Your IR thermometer uses?

I've used my IR thermometer on various tasks and wondered how others might have used theirs.

So far I've used mine for:

- The wood stove, obviously
- Checking how well my water heater is insulated by comparing the outer shell temp to other objects in the room (I'm not sure how to quantify the heat loss once I know the temp difference...yet)
- Identifying a misfiring cylinder on internal combustion engines
- Diagnosing a bad thermostat on a car
- Gauging the effect of various window treatments (comparing window temp with treatment temp)
- Identifying cold spots from drafts in my house
- Identifying heat flow patterns in our house while using the wood stove
- Monitoring the inlet/outlet temps on my open loop geothermal system, making loop changes, checking the effect

The Cat loves to chase the red dot

You can use it to diagnose a sticking brake caliper. If one is sticking, that rotor should be hotter than the other after driving.

all of the above and
checking the a/c outlets in the truck to see how cold
on a hot summer day
check the wifes temp to see if she's ready to blow-up
she usually does when I point it at her
check about the temp of everything around when I have it out

Good one.. I'll remember that.

Check the temp of the wort when brewing beer to make sure its ready for the yeast to be added.

Checking the oil temperature for deep frying.
Checking water temperature for making tea.
Seeing what temperature it is outside.

The last two are kind of silly, but it's great for the first!

I check the delta on my boiler loops.
Look for cold spots on the wall, or drafts on the sill.
Looking for hot breakers in a panel.
Looking for hot spots on a circuit board.
Hot outlets: A few of the outlets in the new house were backwired and would heat up 20 degrees hotter than normal when using the vacuum. I could tell they were a different style than the originals in the house that's what made me check. I'm not a dork or anything like that.....

In addition to some of the above uses:

I use mine to check electric motor and battery temperatures on my RC aircraft

My wife uses is all the time for cooking, especially for checking water temperature when adding it to flour and yeast for making bread/pizza crust.

btuser: very interesting, but I don't get why a "backwired" outlet (swap neutral with hot) would cause a temp rise. More likely I would think whoever wired it did not fully tighten the screws down, which causes heating. It's off thread, I know, just me piping in :coolsmile:

Most often I check temps of metals I am forging, especialy those with narrow hot work bands such as various bronze and brass alloys. Have also found many uses in engine diagnostics, as well of course in gauging stove performance.

A great tool. I even check my steak temp on the gas grille. Perfect each time!

Tire temps
Exhaust header temp
Wheel bearing temps

Yes, anything on and near my wood stove.

Backwired? As in using the push in connections instead of the screw connections?

I've found numerous bad connections with the push-in setup, some that I felt were fire hazards. I think those things should be illegal.

I agree,don't trust the push-in setups, very flimsy. Nothing like a good old fashioned screw lug to hold the wire.

Yes, that's what I meant. They make outlets that have screw-type clamps instead of the little springs in the back. Those I like. I'm sure the spring work in a lab but I also think all outlets are best pigtailed. Most of the time when I see someone using these they're not, probably because you have to be pretty lazy to use them in the first place.