Renting a Climate Chamber: Pros and Cons

Rental of Capital Goods

In recent years, especially over the last decade, we have witnessed exponential growth in rental and leasing for many capital goods, which in the past were mostly purchased directly. The most common example is certainly automobiles, but not only that. Industrial machinery and various laboratory equipment, precisely the types of instrumentation relevant to our application, are also quite popular in this form today.

The reason? In most cases, they are expensive goods, but nonetheless essential for industrial and scientific research.

As a result, the offers of similar services by many manufacturing companies are increasing, as they have found new profit opportunities.

Rental of a Climate Chamber

A climatic chamber is a high-tech instrument and comes at a significant priceif you opt for a high-quality.

For a laboratory technician, getting management to approve the budget for an expensive purchase can be a difficult task.

Moreover, it is not uncommon to have to complete a one-off measurement or several measurements concentrated all in a short period of time and not need the instrument always available.

Therefore, many companies often look for solutions other than purchasing, especially when they need a limited number of tests, or if, for example, they are in a start-up phase with limited funds.

Renting a Climate Chamber: The Pros  

Let's now see what the advantages of renting a climate chamber can be:

• Convenience in cases of limited frequency of use: if a company's requirement is to perform a specific test only once, rarely or for a short concentrated period of time, renting or leasing the equipment may be cost-effective 

• Convenience for limited budgets: Often, startups or small-to-medium-sized companies with limited liquidity still need to perform certain types of tests. Even in this case, renting can be a good option. Renting doesn't require a large initial outlay, and the price usually includes virtually everything needed to complete your test

• Management of ordinary and extraordinary technical assistance: If you rent or lease equipment, you don't have to worry about maintenance and/or possible breakdowns: in the event of a malfunction, the climatic chamber will hypothetically have to be replaced with a functioning one from the supplier. Furthermore, you won't have to worry about wear and tear on the equipment.

• Possibility of eventual redemption: some companies offer the possibility of totally redeeming the instrument at the end of the rental period, in some cases even recovering part of the rental

• Elimination of disposal costs: obviously there will be no costs at the end of the product's life cycle, but the manufacturer or distributor of the climatic chamber will shoulder this burden.

Perform Climatic Stress Tests

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Renting a Climate Chamber: The Cons 

What are the likely disadvantages of renting a climate chamber ?

• Possible new test requirements: It is very common that, after having rented a device, one finds that one has to repeat the test several times, or, in the worst cases, that one has a new requirement, which requires further sets of climatic tests.

• No real convenience: the cost of a rental, especially in long-term cases, often approaches the cost of a new climatic chamber. In short-term cases, however, the unit cost for a single test can be proportionally exorbitant. Obviously, companies, to protect themselves from the risk of possible breakdowns of the rental machine, during use or transport, will have to keep prices high enough to continue providing this service without losing money.

• Unclear/inconvenient/misleading contractual arrangements: From a legal perspective, it's not always clear where the company's liability ends and the buyer's begins, and what costs are actually covered in the event of malfunctions. It becomes difficult to determine what is actually covered by the contract, with the risk of having to face unforeseen costs.

• Long product life cycle: The increase in rentals in recent years is primarily due to a shortening of the product life cycle. Technology is advancing faster and faster, so capital goods become obsolete sooner. However, the climatic chamber is not a "commercial" instrument and has a very long life cycle. Even used equipment maintains a fairly high value. 
• You don't have the tool: seemingly the most trivial reason, but actually the most important. Not having the tool means you can't use it every time you encounter a new requirement or need to repeat a test. 

All the reasons mentioned above lead to the same conclusion: by renting a climate chamber you will end up, in some cases, spending more on the rental than you would have spent on the purchase, or even being forced to purchase the climate chamber after having rented it for a long time.

FDM Solutions

At FDM, we understand the pros and cons of renting and purchasing climate chambers. As manufacturers, we strive to provide high-quality solutions at competitive prices. 

We provide equipment for various price ranges and requirements, drawing on our 70 years of experience in the field of climate control.

We will be able to advise you on the best solution for every budget and type of test.

Our conditions are clear and without surprises. 

All FDM products are built with the highest-quality components, have a long lifespan, and require minimal maintenance. But even if you need it, our technical support won't leave you alone. You can contact us free of charge by phone or email, and we'll do everything we can to resolve any issues you may have. Do you have a problem we can't resolve remotely? If so, we have official technicians available nationwide and beyond.

