Infrared thermometers

[jadm]

Okay you guys, you have peaked my curiosity. Just what is an IR therm. and how do they work with a wood burning insert?

I just googled infrared and got overwhelmed with all the info. that wasn't about wood burning so, if there was info. further down the line about wood burning, I never made it there...

My brain is struggling with all these new stove fumes so I figured I'd come back here to a place where I can understand the language and ask your help.

What are they?

How do they work?

Where do you get them?

How much do they cost?

Keep it simple or else I will go into info. overload .

 

[northwinds]

Okay you guys, you have peaked my curiosity. Just what is an IR therm. and how do they work with a wood burning insert?

I just googled infrared and got overwhelmed with all the info. that wasn't about wood burning so, if there was info. further down the line about wood burning, I never made it there...

My brain is struggling with all these new stove fumes so I figured I'd come back here to a place where I can understand the language and ask your help.

What are they?

How do they work?

Where do you get them?

How much do they cost?

Keep it simple or else I will go into info. overload .

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=96451

They look like a plastic flashlight. You squeeze the trigger, and little laser beam dot appears where you shoot,
and you get a digital readout of the temperature. It doesn't work to get a reading on inside wall for unvented
double wall chimney pipe.

It's definitely a fun little toy, but something I guess that I didn't really need, given that I already had a stovetop
thermometer. It's fun to shoot it at different places on the stove and chimney pipe and discover temperature differences.
It also seems to give accurate readings when shooting at outside snow banks.

 

[begreen]

Do a search here first. There are several threads that have discussed this extensively. Be sure you get one that reads up to at least around 1000 deg.

 

[northwinds]

Do a search here first. There are several threads that have discussed this extensively. Be sure you get one that reads up to at least around 1000 deg.

I bought that one after reading one of your threads, BeGreen. It goes up to 968 degrees. There were a couple
of others at harbor freight that only went up to 400-500 degrees for the same price.

 

[jadm]

BeGreen- I did read that message on the other thread but couldn't find what you were talking about. Just tried again and I got it this time. (Brain still dealing with the curing fumes) Harbor Freight has them on sale at 29.00...I'm considering getting one but don't know what else I would use it for at this point. I just keep moving the therm. around and working on approx. temps. which is all I really need.

I did balance the therm. on the door and the temp. there is a lot higher than on the panel above the knob. Difference is about 150*.

Do a search here first. There are several threads that have discussed this extensively. Be sure you get one that reads up to at least around 1000 deg.

 

[SlyFerret]

I bought the harbor freight one that goes up to 968. Works pretty well.

I have a little Rutland magnetic one on the stove top that I used to keep rough track of the burn, but I've found that it isn't very accurate. It's good enough to keep an eye on things though.

The IR thermometer was what I used the other night to find out my stove was at 720 when it was setting off the smoke detectors at 4am (paint curing).

I think the one I bought was $40.

-SF

 

[BrotherBart]

They are dog nuts for finding air leaks in your house. Run one around a window or door edge. Over electric outlets on outside walls etc.

PS: The one from HF will go over 1,200 degrees. Found that out when my old insert ran away. Right when the IR said 1,184 the stove paint went POOF. And the paint came off of the stove top thermo just over 1,200. With the blowers running.

 

[jadm]

Thanks for the input here. Not sure I really want to know where cold air is stealing into our house. I'm sure that information would give me nightmares and then I'd have to figure out what to do about it so I would be able to sleep soundly again..Ignorance is bliss...isn't it?

Brother Bart- What , pray tell, did you have in your stove to reach those temps? (Ignorance here doesn't matter so much since it is not in my territory so I don't feel compelled to do anything about it.) The author of this topic, that's me in case you didn,t know, gets panic stricken if the therm. on the door goes over 500*. I can't even imagine a fire that would reach 1200*. Why didn't your hair ignite - poof to those eyebrows! :ahhh:

 

[drizler]

I just got that one in the pic the other day. If you can get it for 30 grab it as its a deal. I got it for 40 but had to wait about 3 weeks for delivery on that part of my order so you can imabine they fly out the door. Neat rig, works well for the uses everyone mentioned. I am sure its not so blazingly accurate but then how accurate does a thermometer have to be anyways. I liked em when they read in only one degree not tenths. much better. The manual such that it is says its only accurate to 8 feet if I read it right but it seems to reach way out there just fine. Lots lost in the translation of that manual to be sure. Well worth 30 buck to be sure as a handy gadget though.

