Frequently Asked Questions

KRCLAB is an Ankara-based company that has been manufacturing laboratory furniture and building turnkey laboratories since 2011. We make fume hoods, laboratory bench and cabinet systems, chemical and gas cylinder storage cabinets, canopy hoods and local exhaust arms, build cleanrooms, and also supply laboratory instruments, chemicals and consumables. We work for public and private hospitals, universities, research institutes and production plants, and build laboratories classified under GMP, GLP and ISO 17025.

Laboratory management means choosing equipment that can be calibrated and calibrating it at regular intervals, setting standard operating procedures and running the laboratory in line with the applicable regulations. Accreditation, in turn, is the formal recognition that a laboratory is competent to carry out specific tests or types of tests.

The working area should be kept lean and comply with laboratory regulations, with no unnecessary materials or instruments. All doors should close properly and windows should only be opened when needed. Hazard warning signs should be displayed at every entrance, complete and easy to understand.

Use the “Request a Quote” link on any product page or the form on the Contact page; if you come from a product page, the product is added to the form for you. Site surveys for laboratory projects are free of charge: share the dimensions of your space and your requirements, and we will come back to you with a quote.

Yes. The full product catalogue, the laboratory design album, the equipment and supplies catalogue and the catalogues for each product group are available as PDFs on the Catalogues page. Each product group’s catalogue is also offered on its category page.

Design starts by defining the work the laboratory will do and the regulations that apply to it. The consultancy we provide to organisations planning a laboratory covers: • Identifying the legal requirements for the installation and drawing up a layout that complies with regulations and standards • Preparing the technical specifications for laboratory furniture and materials • Defining the international calibration systems for the equipment to be used • Inspecting incoming materials so that the laboratory is ready for accreditation • Training laboratory staff in laboratory management and the applicable regulations

The first principle is flexibility: the laboratory must be able to take on new instruments and equipment without disrupting its layout or making it harder to manage. Movable partitions and modular building systems that allow rearrangement should therefore be considered at the design stage. KRCLAB bench systems are modular and fully demountable, so they can easily be taken apart, moved, extended and added to whenever required. Measures that keep potential hazards to a minimum should be planned before installation begins.

A project starts with an analysis of your needs and workflows, followed by design, mechanical, electrical and HVAC engineering drawings, manufacture, installation under our supervisors, a compliance check and handover. After installation the laboratory is checked together with our team and its users, tested and calibrated, and users are trained as part of acceptance. The duration depends on the scope of each project, which is always unique; the works programme is drawn up with the critical path method (CPM). We involve you only at the critical decision points rather than burdening you with detail.

Yes. We design your laboratory with AutoCAD-based laboratory planning software and prepare the plan view, elevations, 3D isometric views and installation drawings. Before installation you can see where each instrument will be used and with which furniture, and how the fume hoods will be positioned; once the plan is complete you can take a virtual walk through your laboratory. Changes you ask for during planning are easy to make and are reflected in the project cost automatically.

Installation is carried out under the guidance of KRCLAB experts with the support of our regional partners: the trained team installs everything exactly to the technical drawings, while local partners keep costs down and ensure compliance with local regulations and standards. With our domestic and international partners we deliver turnkey projects in Turkey and abroad. Every part is labelled with its room and its position in that room, which makes installation easier.

A turnkey laboratory is a complete process: selecting and designing the infrastructure to suit the applications, the detection limits set by regulations and the budget; positioning benches and instruments; supplying, installing and commissioning the infrastructure; and training the users. The company that takes it on should be more than a supplier working from a product list. It should be able to advise the investor from experience and, through the knowledge of its staff, its suppliers, its domestic and international partners and its references, deliver quality products and services as a whole.

The choice should follow from a risk assessment made when the laboratory is designed, based on the work to be done in the hood and the chemicals and instruments involved. General-purpose fume hoods can be chosen for laboratories that use lower-risk chemicals; work with hydrofluoric or perchloric acid, or with hot, concentrated mineral acids, calls for a high-performance fume hood. Alongside general-purpose and high-performance models, we make benchtop, low-bench, wheelchair-accessible, walk-in, stainless steel, explosion-proof, polypropylene and wall-mounted fume hoods in widths from 90 to 300 cm.

