Choosing the right lab vacuum pump depends on a number of different factors, such as your vacuum application, the vacuum level you need, what the pump will be exposed to, and how it fits into your lab's workflow. Our vacuum pump selection guide is an interactive tool built for anyone responsible for that decision, from bench scientists and lab managers replacing a single pump to procurement and facilities teams speccing vacuum systems across pharmaceutical, chemical, academic, and industrial labs. Whether you're upgrading an aging pump or specifying one for a new application, our interactive tool above lets you spell out exactly what you need and matches you with the VACUUBRAND pump built for that combination.
To use our vacuum selection guide, start by choosing the application you're working with: filtration and solid-phase extraction, fine vacuum distillation, rotary evaporation, vacuum concentration, vacuum drying, lyophilization, fluid aspiration, a Schlenk line, oil-free vacuum for reactors and synthesis, or fore-vacuum for a turbomolecular pump. From there, you'll answer a short set of questions about your specific requirements, like how deep a vacuum your process calls for, what the pump will be exposed to (solvents, corrosive vapor, moisture, particulates), the flow rate you need, and practical constraints like noise, footprint, or oil-free operation. Based on those answers, our tool matches you with the specific lab pump built for that combination of needs.
That's also the general logic behind choosing any lab vacuum pump, even outside this tool. Pumps fall into a few core types, like oil-sealed rotary vane pumps or oil-free diaphragm pumps, and the right one for your lab will depend on vacuum depth, chemical resistance, and duty cycle, not just brand or price. Understanding those tradeoffs before working through the tool's questions makes it easier to sanity-check the recommendation you land on, and to know what to reconsider if your needs change down the road.
If you have any questions while choosing the right lab pump, don’t hesitate to reach out to our support team.