No matter what kind of controlled environment and industry you’re working within, maintaining a safe and productive cleanroom is absolutely essential to your daily operations — and even reputation.
Getting the right HEPA air filter, having a laminar airflow hood, and even making sure that employee apparel and cleaning supplies don’t contaminate the environment can all help to keep cleanroom temperature and humidity levels consistent.
But what are cleanroom guidelines and regulations regarding temperature and humidity levels in the first place?
What’s more, why are they so important within the cleanroom environment?
Keep on reading this post to find out.
Understanding Cleanroom Humidity Levels
Common cleanroom guidelines state that Relative Humidity (RH) levels in cleanrooms should remain between 30-40% RH year-round. Usually, temperatures below 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit) have a +/- 2% RH band.
Even though cleanrooms are pressurized, you’ll still need to take extra care to ensure that humidity levels in the cleanroom don’t fluctuate.
High humidity levels can cause a host of cleanroom problems, such as the growth of bacteria, product degradation/damage, corrosion, and static electricity. Static electricity directly interferes with the movement of particles inside of the cleanroom, which can cause serious production problems.
High humidity levels can cause solvents to evaporate and water to cool and condense moisture. Thus, compromising both process control and quality.
In a pharmaceutical environment, high humidity levels in the cleanroom can lead to clogs in the tablet dies due to powder inconsistency.
Plus, constantly fluctuating humidity levels make cleanroom employees uncomfortable.
These issues can lead to costly mistakes, low-quality products, and may even cause serious production delays.
Looking at Cleanroom Temperature
Now that you have a better understanding of cleanroom guidelines relating to humidity levels, let’s take a look at standards for cleanroom temperature.
In general, the temperature of a cleanroom should be 21 degrees Celsius, or 69.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Usually, a fluctuation of 2 degrees celsius is permissible.
Like humidity levels, it’s important to maintain a standard temperature in cleanrooms to keep employees comfortable. The reason why their comfort matters is even more interesting.
When cleanroom cleaning staff or technicians shiver or even sweat, they release a higher amount of particles into your cleanroom. This, potentially contaminating the environment and compromising production standards.
Where Can You Get Top Cleanroom Supplies?
As you’ve learned from this post, even small fluctuations in cleanroom temperature and humidity levels can cause serious issues for cleanroom staff and production as a whole.
You need to be certain that the cleanroom cleaning supplies you provide to your clients will help them to maintain industry standards for temperature and humidity.
Getting the right products and supplies can help with that.
Whether you need particle counters, cleanroom sticky mats, proper apparel, gloves, or other products, we’re here to help. We want to make sure the cleanroom supplies your clients use keep temperature and humidity levels within a healthy range.
No matter the kind of controlled environment at hand, Blue Thunder Technologies has solutions you can count on.
Learn more about the products we offer, and contact us with any questions.
The information supplied in this article is for guidance only. Not all cleanrooms will use the same procedures. Follow your specific cleanroom or company procedural manual before this guide.