Kewl New toy.......errr...Tool

[TOMLESCOEQUIP]

I've needed one of these off & on for awhile & was too cheap to shell out $300 to the tool truck guy, so I took a chance & snagged one of these off Ebay:

Non-Contact Temp Gun Handheld Laser IR Thermometer







I needed to diagnose some malfunctioning gauges on a diesel end loader & this was just what I needed to determine actual engine temps. It actually is a fairly well built unit for the $$ spent. Here's a link to the one I bought:

Non-Contact Temp Gun

 

[rlk]

Tomlescoequip, be sure to read the instruction manual well.

I have one that I use for home inspections. The closer you are to the item you want to measure the temperature of, the more accurate the temp gun will be.

For example: in taking the temperature of a heating register, if I'm 6 feet away I'll get a different reading than if I'm 1 foot away. Apparently the temp gun reads the temperature in a cone, and the further away you are, the wider the cone is, therefore, the less accurate the reading.

If I'm only a foot away from the heating register, I get a pretty accurate reading as the cone only covers most of the heating register. If I'm 6 feet away, the cone is about 3 feet around, so not only am I taking the temp of the register, but anything else that is in the 3 foot circle. This gives a much less accurate temperature reading.

In my example: if the heating register is in the floor, the floor is usually much colder than the register, so the gun shows the averages of everything within the 3 foot circle when I only want the temperature of the register.

I hope all this makes sense. I know what I want to say, just have trouble putting it into words.

Bob

 

[TOMLESCOEQUIP]

Thanks Bob.

I'm using it within 1-2' on the machine I bought it to check, so I should be OK.
I took it home last evening & used it to get heat output temps on my pellet stove so I can compare differences in pellet brands I have available in my area.

I'm sure I'll find some other uses for it as time goes on.

Tom