OT: What do you use yours for? [was maplin thermometer ]

[Bovvered?]

Mine arrived today and what a splendid piece of kit it is for 25 quid. Was expecting it to be the usual tacky chinese tat but it is in fact rather nice quality.

So far I've measured my hand, the wall, inside of the freezer, a couple of radiators, a shoe, and my cat. I wanted to measure the sky as recommended in other posts, but it's raining here and I don't want to get the lens all soggy. Maybe I'll find something useful to do with it? But until then I'll just carry on enjoying checking the temperature of everyday household objects.

[Phil L]

...the hours must just fly by...

[PCPaul]

There speaks someone who isn't yet old enough to truly appreciate new toys ;-)

[Bovvered?]

You are a kindred spirit! LOL

[The Medway Handyman]

Me too!

I do actually use mine a lot.

If I change/move/install a rad I use it as a simple check to make sure all the rads are at more or less the same temp after refilling the system. Also enables you to see if a rad needs bleeding - just check top & bottom - you can do that from the doorway of a room.

Best of all - it impress's the hell out of the punters :-)

[Rob Hamadi]

Heh! I'd ignored this thread, up until now. But given the sheer number of mundane temperatures mentioned, I suddenly find that I want one!

-- Rob

[grumpyat]

I use mine for:

Checking circuit breakers to see if they are running too hot Ditto cables

Behind suspended ceilings to pinpoint heat losses [which usually indicate holes] when we have to 'gas-seal' a Server room

and to demonstrate to the 'boy' that just because the microwave had pinged it did not mean that his pie was warmed through completely....and later to show his mate what temperature his lips had just experienced!!

[Bovvered?]

Join us, come to the dark side. How hot is your consumer unit? You'll have to buy one to find out...

[ARWadworth]

Even better if the punters have cats to chase the dot.

Adam

[Andrew Gabriel]

MCBs are all at ambient temperature. RCBO's are all about 5C warmer, but they do that even with no load. (Didn't take the front off -- I think the backs of the RCBOs are even warmer.)

[Andy Burns]

Cue the green lobby calling for people to switch off consumer units when circuits are unused rather than waste energy by leaving RCBOs on warm standby.

[Dave Liquorice]

I'm trying *really* hard to resist, I have a dual input thermcouple thermomtere for doing rads, it even does the maths for you between the two sensors. B-)

Maplin stock is now 106 from 150+ on Friday, though I think I'd rather have the CPC one (at it's low price) more buttons, less sexy.

[Geo]

When I did mine ('79), I used two thermocouples wired in opposition into a dvm. Did not have to worry about cold junction compensation as the thermals (at the DVM) cancelled out.

Geo

[RobertL]

It's very interesting to look at the wall temperatures. We are in an end terrace and the difference between the party wall and the exterior wall is several degrees C. You can even work out which rooms next have the heating on in.

Robert

[Weatherlawyer]

I wonder where my wood-chip wallpaper scratcher tool is. I haven't seen it in years.

Who do I know that has wood-chip wallpaper?

What can I use as a spray bottle... ah, yes, I remember. An empty plastic bottle with a small hole in th.....

Anyone here got some wood-chip wallpaper they want removed?

[David in Normandy]

Mine arrived this morning, so I've been checking=20 temperatures all over the house, walls, floors, ceilings,=20 doors, windows, dog, wife, kettle, fridge. It certainly=20 shows the cold spots where heat is lost.

The hot water cylinder shows 7 degrees C hotter than the=20 room it is in, so that may benefit from some more=20 insulation or fitting a cupboard around.

Interestingly the unheated North facing walls upstairs are=20 a few degrees colder than the outside temperature. Brrrh!

I've not finished insulating the loft yet, and the rooms=20 below those already insulation clearly keep their heat much=20 better. (As you'd expect really).

One room upstairs has pine cladding around it (not fitted=20 by me) and I've been tempted to remove it. However, one=20 part of wall doesn't have this and is 10 degrees C colder=20 than every other surface in the room, so the cladding may=20 be stopping for the time being. Looks like the section of=20 bare wall just sucks the heat out of the room.

--=20 David in Normandy

[NoSpam]

This thread is making me want something that I hadn't previously thought I wanted :-) Tool lust!

However, surface emissivity can vary over a wide range (sample list here:

so how does the manual suggest you compensate? Is there an adhesive standard target?

Dave

[PCPaul]

At that price it comes with a fixed 0.95 emissivity, which is somewhere in the middle of the range.

If you are really fussed about it stick some duct tape wherever you measure - to get an accurate reading on a small area you'd have to be close enough to touch it anyway.

For something like balancing radiators where you want consistency across many different test points you can use that too, or just rely on the rads all being a very similar surface. I know mine are...

[PCPaul]

Or, indeed, old toys.

I find whenever I get round to clearing up the darker corners of the shed/ loft/garage I get very quickly derailed into 'Oh I needed that' - and going off to do the thing that's been waiting for me to find it!

[PCPaul]

Well, if sums like 48-37 give you problems, go for it!

;-)