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Specialist Rooms

Our expertise stretches over many types of specialist rooms. We have worked closely with clients to design rooms that are suitable for use within the engineering, pharmaceutical and design sectors (amongst others) to provide tailored solutions. If you’re looking for answers to simple questions regarding these specialist rooms, please call us or send an email or have a look at our brief explanations below to some of the most frequently asked questions – simply click one of the shortcuts below.


What temperature control do I need?

This entirely depends on the type of space you want to control.

A typical comfort cooling air conditioning system will normally work within a tolerance of +/- 4°C. This is suitable for most types of general office, industrial and commercial environments.

For companies who are perhaps undertaking product development, quality control or specialist processes a greater level of control may be needed. We are then looking to achieve Class 2 control conditions. This means a temperature controlled to 20°C within +/-2° and humidity control below 55% RH.

For more stringent room conditions where more precision is required, such as in the engineering industry, we are able to design and install Class 1 close control rooms or clean room environments where temperatures are closely controlled to 20°C +/-1° and humidity at less than 55%RH.

We can also offer a Class 1 “Plus” control room, with an even tighter temperature control +/-0.5° for very specialist requirements. We have vast experience of creating rooms like this for many clients, some of whom (like Rolls Royce) return to us to work on further projects. Once installed, many of our rooms actually prove to be much more accurate even than this, working to within a range of +/-0.2°C.


What class of control room do I need?

This will be decided by you as client, or as recommended by the supplier of the equipment to be housed in the room. As each client is unique, there isn’t a quick way to answer this question – we would be happy to share our experiences with you if you are unsure on the exact requirements you have so that you can make a fully informed decision. Call us on 0117 9523355.


What is a Class 1 control room?

A Class 1 Room is used where tight temperature and humidity controls are needed. These have a minimum specification of temperature in the range of 20C +/-1 degree and a humidity of less than 55%.

These rooms are used in processes for High-End Dimensional Calibration Activities and/or high precision measurement and inspection areas used for product audit and investigations where very close temperature control is required to minimise measurement uncertainties.

Within these Fine Measurement Rooms, it is vital to ensure quality control and testing purposes that the atmospheric conditions are controlled to a very high level. These types of control rooms are used in many industrial, automotive, aerospace and engineering companies.

A Class 1 Control Room will fully meet the requirements of an approved ISO 17025 measurement laboratory. Components requiring measurement must be allowed to soak/acclimatise to ambient temperature before being measured. Adequate soak areas/space will need to be provided for this purpose.


What is a Class 2 control room?

This is where the temperature and humidity controls are tightly controlled using specialist equipment and ventilation, in order to achieve close control temperature range of 20C +/- 2 degree and RH of less than 55%. Where we are designing and installing a new Class 2 Control room, we aim for fluctuations in temperature +/-1 degree in order to ensure that they do not exceed the +/-2 degree operational requirement.

These Class 2 Rooms are typically used by industrial, engineering companies for measurement purposes. Class 2 is the basic measurement room/facility for CMMs or other precision measuring equipment. The room is normally located in an area on the shop floor.

Activities including Production Inspection, validation or final inspection areas where work on close tolerant parts is to be carried out, calibration etc. Such as instrument/electrical calibration areas will usually take place in Close Control Class 2 Rooms.

Components requiring measurement will need to be allowed to soak/acclimatise to ambient temperature before being measured. Generally, there should be an area dedicated to this within the room itself.


What is a Class 3 Control Room?

These Close Control Rooms would be applicable for electrical and some mechanical calibrations such as torque, pressure, temperature measurement where the environmental controls are less stringent. These rooms would run at 20C with a tolerance of +/-4 degrees. However, in practise we would expect to achieve a greater degree of tolerance than the standard requires. There is no humidity parameter specified for these rooms.


How do you design and install a Class 1 room?

Typically, we work closely with the client to understand the location and required size of the room, if a new room, and the type of equipment that the room will be used for as well as access requirements. We carefully assess heat loads and air changes required in order that these are suitably included in the final design. The fabric of the building itself and the close control room is very important. To ensure that sufficient control can be achieved inside the room, the walls, ceiling etc. need to be carefully designed and considered.


I need a room to meet ISO 17025. Can TEK help with this?

All the Class 1 clean rooms we design and install meet the standards of ISO 17025. This standard sets the benchmark for the control conditions in laboratories that deal with testing and calibration. In most countries, any kind of laboratory must be accredited with this standard in order to demonstrate their competency.

Many industries that use test results, equipment or materials that are made and/or tested in closely controlled conditions will not accept anything from a lab that does not hold this accreditation. If you are in an industry that requires precision, having a testing facility that is accredited to ISO 17025 is an important feather in your cap.

Learn more about how we ensure our installations meet ISO 17025.


What is a Clean Room?

A clean room or cleanroom is a carefully controlled environment which is typically used in manufacturing, scientific or pharmaceutical industries requiring a low level of environmental pollutants such as dust or airborne particles.

Clean rooms usually have tight temperature and humidity controls, in much the same way as our close control rooms, however there are additional controls over the quality of the air entering the room. The requirements for controlled levels of contamination are specified by the number of particles per cubic metre at a specified particle size.

Recent rooms that we have built have had a requirement of temperature between 20-21°C to a tolerance of +0.5°C. These rooms have a piston air flow with HEPA filters with necessary pre-filters.


Tell me about Thermal Rooms?

For certain companies and industries, it is important to be able to test products and components at temperatures much higher than ambient temperature, and in addition at lower than ambient temperatures.

We have designed a new thermal room, specifically for this purpose which gives the user the ability to control temperatures to levels between 10°C up to 50°C with humidity at 50% RH. This enables testing of products at very high temperatures.

All temperature changes work in steps with a temperature variant of +0.5°C per day, together with a tight control on temperature gradient. We have recently completed 5 of these rooms for a client in Gloucestershire. We are the only company in the UK to design and install these rooms. Please speak to us today to find out more about how these thermal rooms work and how it may be of use to your organisation.


Can you build the clean room/close control room?

Yes, we are very happy to provide you with a complete turnkey package for your room, with us taking control of all details including room fabric, doors, lighting and electrics together with the specialist ductwork and cooling/humidity control equipment. We will design the specifications in close conjunction with you as the client and project manage the process. We have many examples of the quality of the room build and data logs of temperature and humidity control that we have achieved and would be delighted to share them with you.

Our Services

Air Conditioning Installation

Total Environmental Kooling are an established independent mechanical and electrical contracting company in Bristol offering a complete design, supply and installation service for air conditioning, climate control systems, ventilation and heat pumps.

Air Conditioning Maintenance and Servicing

We have an excellent maintenance team and provide full back up to all industrial and commercial clients including emergency air conditioning and climate control repairs, servicing, fault finding and regular planned maintenance visits.

R22 Replacement

Total Environmental Kooling carry out R22 site surveys and design and install R22 replacement solutions, in order to meet the ban on R22 refrigerant that was introduced in January 2015. We have the answers to your common queries on the legal requirements and implications on your business on our FAQ R22 page.

Bespoke Systems, Close Control, CMM, Thermal Rooms and Cleanrooms

We have extensive experience of designing and building Close Control, Cleanroom, Thermal rooms and CMM room facilities to very tight temperature and humidity control for many blue chip plc clients, including Rolls Royce plc and Renishaw plc. We can also improve existing facilities and retro fit systems to meet client requirements. We have carried out these projects in Bristol and Gloucester, the UK and worldwide.

Heating Systems

Total Environment Kooling Ltd provides services throughout the UK and overseas. We design, install, service and maintain systems for domestic, commercial and industrial sector.