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Immersion cooling can be a safe, practical way to cool high-density servers when the fluid, equipment, facility, and service procedures are engineered for it. It is not simply ordinary servers placed in oil: it is a direct-liquid-cooling system with specific compatibility, containment, monitoring, and maintenance requirements.
How data-center immersion cooling works
In an immersion system, heat-generating server components sit in a thermally conductive, electrically insulating dielectric liquid. The liquid carries heat away from the electronics and transfers it to a heat exchanger or another cooling loop. The International Telecommunication Union’s Recommendation ITU-T L.1327, approved on August 29, 2024, defines the method as immersing all heat-generating server components in flowing liquid with those thermal and electrical properties.
Single-phase immersion
The dielectric fluid stays liquid as it absorbs heat. A pump circulates it through the tank and a coolant-distribution unit or heat exchanger, where heat moves to the facility’s heat-rejection system. The system still needs a way to reject heat outside the tank; immersion does not make heat disappear.
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A specialized fluid boils at the system’s operating temperature as it absorbs heat from components. Its vapor rises, condenses on a heat exchanger, and returns to the tank as liquid. This design may reduce pumping work, but it puts greater emphasis on fluid choice, containment, and environmental considerations.
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Why operators consider it for dense computing
Air becomes harder to use as rack heat output rises. The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2024 guide reports that high-performance-computing facilities saw rack densities of 60 kW in 2013 and have more recently surpassed 125 kW. Those figures describe the trend reported by DOE, not a universal threshold at which every facility must switch technologies. ITU-T L.1326 (2023) describes liquid cooling as an option when thermal power density exceeds air cooling’s physical limits. AI and other GPU-heavy workloads are among the conditions driving interest.
Liquid transfers heat more effectively than air, so an immersion design can remove heat close to the electronics and support dense compute. Because the liquid handles heat at the components, a system may reduce or eliminate server fans and reduce the need for room air-conditioning equipment. The actual change in cooling energy, footprint, and facility design depends on the tank, pumps, heat exchangers, heat-rejection loop, and the rest of the site.
How to read headline savings claims
Shell markets potential reductions of up to 80% in floor space and up to 48% in energy footprint. Shell identifies Mordor Intelligence research and its own internal evaluations as inputs to those figures. Treat them as vendor claims, not guaranteed or independently universal results: a particular site’s outcome requires its own engineering assessment.
What immersion does—and does not—mean for water use
A liquid loop can reduce reliance on evaporative air cooling, but that does not establish that a data center will use no water. The facility still needs a heat-rejection strategy, and water may be used elsewhere in the cooling supply chain or at the site. Water use depends on the complete design and operating conditions, not just on whether servers are immersed.
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Is immersion cooling safe for servers?
It can be, provided the complete system is designed and operated for immersion. The fluid must be electrically insulating and compatible with the actual server materials: circuit boards, plastics, seals, cables, thermal-interface materials, and surface finishes. A fluid that is dielectric is not automatically compatible with every component, nor does that property alone establish system-level safety.
UL identifies pressure-related failures, material degradation, and fluid flammability among the hazards that need attention. Its safety work discusses IEC 62368-1 and UL 60335-2-40, and its immersion program evaluates systems and fluids against electrical- and fire-safety requirements. A reference to these standards or programs is not proof that a particular product or installation is certified; buyers should verify the certification scope for the exact equipment and configuration.
Operational safeguards to plan for
- Fluid and materials: Obtain compatibility data for the proposed fluid and every immersed hardware material, together with the fluid’s safety data sheet.
- Containment and fire protection: Review tank design, spill containment, pressure-related hazards where applicable, and fire-protection provisions with qualified facility and safety specialists.
- Fluid condition: Define filtration, fluid-quality monitoring, inspection, and response procedures. Pumps, heat exchangers, seals, fluid chemistry, and monitoring are part of the critical cooling system.
- Service workflow: Establish how technicians will access tanks and remove, drain, or lift hardware for maintenance, and train them in those procedures.
- End of life: Require a plan for fluid handling, recycling, or disposal, rather than assuming the fluid can be treated like ordinary equipment waste.
How immersion compares with other liquid-cooling options
Immersion is one of several ways to move heat from IT equipment into a liquid loop. The right choice depends on rack density, retrofit constraints, service practices, facility resources, and total cost of ownership.
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| Approach | How it cools equipment | Practical consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Rear-door or close-coupled air-to-liquid exchanger | Servers remain air-cooled; heat is transferred to liquid near the rack. | Can be less disruptive in a retrofit because it does not require immersing server components. |
| Direct-to-chip cold plates | Liquid cold plates remove heat from selected components, such as CPUs or GPUs. | Memory and other components may need separate cooling treatment. |
| Single-phase immersion | All heat-generating components sit in circulating dielectric fluid that remains liquid. | Requires fluid handling, compatible hardware, tank access procedures, and a heat-exchange loop. |
| Two-phase immersion | A specialized fluid boils on hot components and condenses on a heat exchanger. | May reduce pump work, while increasing the importance of fluid, containment, and environmental scrutiny. |
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- Heat-density capability and expected workload;
- retrofit complexity and changes to racks or facility infrastructure;
- technician access, maintenance workflow, and required training;
- power and water use across the full cooling and heat-rejection system;
- fluid and material compatibility, safety provisions, and certification scope;
- noise, floor space, and total cost of ownership.
What to check before choosing immersion
- Define the cooling problem. Establish the rack heat load, workload, and facility constraints that an alternative to air cooling needs to address.
- Compare architectures against the site. Assess immersion alongside rear-door or close-coupled exchangers and direct-to-chip cold plates; account for retrofit work as well as heat removal.
- Request evidence for the proposed configuration. Ask vendors for thermal-performance evidence, fluid compatibility data, safety data sheets, and the scope of any relevant testing or certification.
- Design operations before deployment. Document tank access, hardware removal, filtration and monitoring, spill response, fire protection, and technician training.
- Plan the facility loop and fluid lifecycle. Confirm heat rejection, water and power assumptions, containment, and end-of-life handling for the specific site.
- Model the full cost. Compare equipment, facility changes, operations, maintenance, and energy using the same assumptions. The cited sources establish no universally applicable immersion-cost figure or payback period.
Standards and guidance to put in context
The DOE’s 2024 guide identifies immersion and cold plates as direct-liquid-cooling technologies and summarizes ASHRAE water classes W17, W27, W32, W40, W45, and W+. ITU-T L.1327 provides a selection framework that considers climate, building form, cabinet power density, and business needs. These resources help frame design choices; they do not replace engineering for an individual facility.
ISO/IEC AWI TS 22237-44 addresses architectural, mechanical, electrical, and communications guidance for liquid-cooling applications in data centers. As of its April 2026 project approval and registration, it is an under-development work item, not a completed normative standard.
The practical verdict
Immersion cooling is a legitimate option for high-density data centers, not a reason to assume servers will be damaged by liquid. Its dependability rests on the full engineered system: suitable dielectric fluid, verified material compatibility, safe containment, a sound heat-rejection design, and disciplined service procedures. Compare it with cold plates and close-coupled liquid systems using measured site needs rather than headline savings claims.
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