Laser Thermometer

[Ravenvalor]

Hello Folks:

Can anyone advise me as to whether or not I should invest in a handheld laser thermometer to monitor my wood burning stove. I am trying to use as little wood as possible.

Thank you,

 

[MadTripper]

I have one and it is handy, mainly for work. There are cheaper options that you could mount on the flue or something similar and arrive at the same conclusions.

Just my $0.02

Tripper

 

[velvetfoot]

I got something like this one. It works well. It's now 30 bucks: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96451
The laser just shows where it's pointing. It has an infrared sensor.

 

[Eddie24361]

I got mine at Harbor Freight a couple of weeks ago. It was $10 more in the store than online. It's about my favorite toy for now. Use it to double check magnetic thermometer as well as wall and floor temps. Laser makes a cool dot on my neighbors fence about .25 mile away. I don't think the laser is dead on to where it is reading.

 

[velvetfoot]

Mine has a little cone on it showing how the area measured changes. The cat likes to chase the dot.

 

[Corey]

I got mine at Harbor Freight a couple of weeks ago. It was $10 more in the store than online. It's about my favorite toy for now. Use it to double check magnetic thermometer as well as wall and floor temps. Laser makes a cool dot on my neighbors fence about .25 mile away. I don't think the laser is dead on to where it is reading.

Print out the online ad and ask the store to match the price. I have done this many times at the local store and they're always happy to do it.

As for the laser thermometer - it's a neat gee-whiz gadget, always nice to know what the stove top is at...as well as anything else you point it at. As for using less wood?? I don't know about that. Seems like the best strategy there would be to burn the stove hot and clean until the house gets up to your comfort temp, then stop adding wood. Let it fall back until you feel chilly, then fire up again. A stove burning hot and clean is the most efficient and keeping your house as cool as you can will require the least amount of heat - so it seems like that should save the most amount of wood.

 

[edthedawg]

Agreed - the IR thermometer is a great item to have, esp if you're curious how hot everything else is getting. But having one isn't going to really let you "use less wood". if anything, it'll make you say "crap, we're running in the creosote-forming range! throw on more wood" I got mine on e-bay for about $48 total delivered from CA to CT. And I confirmed the cheapy magnetic one reads just fine in the spot you place it.

 

[Nic36]

I just bought one from eBay. A Cen-tech. I think it is the same brand that is sold at Harbor Freight. I could have gotten by without it, but it's pretty fun to use. It seems that my Rutland magnetic thermometer reads almost the same.

 

[drizler]

I got my Cen Tech from harbor freight last year. I can't see any difference from the $60 models everyone else is selling. It's a very handy little gadget. You can sit across the room and just shoot it to see the temp. On that thought it can be far better than a stove mount. Think of it like the remote for your tv.
BTW on a similar note: the KILOWATT units for measuring electrical consumption have dropped to around $12 if you hunt Ebay and Amazon ect. They came out with a new better model that computes the cost so the price of the earlier unit dropped drastically. Both of these units I highly recommend. The only thing I DON"T LIKE about the Killowatt is that it has no memory. Screw up and pull it out to where you can read the numbers on the display and POOF, its gone, bye bye....... That and it is so large it wont fit everywhere without mounting on a short extension cord.

 

[offroadaudio]

The IR thermometer can pay for itself by showing you where to apply some caulk and weather strip around doors, windows, sill plate...........

 

[Stevebass4]

I got mine at Harbor Freight a couple of weeks ago. It was $10 more in the store than online. It's about my favorite toy for now. Use it to double check magnetic thermometer as well as wall and floor temps. Laser makes a cool dot on my neighbors fence about .25 mile away. I don't think the laser is dead on to where it is reading.

my new store was the same however they said just bring in the print out of the web price and they will price match - got mine for 30.00

edit - whoops posted before i read Cozyheat's post but always print it off and then go to the store