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 Articles  Featured Articles  Buyer’s Guide to Water Baths and Chillers

Buyer’s Guide to Water Baths and Chillers

Tuesday, December 18, 2012 Tweet Like 0 Share  Email

Katriona Scoffin

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Water baths and chillers are used to heat or cool liquid samples and maintain them
at a constant temperature. They are ideal for substances that cannot be exposed to
direct heat, such as flammable liquids or biological materials.

Water baths consist of a container that heats or cools a bath of fluid to the required temperature. The samples,
usually in glass vials, are placed into the bath to be heated or cooled.

Water baths and chillers are very widely used in labs, and there is a broad range of choices from different
manufacturers. Equipment ranges from basic water baths for thawing and heating to digitally controlled stirred
heating and chilling units with the option of adding shaking, ultrasonic, or external circulating capabilities.

Some key purchasing considerations of a water bath are listed in Table 1. These include:

Temperature range
Temperature uniformity and stability
Capacity and workbench footprint
Power
Construction and covers
Control features
Accessories.

Additional systems include:

External circulating systems

Shaking water baths
Ultrasonic baths.

Table 1 – Overview of purchasing considerations

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Temperature range

The temperature range is dependent on the heating and chilling technology of the unit and on the fluid used in the
bath (see Table 2). For basic water baths, the temperature range is typically (ambient +5) °C to 99.9 °C.

Table 2 – Temperature range of fluids used in water baths

To reduce the temperature to ambient or lower, it is necessary to use a chiller. Most chillers will cool down to about –
25 °C, but some equipment, such as the GLACIER Series G50 Ultra-Low Refrigerated Circulators from Thermo Fisher
Scientific (Waltham, MA) will take samples down to a temperature of –50 °C. Many manufacturers offer a separate
immersion chilling accessory that can be added to a heated water bath to add chilling capability.

Boiling water baths take samples to 100 °C. The high temperature oil bath from Grant Scientific (Hillsborough, NJ)
has a working temperature range of +50 °C to 260 °C.

Waterless baths use dry metallic beads instead of a fluid. This makes it easier to avoid contamination, and removes
the need for shelves or racks since vessels can be supported by the beads themselves. Beads from Lab Armor
(Cornelius, OR) have a working temperature range of –80 °C to 180 °C. Note that it is important to use only fluids
recommended by the manufacturer for a particular bath.
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Requirements for temperature uniformity and stability will depend on the application of the water bath. Unstirred
water baths rely on convection currents, and as a result will never achieve a very high degree of temperature
uniformity. Basic unstirred water baths such as the Isotemp economy water baths from Thermo Fisher Scientific
offer uniformity and stability of ±0.2 °C at 37 °C with a cover. For the majority of applications, temperature stability
within ±0.2 °C is sufficient, and minor fluctuations of uniformity of temperature across the reservoir will not cause
problems.

Greater temperature uniformity can be achieved with a stirred water bath. Stirred baths use either a magnetic
mechanism or a circulation pump to agitate the fluid to avoid temperature gradients.

Entry-level stirred water offer a high degree of temperature accuracy. The T100 series from Grant Scientific have a
stability of ±0.05 °C and a uniformity of ±0.1 °C.

Increased temperature accuracy corresponds to a significant price increase, mostly due to the expensive
thermometers required for accurate measurement. The Grant Optima™ TXF200 is one of the most accurate water
baths on the market, with a stability of ±0.01 at 70 °C and a uniformity of ±0.05 at 70 °C.

Capacity and workbench footprint

The capacity of water baths and chillers varies greatly. Choosing the right size is a question of efficiency in terms of
time to stabilize temperatures, cost of electricity to run the unit, and amount of workbench space the unit occupies.

The TW2 unit from JULABO (Allentown, PA) has a capacity of only 2 L and is designed to take one test tube rack. Its
dimensions are just 17 × 16 × 26 cm (W × L × H) and it weighs only 3.5 kg. (7.7 lb). By contrast, Parameter Generation
& Control (Black Mountain, NC) offers a 50-gallon water bath that includes external circulating capability.

When choosing the capacity of a water bath, check the internal dimensions as well as the overall volume so that you
can be sure the unit will accommodate the number of samples you require.

Power

The power of the water bath affects the heating and cooling rate, and
therefore the time it takes for the bath to stabilize before it can be
used. Ask to see the manufacturer’s gradient charts for heating and
cooling. PolyScience (Niles, IL) publishes its Circulating Bath Heating
and Cooling Performance charts online, showing the heating and
cooling rates for different capacity units. A circulating water bath
from PolyScience is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 – The 15L Heated Circulating Bath
from PolyScience is fully programmable with
a touch screen, choice of 11 languages, and
the ability to connect to the Ethernet. (Image
courtesy of PolyScience.)

Construction and covers

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affects the cost, performance,
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and longevity. Some entry-level water baths are constructed from
plastic; these are less expensive, but are not suitable for boiling
applications. Most units are constructed from stainless steel.

A robust, durable construction will add to the longevity of the unit.

You can expect your water bath to last for five years, but if it is well
cared for, it can last over 10 years.

Where temperature uniformity and stability are important, or high

temperatures are required, it is important that the unit includes a
cover.

Control features

Basic water baths include analog controls. Digital controls give additional accuracy and the opportunity to have
preset temperatures.

Some manufacturers include audible alarms that sound if the bath temperature exceeds preset limits.

JULABO water baths include alerts for unsupervised operation, such as bright LED displays that can be seen across
the lab, plus dry-running protection with an audible and optical alarm.

Accessories

Many manufacturers offer immersion chilling or circulating units that can be added to a standard heated water bath.
Check that the manufacturer offers a suitable range of racks for your chosen capacity of water bath. Racks are
typically made of stainless steel. Polyfoam floating racks are also available, making it easier to use different-sized test
tubes in the same reservoir.

Additional systems

External circulating systems

External circulating water baths are used to export controlled temperature fluids to an external closed system such
as a photometer, refractometer, or viscometer. The water bath is used as a reservoir and the temperature-controlled
fluid is pumped to the sample.

Shaking water baths

Shaking water baths, also known as reciprocating water baths, are typically used in biological applications such as
hybridization and cell or bacterial culturing. The shaking is operated through the action of strong magnets. A typical
RPM range is 20–200, with a temperature range of (ambient +5) °C to 99 °C. Some manufacturers offer an
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can be added to your standard water bath. Some shaking platforms offer the
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choice of linear or orbital shaking action. Others offer adjustable stroke length.

Ultrasonic baths

Ultrasonic baths are mainly used for high-performance cleaning of laboratory equipment, but are also used for
cellular breakdown, degassing, sonochemistry, dispersion, and fluid dissolution. A good ultrasonic water bath will
feature accurate process control of time, temperature, ultrasonic activity, degas, and power.

For more information on water baths and chillers, please visit www.labcompare.com.

Katriona Scoffin, B.Sc., is a freelance science writer; e-mail: articles@scoffin.co.uk.

Please check out our Water Baths and Recirculating Chiller sections for more information or to find
manufacturers that sell these products

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