I thought i was running hot till IR gun.

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corey21

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Oct 28, 2010
2,249
Soutwest VA
I thought i was doing just fine but come to find out my rutland thermo is 100 to 150 degrees higher then my ir gun and i have tested the ir gun and it is like spot on.
 
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Yep, those Rutland's give an idea, but are always off. I have one and it's the same. If I want to know for sure, I use my IR
 
I had been wondering why i have not been getting much secondary's on a consistent basis now i know why.
 
Next time try a condar thermometer. Ours (2) is going into the 6th season and are still good.
 
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Next time try a condar thermometer. Ours (2) is going into the 6th season and are still good.

Yeah my probe made by Condar works great i think ill give there other thermometers a try.
 
I just bought a new Rutland. It is over 100 degrees off, to the low side. Luckily I have the ir to double check things.
 
My Rutland Burn Indicator is pretty close to my IR handheld within say 20F.

If you turn it over there is a tab on the end of the bimetalic spring. I pushed on that tab a little and it moved the needle a fair amount. I am not sure but maybe you can tweek these if they get off. If it is so far off that you are about to toss it then maybe give this a try.

MnDave
 
My Codar medallion is dam accurate
Glad this thread is here,the other night I thought my BK was at 900* when actually it was 750*when I checked it next day with my IR my Rutland is off about 150* would the fact it's 8 years old have anything to do with it?
 
Glad this thread is here,the other night I thought my BK was at 900* when actually it was 750*when I checked it next day with my IR my Rutland is off about 150* would the fact it's 8 years old have anything to do with it?

Heat and time can stress relieve various metals. That could be causing it to go out of calibration.
Mn
 
I had the same bad luck with the rutlands Corey, Ive cooked my condar's for 4 years at 600 to 700 deg on the steel stove, put them on the new stove and been IR gunning alot and they are still within 5 - 10 deg accurate.
 
I posted today about using IR guns to check your magnetic spring indicator. If your not holding the gun close it will surely read less temp. Hold it within 6" of the stove for best accuracy. As you back up the sensed area gets bigger and themp is an average of the whole area. Your spring ind. is feeling whats right under it. My guess there isn't as many bad ones out there as is bering reported. I have 3 Rutlands, all 10+ yrs old that read fine.
 
Same experience here wk. One thing missed is that there is a lag time with the mag thermos. While you are hitting it with the IR the mag is working on getting there.
 
I posted today about using IR guns to check your magnetic spring indicator. If your not holding the gun close it will surely read less temp. Hold it within 6" of the stove for best accuracy. As you back up the sensed area gets bigger and themp is an average of the whole area. Your spring ind. is feeling whats right under it. My guess there isn't as many bad ones out there as is bering reported. I have 3 Rutlands, all 10+ yrs old that read fine.

That is how i measured it and i also backed out a bit I even done a reading 1 inch away.

Same experience here wk. One thing missed is that there is a lag time with the mag thermos. While you are hitting it with the IR the mag is working on getting there.

Yeah i could notice the lag when comparing. I should mention i am still measuring all my stove temps on the sides my stove top is still reading cooler.
 
I guess it would partly depend on how you checked the IR gun. You'll get substantially different readings on a flat black surface vs shiny steel vs glass vs paint vs wood, etc. They also roughly average the temp in the field of view and/or do some other funky things sometimes.

I had a guy come into work a few years ago and point his laser IR gun at a 2" shiny steel pipe 30 feet away. "That is cold, no steam there!" he exclaimed as the laser dot hit the pipe. After some discussion about field of view, emissivity of various surfaces, how the laser dot only shows the center of a 'field of view' not a precise measurement point, he made the climb up to the pipe and found it was very much alive with steam!
 
I guess it would partly depend on how you checked the IR gun. You'll get substantially different readings on a flat black surface vs shiny steel vs glass vs paint vs wood, etc. They also roughly average the temp in the field of view and/or do some other funky things sometimes.

I had a guy come into work a few years ago and point his laser IR gun at a 2" shiny steel pipe 30 feet away. "That is cold, no steam there!" he exclaimed as the laser dot hit the pipe. After some discussion about field of view, emissivity of various surfaces, how the laser dot only shows the center of a 'field of view' not a precise measurement point, he made the climb up to the pipe and found it was very much alive with steam!
Wow 30 feet away i would think he was reading room temp mine list a max of 100 inches i think for the sensing field but then that would be more of air temp.

But i am still confused about how my stove top readings are cooler then the sides of the stove. Or is it because the baffle is preventing heat to rise.
 
I forgot to mention that my glass stays cleaner then before i got the IR
 
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