Baptistry heater

A baptistry heater is water heating device used in baptistry pools by various religions throughout the world. Three main types of heaters are immersion, circulation and gas/LP. A baptistry heater can range from 3 kW to 11.5 kW of power and can heat water from 54 degrees, which is average occurring temperature that it comes out of the ground in the North American continent.
Over the last 100 years or so the modern baptistry heater was developed. The first modernized baptistry heater was developed by W.E. McCorquodale in 1904 by creating a natural gas heater. He began to work on developing a heater that would warm the water by using heavy copper coils that would transfer the heat from the elements to the water.
Today’s 21st century baptistry heater works in a similar way. Instead of natural gas or liquid propane (called LP) electricity is used in 95% of the modern churches today. The two basic styles, an Immersion style heater, which you drop into the baptistry tank and the circulation style, which operates with a pump to push the water through the heater. Manufacturers use Incoloy steel elements. Incoloy is a form of metal that contains properties that help prevent corrosion.
Over the decades, baptisteries have changed mainly from cement and steel to fiberglass baptistry. During this transition the companies that produced baptistry heaters had to make some adjustments to the units so the fiberglass would not melt or warp in the heating process. Those adjustments included high limit switches, adjustable temperature controls and GFCI outlets found in all the current models offered as an option. These adjustments have proven to be much safer than earlier models. Both Little-Giant and ChurchRite® make similar models and both use elements made in the USA in Illinois. Hydro-Quip® uses a hot tub heater design for is basic operation and adds in additional feature for baptistry heating. The Immersion heater is identical with minor design changes enough to keep the US patents separated including the GFCI components which ChurchRite® introduced in 2010. Each company offers a UL Listing, Little-Giant under Tempco's UL listing of E234452, Hyrdo-Quip® has a separate UL listing under E99812 and ChurchRite is E234452 respectfully.
Immersion Heaters
Immersion heaters for the baptistry heating market are very simple to use devices that generally hang over the side of a baptistry. According to Joshua Gabrielson of www.churchfurniture.info, a leading church furniture industry blogsite, roughly 68% of churches today use some form of an Immersion heating unit.
These units have not changed much over the years and they come in a couple of basic shapes, one is an upside down "T" and the other is sort of an "I" shaped unit. Today you can get them in either standard 110 volt plugs or the 240 volt plugs with or without the GFCI option built in. Some units also offer thermostats that can change the water temperature of the baptistry over a given period of time. The units come in various wattage's ranging from 1.5KW to 6KW in power and all models currently on the market carry a UL listing number. These heaters are designed for smaller baptistry tubs and are of a portable design. Church facilities will take them out after each baptismal ceremony and store them until the next use.
Circulation Heaters
The circulation heater is much safer than the Immersion series heater although its runs at a higher cost point. These units are designed to be permanent fixtures in the baptistry tub and are hard wired into the church electrical system. These units generally run much higher wattage points ranging from 3kW-12kW depending on which series model you get from the various manufacturers. The units come in a couple of basic forms such as a box style from Hydro Quip or a cylinder style from Church Rite® and Little Giant, the three manufacturers on the market today. The Hydro-Quip® design features more advanced electronics and is taken from the spa industry where as the other two models originate from the industrial market. Churches had various options they can choose from on a circulation heating system some of which includes automatic filling and drainage of the water, Auto heating, variable thermostat control and remote control features. Generally these units will require an electrical professional as well as a plumber to install.
Hybrid Models
Hybrid Baptistry Heaters are built and designed by the Hydro-Quip® Company and they are a cross between the Immersion and circulation system. The series called Tranquility or Poolside offers a portable way to heat the water without the heating element touching the main base of the fiberglass tub. Using a water pump, the system pumps the water through in inlet hose, oftentimes a standard garden unit, to the heating element which heats then returns the water through an outlet back into the tub. Its design is based off the circulation system however it’s portable like the Immersion heater.
Today all three companies offer both immersion and circulation systems ranging from 1.5KW to 11.5KW heating units. Although each has differences in design, the fundamental function of each unit is the same, to heat the water. BaptistryHeater.us an educational website now offers the public a basic online calculator that helps narrow the type of model that any given church might need for their operations, covering all three brands.
Wiedemann heaters were an alternative to Little-Giant in the 1960s-1980's until they went out of business. Today, all three companies have their heaters built in the United States, HQ builds them in California and Little Giant and ChurchRite® both get the same elements from their supplier in Illinois as of 2013. Of the three companies Hydro-Quip's main operations are in the hot-tub and spa industry and their baptistry heater-models are considered sideline items for the company while the other two are primarily for the church furniture industry.
Little-Giant is located in Orange, Texas, Hydro-Quip® is based in California and ChurchRite® in the mountains of Virginia.
Church Furniture Info - Installing your New Baptistry

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