Certified Pre-Owned Lab Incubator Equipment

Copia Scientific operates both independent and authorized business channels. Refurbishment and certification of pre-owned equipment are performed by Copia Scientific. Through our PlateCentric division, we also maintain authorized relationships with select original equipment manufacturers. Please refer to individual product pages for specific authorization and warranty details.

A lab incubator provides a controlled environment for growing and maintaining biological cultures. By regulating temperature, humidity, and sometimes CO₂, it ensures samples like bacteria, fungi, and mammalian cells thrive under stable conditions. This makes incubators essential in microbiology, clinical diagnostics, and research labs.

Certified pre-owned incubators are highly reliable because they undergo inspection, refurbishment, and recalibration before use. Components are tested and replaced if needed, ensuring performance meets original specifications. With warranty coverage, labs can trust refurbished incubators to operate consistently like new.

A standard incubator maintains temperature for general microbiology and sample storage, while a CO₂ incubator adds control of carbon dioxide levels. This CO₂ regulation is vital for mammalian cell culture because it maintains the correct pH in growth media. In short, CO₂ incubators offer an extra layer of environmental precision.

Most quality lab incubators last between 10 and 15 years when properly maintained. Regular cleaning, part replacement, and calibration can extend their lifespan even further. Certified pre-owned models still offer many years of dependable service, especially when purchased from trusted suppliers.

Yes, automated incubators minimize routine tasks by digitally controlling temperature, humidity, and CO₂ levels. Many models include alarms, remote monitoring, or even integration with robotic systems. This frees up staff time and ensures greater consistency across long-term experiments.  

Most labs deep-clean incubators every one to two months, depending on usage. This involves disinfecting shelves, wiping down interior walls, and refilling or cleaning humidity pans. Spot cleaning for spills should be done immediately to prevent contamination.

Yes, a single incubator can often support multiple applications, such as microbiology cultures, cell culture, and reagent warming. However, labs must follow strict cleaning protocols to avoid cross-contamination between projects. Using separate incubators for highly sensitive applications may still be best practice.  

Certified pre-owned incubators offer substantial cost savings compared to new models while maintaining dependable performance. They come tested, validated, and often include a warranty, making them a smart balance of value and quality. For many labs, this provides access to advanced models that may have been too expensive to buy new.

An incubator works on the principle of maintaining a controlled environment—typically a constant temperature, humidity, and sometimes CO₂ concentration. It uses heating (or cooling) elements, sensors, and fans to regulate conditions so that biological samples can grow or be preserved under uniform settings.  

The most common setting for a lab incubator is 37°C (98.6°F), which matches human body temperature and is ideal for mammalian cell culture. However, microbiology labs may use different temperatures depending on the organism (e.g., 25–30°C for yeast or fungi).