APC by Schneider Electric ACHU300 InRow 300mm Water-Cooled Condensing Unit
Overview
The ACHU300 is APC by Schneider Electric's InRow 300mm water-cooled condensing unit designed for precision data center and server room cooling environments where ambient temperatures remain above 0°C. At 385.81 lb and drawing 200–240V single-phase power, this is a purpose-built cooling appliance for high-density rack rows — not a general HVAC unit. If you're planning a water-cooled InRow cooling architecture and need a condensing module that fits the standard 300mm InRow footprint, this unit is engineered to slot into that infrastructure. For a full view of the APC by Schneider Electric cooling and power catalog, the InRow line is one of the more mature precision-cooling platforms in the commercial market.
Key Features
- Water-Cooled Condensing Architecture: Rejects heat via a building chilled-water loop rather than air-side economizers, which means you're not fighting ambient heat loads in dense deployments. This matters in high-kW-per-rack environments where air cooling alone runs out of headroom — water-side heat rejection scales where air-side doesn't.
- 300mm InRow Form Factor (39.4" W × 37.9" H × 17.7" D): The 39.4-inch width and 17.7-inch depth are dimensioned for in-row placement between standard 600mm or 750mm equipment racks. Measure your hot-aisle/cold-aisle row layout carefully before ordering — this unit won't fit a 600mm wide rack bay without verifying aisle width allowances.
- 200–240V Input Voltage Range: Compatible with standard single-phase North American and international utility feeds in the 200–240V range, which reduces the need for step-up transformers in most US commercial data center environments. Verify your PDU or panel capacity before installation — at this unit's mass (385.81 lb), a site survey for both electrical and structural load is non-negotiable.
- UL Listed: UL certification means the unit has passed recognized North American safety evaluation standards, which is typically a baseline requirement for data center facilities covered under US building codes and corporate insurance policies. Do not substitute non-UL equipment in facilities where UL listing is specified in the design basis.
- Ambient Above 0°C Operating Requirement: The ACHU300 is rated for ambient environments above 0°C — it is not engineered for outdoor installation, unheated mechanical rooms in cold climates, or any space that could drop to freezing. If your mechanical room runs cold in winter, address that first or specify a unit rated for lower ambient minimums.
- Light Gray Finish: The light gray color coding aligns with APC's InRow product family aesthetics, which simplifies visual identification on the data center floor and is consistent with facilities that maintain color-coded equipment zones.
- 385.81 lb Shipping Weight: This unit requires a loading dock, pallet jack, and likely a dedicated equipment crew for final positioning. Factor rigging costs into your project budget — this is not a two-person lift, and field damage from improper handling on a $16K+ unit is avoidable with proper logistics planning.
Integration & Compatibility
The ACHU300 is designed for integration within APC's InRow cooling ecosystem. Pairing this condensing unit with complementary data center cooling infrastructure — including InRow cooling units, containment systems, and rack PDUs — is the intended deployment model. Water-side integration requires a chilled-water plant, distribution piping, and isolation valves appropriate for the building loop pressure and flow rates APC specifies for this unit; consult the APC InRow installation documentation for hydraulic requirements before committing to a piping design. For facilities also evaluating UPS and power conditioning alongside cooling, APC's unified InfraStruxure architecture is designed to integrate both under a single management layer. Electrical installation should be handled by a licensed electrician familiar with 200–240V single-phase data center equipment per local electrical code.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the input voltage requirement for the ACHU300?
A: The ACHU300 operates on 200–240V. Verify your facility's panel and PDU output before installation to confirm compatibility with this voltage range.
Q: What is the warranty on the ACHU300?
A: The ACHU300 carries a 1-year manufacturer warranty per the product documentation.
Q: What ambient temperature range is the ACHU300 rated for?
A: The ACHU300 is rated for ambient temperatures above 0°C. It is not suitable for freezing or sub-zero environments, including unheated mechanical rooms in cold climates.
Q: Is the ACHU300 UL listed?
A: Yes, the ACHU300 carries UL certification, meeting North American safety standards typically required by data center facility codes and insurance requirements.
Q: What are the physical dimensions and weight of the ACHU300?
A: The ACHU300 measures 39.4" wide × 37.9" high × 17.7" deep and weighs 385.81 lb. Plan for pallet delivery, a loading dock, and proper rigging equipment for final placement.
Q: Is the ACHU300 an air-cooled or water-cooled unit?
A: The ACHU300 is a water-cooled condensing unit. It requires connection to a building chilled-water loop for heat rejection — it is not a standalone air-cooled system.
The ACHU300 is one of those units that comes up when a project has outgrown air-based InRow cooling and the facility already has a chilled-water plant to leverage. At 385.81 lb and 39.4 inches wide, it's not a drop-in field decision — but for data center rows where you're chasing density and need water-side heat rejection to keep up, this condensing module is purpose-built for that InRow footprint.
Technical Highlights:
- 300mm InRow Footprint (39.4" W × 17.7" D): Dimensioned to slot into APC's InRow row architecture without breaking the row alignment — critical for hot-aisle containment integrity. If your containment system isn't sized for this unit, the containment seal design needs to account for it before the unit ships.
- 200–240V Input: Covers standard US commercial single-phase feeds without a transformer, which simplifies electrical rough-in. That said, at this unit's scale, confirm your panel breaker sizing and conductor gauge match the unit's full-load draw before commissioning.
- UL Listing: Baseline requirement for most US commercial data centers under AHJ review. If your facility permit process requires UL-listed equipment — which most do — this box is checked. Non-UL substitutes won't pass inspection in those environments.
Deployment Considerations:
- The ambient-above-0°C rating is a hard constraint. If your mechanical room or co-location space can see near-freezing temps during winter shutdowns or HVAC failures, you need to address thermal envelope before this unit goes in — operating below the rated ambient floor risks condensation and control issues inside the unit.
- 385.81 lb means this is a two-stage logistics problem: dock-to-floor with a pallet jack, then final positioning with an equipment dolly or rigging crew. Budget for it upfront; field damage on a unit at this price point is an expensive lesson.
The ACHU300 fits best in a planned high-density InRow deployment where the chilled-water infrastructure is already in place and the project is adding condensing capacity to an existing row — not as a first-cooling-unit purchase in a greenfield space without a water plant.
