I have an extra 4” Auber probe thermometer so I thought I’d see how well it would work for a cat thermometer in my Blaze king. Initially I was surprised to see the difference when I popped out the Condar and put the Auber in its place. So I then grabbed the oem, BK, which was similar to the Condar. So this morning before I loaded the stove again, which was basically a medium pile of coals. I pulled the Condar, gave the BK, its turn, then the Auber. All units had at least 5 minutes inside the hole. Both tests showed similar results with the Auber between 3-400 degrees below the coil gauges. I realize the BK doesn’t display temps however it looks similar to the Condar.
Who to believe
- Thread starter reaperman1
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My guess would be the Auber being the most accurate.
The Condor is most likely reading far to high for the available heat making fuel in the firebox. This leads me to trusting the digital temp more,
@begreen and others are more versed in these.
The Condor is most likely reading far to high for the available heat making fuel in the firebox. This leads me to trusting the digital temp more,
@begreen and others are more versed in these.
It’s my belief after being through 2 condar and 1 new OEM gauge in the last couple months the coil gauges are wildly inaccurate as far as temperature goes anything past the inactive/active zone. I’ve had them wrap past 360 degrees rotation which would put cat temps around 3000 degrees plus. I don’t know what is going on with the gauges made recently but my original that came with my stove back in 2014 seemed much more accurate.
The 3000 degree statement assumes the coil is always linear (a 45 deg increase near the inactive/active zone is the same increase in F as a 45 deg near the end of the active zone).
I'm not sure that is an accurate assumption.
But I would tend to believe the Auber here.
I'm not sure that is an accurate assumption.
But I would tend to believe the Auber here.
Try them on a control. Boiling water in an open pot has a specific temperature for your altitude.
Is the probe depth identical between the analog and digital probes?
This is the way. Boiling water and ice water if you want to show linearity.
The bottom of the pan would be hotter. The water will stay at the boiling point because it flashes off to steam any hotter. If you pressurize it you can get the temp up much higher!
Could be more accurate with a deeper pot of water but it looks like the analog thermometers are reading on the high side.
Before each photo I lifted the pan so the water would be higher on one end and let the probes soak for a while. Then lowered it so I could take a photo.
Im going to use the Auber in the cat hole from now on. At first I was reluctant because I thought the cat would get hotter than the Auber likes. I think its rated to around 1400 degrees. I guess time will tell. I bought a new Auber with the satellite unit to monitor the flu temps from another room in the house. So I thought I would use the older flu probe unit to monitor the cat. One thing I know is I will be engaging the cat alot later than I was when starting a new fire. The analog Condar showed the cat heating up too fast.
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You can get different probes for the auber, mine is a K type that is rated for I believe up to 2300 F.
Thermocouples are very linear in their working range, do not typically suffer from the gradual fatigue and are generally more trustworthy than a bimetallic coil thermometer.
The IR guns vary so much though...move it around on the pipe, different angles n such, it will probably vary 50-100*, maybe more. They'll get you in the ballpark though...
Yes agree the readings can vary. I find shooting straight onto the surface the most accurate and consistent. When shooting the round stove pipe that means changing you angle to get it straight.
Different surfaces have different emissivities. The IR gun needs to be calibrated to the surface being tested. My guess is black stove pipe is pretty high, maybe a value of .95?
Emissivity Table
What is Emissivity? Emissivity is a measure of the efficiency in which a surface emits thermal energy. It is defined as the fraction of energy being emitted relative to that emitted by a thermally black surface (a black body). A black body is a material that is a perfect emitter of heat energy...
www.thermoworks.com
Interesting, so now i know why my IR gun was giving seemingly low readings on my stainless fry pan.Different surfaces have different emissivities. The IR gun needs to be calibrated to the surface being tested. My guess is black stove pipe is pretty high, maybe a value of .95?
Emissivity Table
What is Emissivity? Emissivity is a measure of the efficiency in which a surface emits thermal energy. It is defined as the fraction of energy being emitted relative to that emitted by a thermally black surface (a black body). A black body is a material that is a perfect emitter of heat energy...
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