A baptistry heater is water heating device used to heat the water in a baptistry. There are three main types of heaters sold today immersion, circulation and gas/LP. A baptismal heater can range in power from 1kW to 11.5 kW.
It is believed that the first 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 (found on Wikipedia). The modern baptistry heater works very much like the original ones. Instead of using natural gas or LP, electricity is used in most occasions. The two basic styles are an Immersion Heater, which is basically like a hot iron that is placed into the baptistry (and must be removed prior to use) and a circulation, which uses a pump to circulate the water through the heater.
Today the majority of baptistry heaters are manufactured by one company Hydro-Quip out of California. Hydro-Quip is what is known as an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer). What does this mean? It means that most of the heaters for baptistries on the market are manufactured by Hydro-Quip and private labeled for other companies. Hydro-Quip maintains its own UL listing E99812 (click here for UL certification). For more than 30 years Hydro-Quip has manufactured baptistry circulation heaters with its origin in the Spa Heater business.
The Hydro-Quip baptistry heater offered by Church Outlet is available in 5kw and 11kw models. The BES 6000 Series baptismal heaters are state of the art. They offer built in diagnostics and a “plug and play” application that allows for the addition of accessories such as the Auto Fill and Auto Drain. The unit is also available with the BAPside Control Unit which allows for remote operation from up to 25’ away from the baptistry heating unit. The BES 6000 series comes standard with built in GFCI, High Limit Protection, Full Range Thermostat, Pressure Switch Activation, Stainless Steel Housing for the heating element and a Non-Conductive Base. A seven day timer is available for those churches that may leave water in the baptistry all the time (such as the Church of Christ). The timer can be set to turn on and off at certain days and times of the week. This way the water in the baptismal pool can be ready at a moment’s notice if the occasion arises and an individual desires to be baptized.
For more information on the BES 6000 series baptismal heaters check out our online store or call us at 800-736-3113. We will be more than happy to assist you with any questions that you may have or with the purchase of a baptistry heater. We look forward to hearing from you!
Other resources you may want to consider checking out for Baptismal Heaters, Baptistry, Church Steeples, Church Podiums.