Thermometer update.

[corey21]

I found one of my old rutland gauges from last year tested it in the oven and it is almost spot on.

So i just threw the volgelzang one away the ir gun is going to have to wait a while unfortunately.

Warming up outside this week so not much need for the wood stove yet.

 

[pen]

Just remember, use its reading as additional info to be compared to your own good judgement.

That said, testing accurately in the oven doesn't always mean that they will read accurately on the stove top. In the oven, the temp is even all around the unit if you set it on a rack. If you stuck it to the side, then it's probably hotter on the face of the thermometer than the rear. On a wood stove, it will set on a hot surface, with cooler air above it.

Also, of the 3 rutlands I owned, 1 was a complete piece of poo. The second, read well up until about 550 degrees where it was reading 50 degrees off. By the time it said 600, it was 100 degrees off, and the problems got worse from there. That unit started getting sticky, so I got another rutland which did the same thing as far as being inaccurate after 550.

Because of this error, I placed it not on the hottest part of the stove, but a section of the stove top that read about 100 degrees cooler than the hottest (I knew that because of the IR thermometer) . By doing so, the thermometer could be used, (and understood by the wife) in that when it hit the maximum rated burn temp of 550, the hottest part of the stove was actually about 650-700, which meant the wife knew things were too hot.

pen

 

[firefighterjake]

I always liked my Condar . . . I haven't checked it lately, but when I first got my IR thermometer I checked the two against each other and the Condar was only off by 25-50 degrees or so . . . and since I'm not baking brownies or a cake in my oven it was good enough in my opinion to give me an idea of what temp I was at . . . and more importantly . . . in what direction the temps were heading.

 

[corey21]

Just remember, use its reading as additional info to be compared to your own good judgement.

That said, testing accurately in the oven doesn't always mean that they will read accurately on the stove top. In the oven, the temp is even all around the unit if you set it on a rack. If you stuck it to the side, then it's probably hotter on the face of the thermometer than the rear. On a wood stove, it will set on a hot surface, with cooler air above it.

Also, of the 3 rutlands I owned, 1 was a complete piece of poo. The second, read well up until about 550 degrees where it was reading 50 degrees off. By the time it said 600, it was 100 degrees off, and the problems got worse from there. That unit started getting sticky, so I got another rutland which did the same thing as far as being inaccurate after 550.

Because of this error, I placed it not on the hottest part of the stove, but a section of the stove top that read about 100 degrees cooler than the hottest (I knew that because of the IR thermometer) . By doing so, the thermometer could be used, (and understood by the wife) in that when it hit the maximum rated burn temp of 550, the hottest part of the stove was actually about 650-700, which meant the wife knew things were too hot.

pen

Yeah i am going by the saying if it ant glowing i am not over firing after that one went crazy. Also my glass was slightly dirty when that one went to 800 i would think that glass would have been very clean after that. Now i have one rutland gauge on the side of the stove and other one on the stove top right before the step top in the center. When that happened the rutland was reading 650 while the valegezng one was showing 800 both were on the side.

I always liked my Condar . . . I haven't checked it lately, but when I first got my IR thermometer I checked the two against each other and the Condar was only off by 25-50 degrees or so . . . and since I'm not baking brownies or a cake in my oven it was good enough in my opinion to give me an idea of what temp I was at . . . and more importantly . . . in what direction the temps were heading.

I like my probe from Condar as well.

I think the main lesson from this is not to trust thermometer %100.

 

[corey21]

Well the one from last year that put in the oven got stuck at 250 with this mornings fire.

The other one on the side of the stove peaked in between 500 and 550 that seems close to me cause i was doing a shoulder season type fire.