I need to balance my CH systen and everyone on here has recommended using an Infra Red thermometer rather than the cheap clip on types.
Then the other day I got a mailer from a firm offering them for £25, less for quantity.
Is this reasonable? I thought they cost a good £35-40 at least.
Also, if it is cheap, are there any others would like to get a quantity order together with me, preferably living in the north, so I can drop them off with you.
Rob
Is that £25 plus VAT?
What about shipping?
Maplins have them for £29.95 inc.
£25 inc VAT and shipping
Details are at
Rob
Anything metallic/chrome/copper- put masking tape onto. Painted surfaces are great.
I do get some weired results though when checking temperatures of walls/ceilings etc: -2 degrees etc. Either I have a cold house (possible), or not all surfaces/temperatures are suitable or I need to understand it a bit better. Seeing as I don't have ice on my walls, I'm guessing its the latter.
Great for balancing rads (in the end I used the bottom corner of the radiator rather than the tail pipe as it was larger and seemed to give the same reading), checking temperature of an oven, and for my parents, proving that a new built-under oven was faulty. They had a problem that a new oven was melting their new kitchen doors which had plastic coating. One side was okay, the other wasn't. Oven manufacturer comes along takes reading confirms 50 degree hot spot where melting is occurring. 2nd guy from manufacturer comes along and says previous guy was a new guy and didn't do the readings correctly. He confirmed a 2 degree temp increase - "no problem - must be the cheap units" (surprise surprise, new guy admits there's a problem, experienced guy knows not to find a fault!). I turn up with my IR thermometer at Christmas and quickly see a 50 degree hotspot where the melting is. We're guessing there's a seal problem somewhere.
Now - moral of this story? Contrary to what some people have stated - I can see a good reason for buying an oven and kitchen together (from same supplier). That way, should there be a problem like this, you don't have to do the running around to sort it out. For example, if the manufacturer says that its the cheap units at fault (not suitable for this oven) then they were mis-sold and should get either new units, or more likely a more suitable oven. If the oven is wrong, then its up to the kitchen retailer to sort it out (which they've promised a new oven). Had they been bought separately, then my parents would have had to prove to the oven manufacturer that the oven was at fault, not the units, and then push for a fix/replacement. Much easier for them to leave it with the kitchen company.
Though of course, you may pay over the odds for the appliances that way - depends whether you want peace of mind.
D
It is a different thing altogether. The Maplin one is "Pistol" format whereas this one is "Remote Control" format. :-)
The Maplin one has a laser target indicator. So you know where you are measuring.
DG
So you think the Maplin one better, all considered?
Rob
I and other people on here have been pleased with them , If you get a problem in warranty it'll be less hassle taking it back to Maplins. The laser pointer is useful.
DG
I bought one (Maplin £29.99 special offer until end Jan) for the cat for Christmas. He's having hours of fun chasing the red spot around. A useful side-benefit is that it measures surface temperatures very quickly. You don't even have to buy a battery, one is provided.
Only slight downside of the Maplin/Screwfix/etc pistol-format one is that it's easy for the trigger to get held on while the unit's in the toolbox, resulting in a dead battery when you come to use it. The Maplin unit (at least) comes with a soft clear vinyl cover and a plastic cap over the business end, so it's a pity they didn't run to some sort of cover or lock over the trigger, too. It'd probably be easy enough to drill a hole through the trigger and put something through it to hold it off, though I haven't tried doing this yet.
Sort of: at close range there's obviously going to be a parallax error (laser emanating from a cm or so off from the IR sensor)
Though if you want one that works you might have to supply your own :-)
John S
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