The Difference Between a Lab Oven & a Drying Oven

If you are ever in the market for an oven for your laboratory, you will likely come across standard lab ovens and drying ovens. It can be a common misconception that both these types of ovens are the same but they are actually two different pieces of lab equipment.

Drying Oven

A drying oven is designed to remove moisture from the oven chamber so to dry the samples as quickly as possible. The drying oven process introduces fresh dry air to the chamber and expels the warm moist air simultaneously allowing to rapidly dry the samples. A drying oven provides high-performance drying and heating. You will notice that drying ovens will be more expensive than a standard laboratory oven mainly due to the oven having the drying capability that is lacking in a laboratory oven. A drying oven requires an airflow system that can extract moisture from the air and depending on your requirements, may or may not be required.

Laboratory Oven

A laboratory oven, on the other hand, is designed to heat samples only. Unlike a drying oven, a lab oven will recirculate the same air around in the chamber. As a result, a lab oven will provide heating only. Laboratory ovens are a more cost-effective option over a drying oven and will be a suitable option if you are only requiring heating functionality. You will likely notice that a lab oven will have a higher temperature range than a drying oven so be sure that the oven you choose is capable of reaching your required temperatures.