A method comprises: heating a flow of coolant liquid by passing the flow through one or more fluidic tubing lines, channels or conduits that are in thermal contact with a housing of a vacuum pump; apportioning the flow of heated coolant liquid between a bypass fluid tubing line and a channel within a wall of a vacuum chamber; recombining the first and second partial flows of the heated coolant liquid; passing the recombined flow of the coolant liquid through a heat exchanger that cools the coolant liquid; and recirculating the cooled coolant liquid through the one or more fluidic tubing lines, channels or conduits that are in thermal contact with the vacuum pump housing, wherein the apportionment of the flow of the heated coolant liquid is automatically performed under the control of an electronic controller or computer in response to a temperature measurement received by the electronic controller or computer.