Lab Temperatures

[mendip_discovery]

Just curious to know what lab conditions do other 17025 labs work to?

I was told 22°C is the target and we are 22°C +/-2°C but I can't seem to find a international agreement on the lab temp. Mechanical its 20°C and all measurments are a deviation from that.

Also what %RH are people aiming for?

[Berni]

The standard actually calls for a pretty wide range, something like 20 to 30°C. The more important part is that the room conditions are monitored using properly calibrated equipment.

But it appears that 23°C is what you will often see for electronics labs. The humidity is more about avoiding the extremes of the scale, like staying with 30 to 70 %RH. Test gear is not all that sensitive to humidity but will definitely go out if you start having condensation form on its components.

[binary01]

We are 20 +/- 1 degC, but that's only because we are primarily a mechanical lab, which is strongly linked to 20. It's more than a little annoying that there is a disconnect between mechanical and electrical world because all my electrical references are externally calibrated at nominally 22 - 23, so I need to add uncertainty to allow for my lower operating temp ☹️
I will eventually overcome it by dividing the lab and running different conditions, but it is a shame to need to do so, as it seems somewhat arbitrary.
As Berni said, I think good control is most important. In an ideal world we would match the conditions to those of the end user, but we don't often know that (especially for field equipment) and it would be impractical to change lab temp often. As long as we inform the customer of the test conditions during contract negotiation and on the report, they can consider the implications.

[mendip_discovery]

Right from the start we split the labs. Not just for temperature but they sometimes require different mindsets so nice to have a bit of separation.

Just think yourself lucky that the Americans stepped in a decided on 20°C as us brits were going for a much cooler temp something like 10 or 15°C where as the French preferred 0°C

I am just curious as I like to document where information came from. If the lab has to be this then refer to x page in y document for explanation etc.

[binary01]

20 degC is cool enough! I'm glad it's no cooler. Sometimes it feels strange wearing warm clothes to work in the Australian summer 😀

[mendip_discovery]

For those wondering about the mechanical temperatures have a read of the NIST Short Story of Temperatures.

https://emtoolbox.nist.gov/Publications/NISTJResJan-Feb2007-112-1.pdf

[Berni]

Right from the start we split the labs. Not just for temperature but they sometimes require different mindsets so nice to have a bit of separation.

Just think yourself lucky that the Americans stepped in a decided on 20°C as us brits were going for a much cooler temp something like 10 or 15°C where as the French preferred 0°C

I am just curious as I like to document where information came from. If the lab has to be this then refer to x page in y document for explanation etc.

That would not have been comfortable to work in for sure.

I guess electronics engineers just like it at a more comfortable 23°C. Even for me in the middle of Europe the 20 is kinda cold for indoors, so i can imagine Australians down there really suiting up for this sort of lab.

[mzzj]

For those wondering about the mechanical temperatures have a read of the NIST Short Story of Temperatures.

https://emtoolbox.nist.gov/Publications/NISTJResJan-Feb2007-112-1.pdf

Thanks, that was entertaining to read.

[Bud]

I would be sweating all over at 23C indoor even during winter season 
My Lab is 18-19C.

[TiN]

+23°C is a standard temperature for most of the electrical/RF calibraiton labs except dimensional.

Fluke's book Calibration Philosophy touches a bit on lab environment parameters and impact from that into calibrations.