Waterless Beads Lab Bath
4 February 2011- In a laboratory and many other applications, a
water bath is used for regulating the temperature of substances subjected to heat. There are many types of laboratory water baths including circulating water bath, shaking water bath as well as digital water bath. However, the newest innovation in lab water baths is the waterless bath. Waterless lab baths use a dry, metallic thermal media consisting of small beads instead of water. These waterless baths are a very good alternative to the standard laboratory water baths and why? Read on to know the benefits of waterless lab baths! But before we move on to know the advantages of waterless bath, we must know the disadvantages of regular lab water baths.
Disadvantages of Laboratory Water Baths
The traditional laboratory water baths are known to be contamination prone due to the use of water in them. Bacteria and molds easily develop in water baths. There are many ways to control the contamination caused by these factors like regular cleaning of water baths and diligent lab practices. However, cumbersome task of emptying and cleaning water baths is not very convenient. Moreover, one needs to refill the lab baths with water occasionally. Therefore, waterless lab baths are becoming popular which use beads instead of water.
Advantages of Waterless Lab Baths
Waterless lab baths are the eco friendly alternative to the traditional laboratory water baths. Apart from this very green benefit, there are many other advantages of using a waterless bath.
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The beads used in the waterless baths can change this lab bath into a smart instrument that uses lesser electricity. In fact, a bead bath uses over four times less energy than the traditional water baths.
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Waterless lab baths maintain uniform temperature.
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They eliminate the possibility of water contamination in laboratories.
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A waterless lab bath always remains on. The traditional water baths have to be put on active mode and thus warm up time has to be planned for by the user.
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There is no risk of burns as there is no water in this laboratory bath.
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The water baths traditionally need racks, floats and bottleneck weights to hold vessels. On the other hand, the waterless lab baths do not need these things and are capable of keeping samples organized by naturally holding vessels in place.
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There is no need to remain restrained to watertight containers and incubation in waterless lab baths can be done using multi-well plates, petri dishes, and open-top samples at any angle.
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Waterless lab baths are almost maintenance free equipment as they do not need any type of routine monitoring, cleaning, or refilling. They eliminate the need for many of the germicides essential for water bath maintenance.
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Beads used in waterless baths are made from solid recyclable metal and they can be used as raw material for other products.
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Beads in a waterless lab bath can support a temperature range of -100 to 400 C in laboratory equipment.
For more information on waterless baths, you may go to the site of
Labarmor, the developer of Bead bath- the eco-friendly waterless lab bath!
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