Hotplates & Stirrers

A magnetic hotplate stirrer is a laboratory device that uses a rotating magnetic field to cause a stir bar (also sometimes known as a ‘flea’) to spin very quickly in a liquid-containing vessel seated on a hotplate. This allows the simultaneous heating and stirring of the liquid, although hotplate/stirrers can also be used for heating or stirring alone, if required.

Stirrer hotplates are commonly used in biological and chemical laboratory applications to mix reagents and encourage reactions. They are best suited to small-scale reactions (up to a maximum solvent volume of around 4 L) in non-viscous solutions. Magnetic hotplate stirrers are often chosen in preference to gear-driven motorized stirrers because they are quieter, more efficient and have no external moving parts. They can also be used in closed vessels or systems without the need for complicated rotary seals. Scilogex supplies a range of high-quality hotplate stirrers, including digital hotplate stirrers, analog stirrers, and hotplate stirrers with multiple stirring positions, for every conceivable laboratory need.

Scilogex magnetic hotplate stirrers generally offer a rotation speed of up to 1500 rpm (depending on the model chosen) which is more than sufficient for most laboratory applications. The maximum temperature of 550 °C offered by our 7x7 hotplate stirrers is also well within the range of most laboratory requirements. Our digital hotplate stirrers have an easy-to-read, back-lit LCD display which displays speed and temperature readings in real-time. These instruments also allow data to be controlled and logged by connection with a PC with free software. The speed and temperature of our analog stirrers is gauged via the use of two analog dials. We also supply analog hotplates with 10 stirrer positions for the simultaneous heating and/or stirring of a number of vessels. This option creates identical reaction conditions across all samples, for volumes up to 400 mL.