A pilot-scale (5.08 cm internal diameter) reciprocating plate column has been modified by the insertion of a brass test section for heat transfer measurements. Heat is supplied to liquid (water or a glucose solution) in the column from an electrical heating tape wound round the brass section, the walls of which contain thermocouples. Reciprocation of the plates in the column results in up to a seven-fold improvement in heat transfer coefficient, to single phase liquids. Conditions are turbulent with oscillatory Reynolds numbers up to 20 000. The effect of plate reciprocation is much less pronounced when the liquids are agitated by a stream of gas bubbles. The single-phase heat transfer coefficients have been correlated for 5 different types of plates using approaches already available in the literature for turbulent systems in steady flow. The best-lit oscillatory flow correlation differs slightly from the existing correlations for steady flow.