Who's right???? Testing thermometer's!

[Tripplebeards]

Every time I hit the thrift store I always grab some of the big round thermometers cuz they're 45 to 65 cents and I wanted to drill holes in my smoker and mount them since there's no temp sensors on them. Just got a glass of hot water and stuck a digital reader in with Taylor manual thermometers. They all read differently shocking.lol.

I can say the bottom right when I like the best because one it read the highest which I still don't know if it's accurate but it was the fastest one to start reading I'm sure that's the one I'll end up using. I think I bought three or four more and I'll have to find them that I just keep buying and throwing them in drawers and keep testing them all. I also bought a brand new one the other day like the manual ones that I'll have to test along the side of them. Right after typing the water has cooled I would assume
The big Taylor say 165, the digital says 160, and the small Taylor says 150. The digital and small Taylor took q good minute or two to climb. The big Taylor it was at max reading with 2 seconds. So which one is right lol.



Just stuck the new True living brand in with the rest. It's climbed Almaty as fast as my favorite and got to around 262.5 vs my favorite at 263! It moved lnot as smooth when it climbed.

[MaryB]

Compare against a calibrated thermometer like a ThermaPen...

[crandall crank]

An easy way to calibrate is to boil water...212 degrees F. Many dial thermometers can be adjusted via a lock nut on the backside of the dial.

[Tripplebeards]

Here's 2 more in same hot 170 or so degree water...looks like they are both junk to...

[Barry54]

Ice water is 32° and boiling water is 212° So see which ones are closest.

[JimB..]

An easy way to calibrate is to boil water...212 degrees F. Many dial thermometers can be adjusted via a lock nut on the backside of the dial.

This.
Loosen the nut, turn the dial until it lines up with the pointer at the correct temp, and tighten nut.
As far as I know, the only ways to really hurt these is to submerge them or overheat them.

[Tripplebeards]

Cool...I'll have to dig out the one I tossed and see if I can adjust it.

[lightload]

Use ice water. Insert thermometer stem. After a couple minutes, it should read 32. Move indicator there. Close enough.

[Tripplebeards]

Well the 32 degree freezing water test will be out. All the temp gauges accept for 1 start at 150 degrees. I'll have to calibrate/check with boiling water. I also think most don't have a nut on the back. I'll have to see it the rod twists.

[KenH]

212°F is boiling distilled water at sea level, or close enough anyway. I just found this link:

https://ucfoodsafety.ucdavis.edu/sit...s/234958_1.pdf

for example, at sea level, water boils at 212F. However, for every 500 feet above sea level, water boils about at 0.9F less. At 1,000 feet, then, water boils at about 210.2; at 2,000 feet, about 208.4; at 3,000 feet, about 206.6, etc.

[reloader28]

212°F is boiling distilled water at sea level, or close enough anyway. I just found this link:

https://ucfoodsafety.ucdavis.edu/sit...s/234958_1.pdf

for example, at sea level, water boils at 212F. However, for every 500 feet above sea level, water boils about at 0.9F less. At 1,000 feet, then, water boils at about 210.2; at 2,000 feet, about 208.4; at 3,000 feet, about 206.6, etc.

Yep. Boils here at a little over *200

[gwpercle]

Most of those big dial thermometers Do have a nut on the back ...
If they don't ... do not buy it because you can't calibrate it properly !
You loosen the nut and correct the temperature setting using ...
Use boiling water ... set it to 212 degrees , I live in Louisiana and 212 works fine ...
and tighten the nut ... You is now calibrated !

If one isn't working right ... re-set it ... stop buying new ones .
Gary

[JimB..]

Keep an eye on the thermoworks website, they will often put their thermopop on sale. Fast and accurate.

[Tripplebeards]

I'm 669 feet a over sea level...whats my boiling point??? At least I know now not to buy ones with out a nut now and how to adjust them. Tha KS. I'm out of town where usually buy them at the DAV and it's discount day!!! The new one I bought locally for $2.99...that seems to work pretty fast. If I don't find another I'll probably get anther new one when I get home. I have 2 smokers that I want to drill holes in and mount the temp guages. Probably use a little JB weld to hold them in place if no extra threads left over where the nut screws on the backside. So I'll habe to figure out at what level I want the temp guages. Maybe I'll run them through the top straight down so I don't habe to bend over to read them.

[Delkal]

Keep an eye on the thermoworks website, they will often put their thermopop on sale. Fast and accurate.

This. There are many cheap and accurate digital thermometers out there so just throw away those notoriously inaccurate bimetal ones.

Thermoworks makes the best and the difference in my probe and instaread thermometer is 1 degree max. Sign up for their mailing list first since they almost always have specials you will not get on the site.

[trebor44]

212 @ sea level, adjust for altitude.

[MaryB]

I only use ThermoWorks stuff for BBQ...

This for instant read and I have 2 of them. Get used a lot in the kitchen for temp checking. https://www.thermoworks.com/classic-thermapen/

And for BBQ this https://www.thermoworks.com/smoke-x/ one probe goes thru a grommet to measure smoker temp, other 3 can go in whatever meats I have on to cook. No it is not cheap, good gear never is! The remote works up to a block from the house, and thru the foil faced insulation on the house so I can take the main unit in by my desk and track temps from inside the AC...

[MOshooter]

Ice water is 32° and boiling water is 212° So see which ones are closest.

Exactly!
Years ago in the HVAC industry we would test out temperature testers in ice water, 32F

[Delkal]

This is the thermoworks probe I use the most. While their basic Dot probe is cheaper this one reads to 0.1 so it is easier to see when the temperature is changing, has a built in timer, and shows the highest and lowest temperature so you can see what the max temperature was after a rest is. Not sure if they still do this but they would often send good specials on like new returns, closeout colors or dirty boxes for 25%+ off. Sign up to their email list and be patient for the better deals.

https://www.thermoworks.com/chefalarm/

One problem with "calibrating" a junk thermometer is it is only calibrated for that one temperature and all bets are off the farther you are away from that temp. If you try and calibrate at exactly 32 or 212 one of those numbers will usually be off at the other temperature.