 

[Jake]

I spent 75 bucks on a craftsman one. It goes up to 1000f I like it

 

[bokehman]

Mine has a laser which draws a circle on the zone being measured. Cheap ones measure from a wider zone so aren't good for getting spot temperatures. The beauty of an IR thermometer is you can measure the temp of all types of surfaces (including the glass) and the reading is instantaneous so it can be used to read the temp of all different parts of the stove and stovepipe in a couple of seconds.

 

[reaperman]

[quote author="bokehman" The beauty of an IR thermometer is you can measure the temp of all types of surfaces (including the glass) and the reading is instantaneous so it can be used to read the temp of all different parts of the stove and stovepipe in a couple of seconds.[/quote]

I found out that my IR has trouble reading the temp from a hot copper pipe on my electric boiler. The gauges on the boiler loop usually read between 180-230 degrees. But when IR'ed, they only read 70 degrees. The manual on my unit says that I must adjust the unit to read some different metals.

 

[begreen]

I ended up getting the ATD-701. It's made for the auto industry and seems pretty tough. Goes up to 1022 degrees, stores readings, min/max, diff, aver. has backlight which is handy when taking readings in dark places. Got it for $40 and have been pretty happy with it so far.

 

[Bill]

I found that shinny surfaces and glass reflect the IR and the readings are off, use it on flat dull surfaces, works better. Did use it to find out when the wife is ovulating.

 

[Tarmsolo60]

[quote author="bokehman" The beauty of an IR thermometer is you can measure the temp of all types of surfaces (including the glass) and the reading is instantaneous so it can be used to read the temp of all different parts of the stove and stovepipe in a couple of seconds.

I found out that my IR has trouble reading the temp from a hot copper pipe on my electric boiler. The gauges on the boiler loop usually read between 180-230 degrees. But when IR'ed, they only read 70 degrees. The manual on my unit says that I must adjust the unit to read some different metals.[/quote]

The manual with mine said to put a piece of masking tape on the pipe and measure that. It must give it a better reading surface. I don't know what you would do on a hot stove pipe though.

 

[Redox]

Every surface has an emissivity rating that roughly corresponds to its reflectivity. Most of the inexpensive IR's have a fixed emissivity of around .90 and are really an approximation of the surface temp. A shiny copper pipe will give a very different reading than a tarnished one. My Raytek ST has an adjustable emissivity, but I rarely use it. If I really want to know the temp accurately, I break out a thermocouple, but for quick temperature measurements, it's hard to beat an IR. More fun and has that neato factor.

 

[drizler]

AND: if you run out of things to measure with it you can drive the cat nuts. Just point it at the floor in front of him and wiggle it around he will go bonkers chasing it up the wall........................chase it acorss the floor over your snoozing wife, what fun

 

[bokehman]

The gauges on the boiler loop usually read between 180-230 degrees. But when IR'ed, they only read 70 degrees.

Mine reads it perfectly. I've got a shiny piece where work was done a few weeks ago and that reads the same temp as the rest with a difference of less than 1 degree.

I think you are running into one of two errors: either spot size (most cheapies are 12:1 which means you would need to be within about 4" of the pipe) or parallax error (the centres of the laser beam and the measured zone are usually about 1" apart so with the laser spot focused centrally on the pipe the measurement is being taken off some unrelated object in the background).

 

[begreen]

One nice discovery I had after getting the IR thermometer was that our 27 year old Sand Hill stovetop thermometer is still accurate. Pretty impressive after all these years.