Non- Refrigerated Body Storage Temperatures?

[PagoMitch]

All,

Have an interesting HVAC project that is Morgue related.
I have done a few full Morgues, with the required viewing areas, autopsy tables and body reefers.
This is different.

A facility on a remote island I am temporarily working at wants to increase their deceased body storage holding area - without refrigeration. In most places stateside, this would mean calling up a Morgue Reefer company and ordering whatever size model, or quantities thereof you want, and providing the necessary supporting systems.

The plan here is to build a large room for appx 40 caskets, parallel parked along the wall with about 2 feet spacing in between. These would have corpses within, stored at appx. room temp - maybe 70-75F. When the deceased family arrives - somewhere between a couple days and a month after embalming - the casket would be rolled out to the viewing area, and from there to the burial plot.

I can find nothing in ASHRAE 170 discussing how long an embalmed body can be stored at room temp. A few pages of googling has also failed to turn up any germane info.

Is this something that is normally done? It just feels... odd. ASHRAE 170 is not much help, indicating "non-refrigerated body storage areas are for short term use, at 70-75F. 10 ACH, no OA requirements, and all EA must be discharged directly."

I am not sure that guidance was intended to address 45 bodies sitting in caskets in one room for up to a month.

Any knowledgeable engineers who are also embalmers on the site?

TIA.

 

[HVAC-Novice]

You should research some industry-specific sources. There likely are associations, magazines etc. This topic likely is too specific for Google to solve it all. Also check your local code and AHJ.

When ASHRAE says "short-term" is fine for normal room temperature, they likely don't mean a month. You should research the context in ASHRAE 170 and find out what timeframe they mean. I don't' know if embalming delays decaying that much. and will all bodies be embalmed, or just a few? I also would question the lack of an OA or EA requirement. At minimum I would want to get rid of some off-gassing of embalming and other fluids.

 

[IRstuff]

how long can an embalmed body last

First hit suggests a week




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[LittleInch]

A bit of googling says that once you go past 7 days, it takes a lot of skill and work from the undertaker on a daily basis to maintain the corpse in a condition where the family would want to view the person.

But 40 gaskets on a remote Island?? That sounds quite odd.

All depends on the condition of the body. Embalming helps delay decomposition, it doesn't stop it unless you basically turn the body into something like stone / leather apparently.

So I would definitely challenge the month waiting bit and start talking to the undertakers to see what is actually feasible.

Or have a second room with more ventilation for those staying >7 days?

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[IRstuff]

Seems like you'd need some sort of A/C even to maintain 70F room temperature in an otherwise uncontrolled environment. If that's the case, running the A/C at maximum could at least delay deterioration somewhat, but without actual refrigeration, the bodies will likely not survive a month.

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[PagoMitch]

Thanks all,

This is indeed a unique place. The population is about 50k, and they basically govern themselves with US aid.
Which also means they need to comply with US standards (ICC Codes, NFPA, ASHRAE) for all major infrastructure, like hospitals.

Unfortunately, there is a dearth of technical skilled folks on island; so sometimes a local perceived need for something - like "we need to store more bodies of our deceased for at least a month, because it takes a long time for off-island family members to make flight arrangements to attend a funeral" gets in front of the evaluation of if it is even feasible. Hence my questions to the site. I am still not convinced this is doable without bona fide body reefers. Unfortunately, I was brought int this game late.

We have a Central Plant with about 400 tons capacity; but it is pretty much tapped out. So... air conditioning to 65-70? We can probably get there. But not to 40F refrigeration levels with 48-50F chilled water. Whatever happens, I would prolly provide more OA than ASHRAE 170 specifies - ZERO. Seriously??? That said, having 91F DB/82F WB design temps make conditioning OA ...challenging.

 

[LittleInch]

So maybe the compromise is you can view the body within 7 days, but after that the casket is sealed until burial? The information I have is that the bodies are good for 1month or more physically, but essentially the skin and muscle starts to deteriorate and makes the body a lot less appealing.

Family members closer to can take any photos that are required?

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[FMJalink]

Hi PagoMitch,
I did not see anything on the applicable climatic conditions, which might quite important for decisions and ideas. In Alaska the cooling problem will be limited to days per year, but on Hawai cooling will be a main design issue. Other main points are the desired storage capacity, space available and the available budget. One can build very well insulated rooms/building just requiring power from solar panels and/or wind mills. All depends on the circumstances, starting points and restrictions of your project. Your wording gives the impression, you are to be stuck with a solution as already indicated by LittleInch.
Success

 

[IRstuff]

??

That said, having 91F DB/82F WB design temps make conditioning OA ...challenging.

OK, given the cooling plant capacity, one could imagine insulating the crap out of the room and running the cooling through the storage room first; once the room is cooled down, if the leakage heat flow is minimized, it might not impact the remainder of the cooling load too much.

Is the cooling plant utilized 24/7? Perhaps, using the cooling plant at night to cool the room and have, say lots of thermal mass in the room to maintain the temperature during the day? Either way, lots of water tanks, or similar, could provide some level of temperature maintenance if the cooling plant is unavailable. After all, it was not uncommon to get ice in the winter and store it for use in the summer. Even the first refrigerators depended on blocks of ice.


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