water line temp

[herbert]

how can i measure water temp on my boiler water line where it comes into my home ? Would like to see how much temp i am dropping between the boiler and the house.
Tried taping a meat thermometer to it but it won't work or i am dropping a lot of heat !!

 

[Dave T]

Tape the same type of thermometer to the same material (weather it be hooked to pex at the house or copper)at the boiler and they will be off by about the same amount that should give you an idea what the drop is, compare apples to apples..Dave

 

[Robby]

I have a couple of thermometers in the system, but wanted to measure other areas and ran into the same problem as you. The electronic meat thermometers would not match the "in line w/well" thermometers. After much fooling around I discovered the only way they would be accurate is to fasten to pipe with screw type hose clamp, then 6" of fiberglass insulation taped completly around and extending 1' or so each way. Then temperatures matched. I found some meat thermometes for $10 each and permanantly mounted them. Seems to work OK.

Robby

 

[herbert]

i mounted mine directly to the side of the incoming pex pipe inside the house where it is 70 degrees and wrapped it several times with duct tape----didn't think being inside where it was warm i would need to insulate ?

 

[Gary S]

If you have any metal fitting close by measure the temp on them and on metel piping on the boiler as well. It will give you a truer reading.

 

[free75degrees]

The insulation is crucial. Without it you get a very steep heat gradient right at the outer edge of the pipe. That gradient means your thermometer will always show too low a temp. The way to minimize the gradient between the thermometer and the water is with insulation.