EN 14175 is the fume hood standard, in five parts: vocabulary and dimensions, safety and performance requirements, type test methods, on-site test methods, and recommendations for installation and maintenance. KRCLAB fume hoods are designed and manufactured to TS EN 14175 and hold a TS EN 14175 standard compliance certificate. Every fume hood we make undergoes an airflow test: a smoke test shows the airflow pattern, while understanding the air distribution in critical zones with certainty requires quantitative tests using the tracer gas method. After installation the fume hoods are tested and calibrated on site.

The optimum average face velocity is 0.5 m/s at a sash opening of 50 cm. The working opening should not exceed 500 mm and the average face velocity should not exceed 1 m/s, otherwise turbulence can cause toxic gases to escape. The control panel of our fume hoods carries an airflow monitor with a sensitive sensor, calibrated to EN 14175-3, and a stop prevents the sash from opening beyond 50 cm.

A fume hood should be placed away from supply air outlets, doors and windows, where there is least traffic, and not in very dusty, humid or hot locations. During work, materials should be kept at least 15–20 cm behind the front edge, and the sash should be lowered as far as possible and never raised above 50 cm. The extract fan should be switched on before the sash is opened, and the fume hood should not be used to store chemicals. The extract system must be able to maintain a continuous airflow and run 24 hours a day.

We make double- and single-walled ventilated, telescopic-shelf, glazed, under-bench and under-fume-hood, and fire-resistant chemical storage cabinets. The cabinets allow acids and bases to be stored separately; every shelf level has extract and supply channels, the cabinets can be connected to the ventilation system, and free-standing units have their own fan and fan switch. Which chemical is stored where is decided by a risk assessment when the laboratory is designed; in most laboratories, ventilated cabinets should be chosen for chemicals such as acids and bases.

Flammable and explosive chemicals should be kept in dedicated fire-resistant cabinets or rooms; the limits on how much flammable liquid may be kept in open areas are set by regulations. Our fire-resistant storage cabinets are built double-walled to EN 14470-1, with the body pre-treated and finished in baked electrostatic epoxy powder coating. The doors are lockable and marked to ISO 3864, and there are single-door, double-door and telescopic-shelf models.

Our gas cylinder cabinets keep compressed gas cylinders from toppling over and protect them from overheating. Indoor cabinets are for cylinders inside the laboratory: they are made to EN 14470-2 from 1.20 mm galvanised steel, double-walled, with a folding loading ramp, in internal widths of 60, 90, 120 and 150 cm, and a polypropylene duct fan can be fitted on top on request. Outdoor cabinets are suitable for use outside, with a cold-rolled steel structure on a 40 × 40 × 2 mm profile system and cylinder-lock doors. Wire-mesh cages with lockable doors can also be installed for cylinders and manifolds outside the laboratory.

Fume hoods and chemical storage cabinets are available in RAL 1004, RAL 7035, RAL 3020, RAL 5010, RAL 6011, RAL 9010 and KRC Silver; the standard colours for chemical cabinets are RAL 7035 (light grey) and RAL 1004 (yellow). Gas cylinder cabinets come in RAL 1004, RAL 7035, RAL 3003 and RAL 9010. Bench systems can also be tailored to the user with a choice of colours and options.

Choose furniture made of smooth, non-porous materials that are easy to clean, and avoid materials that are hard to clean or contain fabric. The steel parts of KRCLAB furniture are finished with electrostatic epoxy powder coating baked at 200 °C, and wooden cabinets are made of 18 mm melamine-faced MDF or B1-class flame-retardant melamine chipboard. Where hygiene rules apply, frames and base cabinets can also be made entirely of stainless steel, together with the worktops and sinks.

All three systems are modular; the difference lies in what carries the weight of the bench and the instruments on it. • C-frame: a C-type steel structure carries the bench, with suspended or mobile base cabinets. Suspended cabinets sit 180 mm above the floor, so the floor is easy to clean, and the back panels come off for access to the services. • H-frame: horizontal and vertical legs of 40 × 40 × 2 mm tube are bolted together on site; the base cabinets are lockable and mobile. • Plinth: there is no supporting frame; base cabinets on a 90 mm plinth carry the worktop and stand at least 20 mm above the floor.

Benches are 75 cm high for seated work and 90 cm high for standing work. Wall benches running along the walls are 75–90 cm deep; placed back to back, they form 150 cm deep island benches that are used from both sides. A 15–20 cm service void runs behind the benches, and gas, water and electrical services are mounted either on the bench or on service units built independently of it.