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Contact us for further information on FDM Climatic Chambers.
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Reference Standards

• ISO/IEC 17025 — General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories, reference for accredited laboratories also for the use of rented assets.
• GDP EU 2013/C 343/01 — Good Distribution Practice for medicinal products for human use, applicable to cold chain qualification on pharmaceutical rental chambers.
• ISO 9001:2015 — Quality management systems requirements, quality system basis for critical equipment rental suppliers.
• ASTM E2877 — Standard Guide for Digital Contact Thermometers, addresses preventive maintenance procedures for thermal instrumentation.
• DIN EN 17412-1 — Building Information Modelling: applicable to the design of long-term rentals integrated into construction sites.
• VDI 4707 — Rent of technical equipment: German guidelines for B2B technical rental contracts.

Authoritative Sources

• ACCREDIA – Italian Accreditation Body. The only Italian accreditation body recognized in Europe for ISO/IEC 17025.
• EUROLAB – European Federation of National Associations of Measurement, Testing, and Analytical Laboratories. European federation of testing laboratories and associations.
• EA – European Accreditation. European reference for the mutual recognition of ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO 17020 accreditations.

Learn more: Discover our CO2 test chamber available for rent, designed and manufactured by FDM Environment Makers.

Frequently Asked Questions about Climatic Chamber Rental

TCO of rental vs. purchase: how do you compare?

The Total Cost of Ownership of a purchased climatic chamber includes: (1) initial investment 15,000-150,000 EUR depending on volume/performance; (2) installation 2,000-10,000 EUR (crane, foundation, utilities); (3) electricity 2,000-8,000 EUR/year depending on usage profile; (4) maintenance 5-8% of value/year; (5) annual calibration 800-2,500 EUR; (6) consumables (LN2, CO2, filters) 1,000-15,000 EUR/year; (7) obsolescence 10-15% devaluation/year; (8) disposal 2,000-8,000 EUR. Rental includes : monthly fee of €800-€8,000/month depending on model and duration, including routine maintenance and calibration, often with a 24-48 hour replacement guarantee. Break-even point: <18 months is almost always convenient; 18-36 months depends on the intensity of use and internal maintenance; >36 continuous months is generally more convenient for purchase if usage coverage is >50%. 5-year NPV analysis with a 4-6% discount rate and standard benchmarks for decision making.

Short-term vs long-term contract?

Short-term rental ( 1-3 months) covers specific needs: peak workload for product qualification deadlines, one-off testing (e.g., IEC 60068 qualification before product launch), temporary replacement during internal fault chambers, use on construction sites or remote sites. Features: higher price per day/week (+30-60% compared to long-term), no customization, rapid delivery and collection (typically 72 hours), suitable for emergencies. Long-term rental (6-36 months) is strategic: support for specific R&D projects, GMP qualification support on new production sites, backup capacity during expansion, and purchase-to-own options with an agreed-upon residual value. Features: competitive monthly fee (20-40% discount vs. short-term), customizable setpoints and accessories, inclusion of periodic maintenance and calibrations, periodic technology upgrades. Contracts must clarify: insurance liability, guaranteed uptime (typically >=95%), 24-48 hour intervention SLA, penalties for improper use, termination clauses.

IQ/OQ qualification of rental for GMP?

The use of rented climatic chambers in the GMP pharma requires full qualification according to Annex 15 GMP EU and FDA 21 CFR 211. The rental provider must provide: (1) IQ (Installation Qualification) as-built documentation of the rented asset, traceability of sensors and critical components, verification of connected utilities (electricity, water, technical gases); (2) OQ (Operational Qualification) performance tests at typical setpoints, alarm verification, multi-point calibration with ACCREDIA references; (3) PQ (Performance Qualification) thermal mapping at 9-15 points at typical load for >= 72 h, uniformity verification; the certificate of conformity must be specific to the serial number of the unit, with a typical validity date of 12 months. GMP audit on the customer's site verifies consistency between rental documentation and operational reality. Change control when the leased unit is replaced requires a short requalification (typically a subset OQ + 24-hour accelerated PQ) to validate the continuity of the validated process. GMP contracts specify documented deliverables and maximum intervention/replacement times.

Maintenance Included: What Does It Typically Cover?

Professional rental contracts include full service maintenance with standard coverage: (1) preventive maintenance every 6-12 months with technical checklist (cleaning of exchangers, checking of compressors, replacement of filters, leakage check of refrigerant gas circuits, safety tests); (2) annual calibration with ACCREDIA/SIT certificate of the primary T/RH/P sensors; (3) corrective maintenance in case of failure with technical intervention 24-48 h; (4) courtesy replacement of the unit in case of prolonged downtime (> 72 h); (5) controller firmware upgrade for security and performance updates; (6) 5×8 or 7×24 technical hotline for remote troubleshooting. Typical exclusions: (a) energy consumables (water, technical gases paid by the customer); (b) damages due to improper use (out of specification, thermal overload, ingress of corrosive liquids); (c) unauthorized modifications; (d) post-delivery transport damages. The contractual reading must clearly verify civil liability (third party damage insurance coverage), machine downtime, SLA penalty, and return constraints (clean condition, complete logbook documentation).