Lab Armor Digital Bead Bath 20 Liter

Overview

All of the built-in features on Bead Baths were designed from the ground up to take advantage of the Lab Armor Beads and advanced capabilities of Bead Bath. They deliver exceptional temperature uniformity up to 80ºC. So one can do things with this bath that you cannot do with a typical bead-filled water bath.

Lab Armor Bead Bath vs. Water Bath

Advantages

Uniform Temperatures: with Bead Bath designed specifically for beads, temperatures are consistent and uniform everywhere in the bath. Thermal uniformity is an amazing +/-1.0 at 37ºC.

Always on: Bead Bath gets up and running faster and you never need to turn it off. There is nothing to evaporate.  Unlike a standard bead-filled water bath, Bead Bath allows you to achieve a new set temperature quickly, without long warm-up delays, so you can make quick adjustments on the fly.

It does what a water bath does PLUS:

Stays Clean: protected from water-borne contamination. Reduce the risk of contamination, achieve reproducible results.

Stays Organized: Unlike water baths that require racks, floats, and bottleneck weights, Bead Bath naturally holds things in place without accessories.

Saves Time: The bath always stays on, so you don’t have to plan around warmup times. You don’t need to worry about burnout either because there is no water to evaporate.

Eco-friendly: Highly recyclable beads; fewer harmful biocides; more energy efficient.

Key Attributes

Manufacturer specifications

FAQ

How does the heat transfer of Lab Armor bath beads compare to the heat transfer in a normal water bath?

Beads transfer heat more slowly than water. For small vessels this may be barely noticeable, but for large (> 500 ml) or frozen vessels the difference in heating time may be significant - as much as 2-3 times longer.

To compensate for this, you can initially heat the bath and beads to a temperature somewhat above the desired temperature, then turn the temperature of the bath back down later.

I noticed that the bath is meant to be left on. Why is that? Doesn't it use a lot of electricity because of this?

The beads in a bead bath do not heat as quickly as the water in a water bath, which is why it is recommended that the bath be left on. It generally does not increase energy consumption, however, and actually uses a lot less energy than a water bath would if left on at the same temperatures. For instance, a Bead Bath uses less than 25% of the energy of a similarly-sized water bath when set to 65ºC, and less than half the energy at 37ºC.

Bead Baths use less energy during operation because there is no evaporation of water taking place. A water bath normally wastes at least half of its energy by causing water to evaporate. More stable electrical draw also reduces the loading on your building’s HVAC system, which can further improve overall energy efficiency.

Are the Lab Armor Bead Baths UL listed?

The Lab Armor bead baths carry a TUV certification, which certifies for all applicable OSHA and CSA standards. It can be considered to have a UL-equivalent listing for regulatory purposes.