subject: Setting Up An Incubator In A Laboratory Environment [print this page] As you will notice there are many different chambers and other instruments in a laboratory which may look like unknown territory when you see them, but all will serve a purpose in scientific matters in which they deal with every day. Lab incubators are a kind of instrument that you will notice in a laboratory. They are used to provide a stable environment for cells and other necessary areas for scientific meaning.
There are a few different lab incubators such as ones which are controlled ovens with controlled temperatures, or even ones which provide carbon dioxide or even humidity chambers for different experiments which are being tested in the labs.
The main way to choose which incubator is right for your lab is to determine what exactly they will be holding such as cells, tissues, or even other cultures from plants or animals. This will give you a better idea which you will need for your studies. For many basic biology laboratories they will set their incubators around 37 degrees Celsius, 95 to 98 percent humidity, and about 5 percent carbon dioxide to make sure their conditions are perfect.
When you are setting up your lab incubators you want to make sure you keep the incubator as sterile as possible. You do not want any harmful bacteria becoming trapped in the area which needs to be sterile for your testing studies. Make sure you use sufficient water which is sterile. Many will advise you to use triple distilled laboratory grade water which can be purchased where all other laboratory products are sold.
You also want to make sure you take care of your lab incubators by keeping up on the maintenance regularly. Regular maintenance must be kept on the valves, pumps, gages, and barometers to insure they are working properly along with keeping the levels of oxygen, carbon dioxide, water and temperature reading correctly so that there are no mistakes which could occur. You also want to keep a close eye on unwanted fungi or other contaminants which can occur due to the moisture in the incubator.
Make sure to keep a close eye on this and clean out promptly if necessary. By doing so, you will have your incubator much longer if kept up on the regular maintenance when needed rather than just fixing issues when you see them come up. These machines are not cheap, so this is something you want to keep up on as much as possible.
With so many different lab incubators to choose from the prices will vary anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand depending on how in-depth you need to be. They also provide compact ones which do not take up as much space as a few of the models do. This is great for counter top areas for easy access. The compact ones are also a great option for science rooms in schools so you still have your sterile location yet it will not take up much space as they would in a lab.
