Infared Thermometer Use (kewl!)

[Dave in Lake Villa]

'So your $5,000 gadget confirmed what your hands already told you?   :)'

Reply: They run approx. $99 and they are very useful instruments in many trades...especially automotive service.

[Greg O]

$5k? Less than $100 most anywhere. Greg

[Stormin Mormon]

Over at a friend's house, her car wasn't braking correctly.

One other fellow felt the hubs, the one was warm and the other cool. Suggested maybe it wasn't braking on one side. I had the idea to go grab the IR thermometer, which revealed one cold brake on the front, one cold brake on the back.

Now we know that it really was uneven braking.

Kewl!

[Edwin Pawlowski]

So your $5,000 gadget confirmed what your hands already told you? :)

[Dr. Hardcrab]

Can't remember the brand name, but saw one on Friday that was compact (almost like a keychane fob) and was $49. Ratio wasn't great, but it worked....

[Edwin Pawlowski]

No one recognizes exaggeration any more? Or noticed the ;)

[Greg O]

Yeah I saw it, but I wasn't sure if you were joking or temporarily insane! ;-) Greg

[Dr. Hardcrab]

Sorry, Ed....

;-]

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Most people don't think it is only temporary.

[Stormin Mormon]

I used one the other day when was microwaving some soup. Laser the bowl of soup to see if it was hot enough, or needed some more time in the mic.

Auto service -- find out if your alternator, brakes, etc. is running hot? Or if the AC is working. I did read the AC vent on my truck the day I got my IR thermometer.

[Gideon]

Stormie,

Which unit do you own? What was the cost and how is the performance?

Gideon

[Stormin Mormon]

I got the UEI one from Johnstone.

It was about $70. I really like it, the laser aiming is a nice touch. Using it side by side with a Fluke meter, and thermcouple reveals that at cold temps, the UEI reads about 5 degrees too cold. And with hot temps, it reads about 5F degrees too hot.

If you know it's a pretty crude device, it's useful. However, I couldn't use it for fine tuning an AC system, or something like that where I'd need to read to plus or minus one degree.

The other time it came in handy, I was working on a refrigeration system, and not sure if the condensor was dirty enough to be a problem. I did a quick temp read on the filter dryer in the liquid line. Then some sheet metal near the filter dryer. The dryer was warmer than the surrounding temps. Which told me that the condensor wasn't clean enough.