I need to check my oven temperatures so am thinking of buying an IR thermometer (the type with a targetting laser)
- what does the team think about them?
- are there any at the lower end of the price range that are particularly good/bad?
I've got an old cheap maplin one. But I'd have thought a better option would be a food themometer or a thermocouple connected to a standard DMM. As with an IR one it would depend to a certain degree (pun intented) what it's pointed out. The glass over door the shelf or the back of the oven. I'm not even sure what the temerature dial actually means on mine although on testing it's to within 10C of the air temerature in the oven when measured with a thermocouple.
I got a cheap one off ebay and I get within 1 degree +/- when compared to house thermometers, I find it useful for tracking draughts and cold spots around the house. Also good for bollocking the wife for pre heating the oven too long as it reaches temp in a quarter the time she thinks it does.
Similar to this...
Oven temperature is not at all simple. You have the air temperature, the top/sides/bottom temperatures and radiant effects, and they're all different, not to mention temperature gradients. A fan oven significantly changes this again with more even temperature, but much higher impact from wind-chill effect. A gas oven is significantly different from an electric oven, not only in temperatures but also in humidity, which also has a significant impact on some types of cooking.
An infrared thermometer can only measure surface temperatures. I think the best way to use that with an oven would be to place some objects in the oven (not shiny metal), which you allow the oven to heat up. They should be small enough that they will get up to temperature without undue delay, but large enough that they won't very quickly lose temperature the moment you open the door. Place them one at the front, middle, and back of each shelf, and turn the oven on. Leave the oven to get up to temperature and then some more for the items to reach their temrminal temperatures. Then open the oven and use the IR thermometer to quickly measure their temperatures. (You might want to measure them several times so you can see how quickly they are dropping and decide if that's impacting the readings you took.)
That was exactly my plan, but now I've found out about meat thermometers with remote probes I'll probably go that route. Problem is that the reviews for them seem to show there's a quality problem right across the range.
I've a cheap Lidl [£20] model. Works fine for all sorts, inc the oven. Just open oven and take temp from 6 feet away ish. Oven temp dial and IR thermometer agree absolutely. Washing machine however, dial says 60C, IR says 45 to 50... max.
which certainly commented last year that some washing machines save energy by heating the water to less than the advertised temperature. But also I think some washing machines are careful to keep the door cool for safety.
one thing to note is that the later points along the centre of the sensing cone but the cone itself is quite large (10 degree IIRC).
Robert
Yup, thats what made me measure it. :)
I'm sure it must affect the reading but it 'seems' to measure thru the glass pretty well - it is very clear. I also measured the waste pipe as it was emptying, and that was the same temp. But yes, neither method is ideal.
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