Wood and other porous materials are not suitable for laboratory benches; the worktop must withstand heat and the chemicals in use, and must not be damaged by chemical disinfectants. Different areas of the same laboratory may need different surfaces: • Compact laminate: physical and instrumental analysis, and wet laboratories that do not use strong acids • Corian: microbiology laboratories, thanks to its antibacterial surface • 316 AISI stainless steel: wet laboratories and fume hoods where perchloric acid is used • Polypropylene: wash-up benches with sinks, thanks to its resistance to acids and solvents • Industrial ceramic (DIN EN 12916): chemical analysis laboratories and fume hoods Test reports for the surfaces are available on request.

Yes. We survey the space free of charge, then design, manufacture, install, maintain and repair the ventilation system. Our fans, ductwork, grilles, flues, louvres and canopy hoods are made in Turkey. Besides general ventilation, laboratories use local extraction such as canopy hoods, AAS hoods and local exhaust arms, and ventilation should be designed together with the air conditioning, heating and cooling systems.

Yes, we design and install the services the laboratory needs to run. We lay the gas lines from the cylinder cabinets to every point of use according to the gases involved; for electrics, we position power points around the benches, fume hoods and instruments and prepare the lighting, switchboard, UPS, earthing and extra-low-voltage designs. Clean and waste water, sinks, fittings and emergency showers are planned around the bench layout and run through the service void behind the benches. We also carry out the building and refurbishment work and homogeneous PVC flooring in the same programme.

An emergency shower must deliver an uninterrupted 75.7 litres of water per minute, and an eye/face wash station 11.4 litres per minute, for 15 minutes, with the water kept between 16 and 38 °C. Eyewash stations should be no more than a 10-second walk from the hazard, on a level, unobstructed route with no stairs or ramps, and at least 1 m should be kept clear in every direction around a body shower. Our products are built to the requirements of ANSI Z358.1 and EN 15154-1 (emergency showers) and EN 15154-2 (eyewash stations), in explosion-proof and standard versions. We also assess existing showers on site against these standards.

Cleanrooms are designed for a temperature of 20–24 °C, a relative humidity of 50–60% unless otherwise specified, a laminar air velocity of 0.45 m/s ±20% at the HEPA filters, and positive pressure created by supplying more air than is extracted. We design and install the panels, doors and windows, pass boxes, air showers and HVAC together. After installation, temperature, humidity, air change rate, pressure differences, laminar air velocity and particle counts are measured, and HEPA filter and duct leak tests and sound level measurements are carried out.

We hold ISO 9001:2015 (quality), ISO 14001:2015 (environment), ISO 45001:2018 (occupational health and safety), ISO 10002:2018 (customer satisfaction) and ISO 31000:2018 (risk management) certificates, covering the manufacture of benches and furniture for laboratories and technical offices. For fume hoods and chemical storage safety cabinets we hold a TS EN 14175 standard compliance certificate and a CE declaration of conformity under the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. All the certificates, with their numbers, are shown in the Certificates section of the About page.

The main product groups are built to these standards: • Fume hoods: TS EN 14175 • Fire-resistant chemical storage cabinets: EN 14470-1 • Gas cylinder cabinets: EN 14470-2 • Emergency showers and eyewash stations: EN 15154-1 and EN 15154-2 • Laboratory fittings: DIN 12918, with colour coding to DIN EN 13792 and DIN 12920 • Industrial ceramic worktops: DIN EN 12916 The doors of chemical storage cabinets are marked to ISO 3864.

Once a laboratory system is installed, we provide training, service and spare parts under warranty terms. We also maintain and repair ventilation systems and equipment. Product-specific warranty details are given on the product pages; industrial workbenches, for example, come with a 2-year warranty and spare parts support.

Yes. We supply instruments such as analytical and precision balances, pH meters, microscopes, centrifuges, spectrophotometers, ovens, sterilisers and autoclaves, incubators, Class II microbiological safety cabinets and deep freezers. Merck, Carlo Erba, VITLAB, BRAND, HANNA, VELP and BOECO are some of the brands we work with; the full list is on the Equipment and Supplies page. So that the laboratories we build are handed over ready to work, we source your whole list, from instruments to consumables, from a single point.

Yes. We supply analytical chemicals, solvents for HPLC, gas chromatography and spectroscopy, culture media, reagents and solutions, and laboratory glassware and consumables. We also have special glass apparatus made to the dimensions and specifications that university, R&D and factory laboratories require. Share your list of instruments and materials, and we will quote with brand, model and delivery time.