How accurate are Rutland therometers?

[ddahlgren]

On a stove well warmed for 2 hours ran a fire on medium high with a crystal clear window no visible smoke from 10 feet away, I have a window that i can see the top of the chimney, and window full of fire I can not get over 325 that seems a bit odd to me. I have to say i bought 2 from a big box store as suggested to compare one to another and the other was broken and would not go over straight down 6 o'clock. Thermometer is 18 inches from stove.

What i really do not get is when it reads 150F and I wet a finger and touch it to the flue pipe it sizzles very loud. What gives here other than the temperature is just plain wrong.

 

[tcassavaugh]

i run one on my single wall stove pipe about 18-24 inches above the stove top so i can monitor the pipe temp. it is not on my stove and its within 10 degrees of my ir handheld. where do you have it on the stove? that might make a difference.

cass

 

[mellow]

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/dont-believe-those-rutland-mech-coil-temp-gauges.95334/

 

[madison]

Put it on a pizza stone or pan, place in oven. Crank the oven, and compare, you should be able to twist the dial and adjust.

If your stove pipe is double wall, your not going to get a good temp reading. Switch to stove top.... Or probe thermometer if you want to measure stack temp with dbl wall pipe.

 

[Doug MacIVER]

On a stove well warmed for 2 hours ran a fire on medium high with a crystal clear window no visible smoke from 10 feet away, I have a window that i can see the top of the chimney, and window full of fire I can not get over 325 that seems a bit odd to me. I have to say i bought 2 from a big box store as suggested to compare one to another and the other was broken and would not go over straight down 6 o'clock. Thermometer is 18 inches from stove.

What i really do not get is when it reads 150F and I wet a finger and touch it to the flue pipe it sizzles very loud. What gives here other than the temperature is just plain wrong.

I keep two, Rutland and Madallion, both on the top vent . Just checked and both at 400.How accurate, don't have the best which is ir,but if two different brands are the same i'm in the ballpark.My rear outlet is at 1000 which usually coincides with the 400 read.

 

[ddahlgren]

Thanks for the tips and links. With 310 0n the stack and 600 0n the stove is I get closer than 4 feet it seems like my levies will catch on fire I doubt if right never have run tis much blazing fire to heat and a tiny stobe with a 1.3 cu fy fire box has 1500 sq ft at 72 degress with no fans. The room the stove is in is 90 and time for a big fan to move the heat. Going to order an IR temp gun right now and return the Rutland crap.

Does a stove temp of over 600 and a flue temp of barely 300 make sense?

 

[madison]

Does a stove temp of over 600 and a flue temp of barely 300 make sense?

Absolutely - with the air closed down, stovetop should be higher than stack especially during secondary reburn period.

If you open the air with a raging fire, stack temp will increase with all the heat escaping the firebox.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We've had some Rutlands and all have been way off. Best we've found so far are Condar. We got ours through Woodstock. www.woodstove.com

We're into our sixth winter with 2 of these thermometers and checked both against the IR gun and both were very close. The most off was 20 degrees.

 

[ddahlgren]

I have a good one well expensive at least one coming in tomorrow. My next question do you shoot for the same temps with a probe type as you do with a surface mount one?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Definitely not! Check your stove manual for what they recommend for your stove.

 

[katwillny]

I have a rutland and its always off by at least 100 degrees. Awful. I bought a IR one last year and i go by that one. I have been meaning to buy a Condar.

 

[k9brain]

I have a Condor for stove top temp and a Rutland on the stack. I bought the Rutland after the first year, just for looks, so I can see it from the couch. Yeah, I'm lazy. I don't care if its accuate just as long as it is consistant. I've learned when its pointing straight up the air is open too much, when its pointing at 9 o'clock stove needs to be refilled. The stove cruises somewhere in between and thats good enough.

 

[Hurricane]

I have a condor on top of my stove and it is about 10 years old.
How long do they last ?
This one seems to top out at around 400 with the stove cruising and it used to be around 500. I can feel the stove is working right so just been ignoring the thermometer.

 

[wkpoor]

I have 4 Rutlands and they all agree with my IR gun. However I have seen were the needle can come loose.Also some have stated they are more inaccurate on the high side. Here again I have not seen this ref pic