Everyone considers the initial purchase cost of laboratory equipment, but what about their running costs? With today’s high electricity costs, running costs can soon overtake purchase costs and make what initially seemed to be a cheap option become far more expensive in the long-term.
The economic replacement to hotplate stirrers?
If you have a lab that has several hotplate stirrers or heating mantles in everyday use, it is very likely that you could save significant sums of money by switching to reaction stations. Reaction stations are convenient ‘lab-in-a-box’ alternatives to the more traditional means of heating, cooling and stirring reactions. They can control six to 50 reactions simultaneously, either with the same temperature and stirring at each position, or independent control for each reaction and are super energy efficient.
Save thousands on your running costs
Hotplate stirrers typically consume between 550W and 950W of energy, roughly equivalent to that of a whole reaction station, running up to 50 reactions simultaneously. Another huge benefit of reaction stations is that they give you very precise control and can be left running 24/7 without any supervision. When you factor 24-hour operation into the energy calculations, the cost differences certainly stack up over a few years.
For example, if you were to have ten hotplate stirrers using 950W energy apiece running 24/7 during the working week for four years, you would be looking at £33,600 running costs, based upon an average energy costs of 14.5p per kW/h from UK Government figures. This compares with between £960 to £3840 running costs for a ten-place reaction station, depending upon the model. We have three series of reaction stations, each with a ten-place reaction station:
- Omni series, OS1025
- RS series, RS1000
- Integrity series, Integrity 10
Reaction stations pay for themselves within one to three years
This means that even our most state-of-the-art Integrity series reaction stations have paid for themselves within three years, and some of our RS series have done so in less than a year. After reaching this watershed, you are actually saving significant sums of money year on year, with all the added benefits that reaction stations offer.
Although actual cost savings may vary from country to country, the trends will remain the same. Exact calculations using your own electricity costs and currency can be obtained very easily, with all the calculations being done automatically for you.