of extreme rainfall and urban waterlogging, floodwater often does not enter directly from the front, but seeps in through underground passages, cable shafts, and basement entrances.
Once water enters the electromechanical areas, it may lead to:
- Simultaneous failure of power rooms, UPS rooms, and water-cooling systems
- Equipment short circuits and damp wiring, causing prolonged business interruptions
China’s Data Center Design Code and GB 50201 Flood Control Standard clearly require that critical electromechanical areas must consider external flooding and waterlogging protection.
FM DS 5-32 Data Centers and Related Facilities further emphasizes that flood protection must be implemented at building openings, not only at perimeter barriers.
2. FM Standards: Answering the Question “Can the Door Really Block Water?”
The core risk of traditional flood doors lies in “uncertainty”:
They may indicate water depth ratings, but lack testing under real hydraulic pressure. After seal aging, leakage levels cannot be accurately quantified.
The FM system provides an engineering-level solution:
- FM 1-40 (Flood): Used to identify flood paths, determine protection elevations, and define flood door layout
- ANSI/FM 2510: Through type testing, specifies the maximum leakage rate and structural capacity under designated water depths, and provides verifiable performance boundaries in the form of FM Approval
This means that flood door are no longer judged by how “strong they look,” but by how high they can block, how much they leak, and how long they can withstand pressure—all of which can be precisely calculated.
3. Core Advantages of Shanghai Weiwang’s FM-Certified Flood Door
Shanghai Weiwang’s FD-02 FM Approved Quick-fit Buckled Flood Door is not an ordinary customized watertight door. It is an engineered product developed strictly in accordance with FM certification logic. Its core advantages include:
- FM Approved Endorsement
Certified under ANSI/FM 2510, with third-party type-test data supporting design water depth, leakage rate, and load capacity. It can be directly used for technical reviews and risk assessments.
- Quick-Fit Buckled Structure
No complex tools or secondary construction required. Suitable for rapid deployment during non-stop operation or short maintenance windows, especially under heavy-rain alerts.
- High-Reliability Sealing Performance
The sealing structure has been verified through FM testing and maintains stable leakage control under long-term hydraulic pressure.
- Engineering-Friendly Interfaces
Leakage performance data can be directly used for drainage capacity calculations, emergency planning, and operational risk assessments, enabling true integration into the overall flood protection system of data centers.
4. Key Locations to Prioritize with FM Flood Door
In data center projects, Weiwang flood door are mainly deployed at the following high-risk openings:
- Entrances to Underground Electromechanical Areas
Power rooms, UPS rooms, battery rooms, and cooling rooms may cause system-wide impact once flooded.
- Cable Shafts, Pipe Corridors, and Weak-Current Channel Entrances
Common “bypass routes” for floodwater, where continuity of protection must be ensured.
- Ground-Level Data Center and Power Room External Doors
In cities with high waterlogging risk, these are the most vulnerable points during heavy rainfall.
Conclusion: Making “Data Centers Facing the Sea” a Controllable Risk
Flood protection is not a matter of luck, but of engineering logic and verifiable data.
When critical openings adopt Shanghai Weiwang’s FM-certified flood door, leakage can be calculated, drainage capacity can be matched, and downtime risk can be assessed. Only then can data centers truly move from “passive defense” to quantifiable and manageable resilient design.
With FM standards at its core, Shanghai Weiwang provides flood door solutions that can stand up to real flood verification for data centers.