Clinics and treatment rooms
In a treatment room, air conditioning is judged by the patient lying still beneath it. Quiet running, airflow that never lands on the couch and filters cleaned on schedule matter more than raw cooling power — and the installation has to fit around a diary full of appointments. This page is for small clinics such as dental, physiotherapy, osteopathy and aesthetics practices; specialised clinical ventilation, such as for operating theatres, is a different discipline covered by our large-project healthcare service.
A patient on a couch notices noise and draughts that a busy office never would. Indoor units differ by several decibels at the same output, and a small unit working hard at the top of its range is louder than a larger one running gently. Choose for quiet running at the load the room actually needs.
Position decides comfort. A wall unit above the couch blows straight onto someone lying still and lightly dressed; the same unit on the opposite wall, or a ceiling cassette with its louvres set to push air along the ceiling, cools the room without anyone feeling it.
Filters cleaned on schedule and coils kept clean are what keep a clinic's air conditioning hygienic — not a label on the box. Choose units whose filters are easy to reach, agree a servicing interval, and keep the records alongside the rest of the practice's maintenance.
A split system cools and recirculates the room's own air; it does not bring fresh air in. Where a room needs fresh air or extract — for example where a dental practice's fallow time depends on the room's air changes — that is a ventilation question to settle alongside the cooling, not something air conditioning solves on its own.
Drilling and pipework can be done outside clinic hours or on a closed day, one room at a time, so the practice keeps seeing patients. The landlord's consent applies just as it does to an office, and the permitted development right for heat pumps covers homes, not business premises.
So the practice can plan the work around patients, not the other way round:
Usually, yes. The disruptive work can be done outside clinic hours or on a closed day, one treatment room at a time, while the others stay in use. The programme is agreed in writing before anything is booked.
Not above the couch. Airflow landing on someone lying still is the most common complaint in treatment rooms. The opposite wall, or a ceiling cassette with its louvres set to send air along the ceiling, cools the room without the patient feeling a draught.
No. A split system cools and recirculates the air already in the room. If a treatment room needs fresh air or extract — for instance where a dental practice's fallow time depends on air changes — that needs ventilation, planned alongside the cooling.
Filters typically need cleaning every few weeks when the system is in regular use, and the whole system a professional service at least once a year; the manufacturer's manual sets the exact intervals. Keeping those records with the rest of the practice's maintenance makes them easy to show when asked.
Photos of each treatment room and the outside wall, your clinic hours and the postcode are enough to start. We come back with a programme that works around your patients.
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