Rant: Bought a $900 infrared thermometer for our cupola, readings never matched

Last spring I dropped $900 on a high end infrared thermometer for our cupola in Tulsa, thinking it would beat the cheap ones we used. The readings bounced all over the place compared to the thermocouple, sometimes off by 150 degrees on the same pour. My crew swore it was user error, but I sent it back after three test runs and we went back to the old method. Anyone else had better luck with those, or did I just get a dud?

2 comments

2 Comments

garcia.wren19d ago

...and that's exactly why I tell people those fancy guns are great for finding a hot spot on a wall, but they're a gamble on anything shiny or moving. We had a similar dance with one on a furnace flange a few years back, and it drove my foreman to cussing at the sun. The emissivity settings might as well be a magic spell for all the good they do when you're in a hurry and the metal is changing color. My money says yours wasn't a dud, just average, because the whole idea of reading a pour with one is like using a spoon to cut a steak. You got your money back, that's the win. Stick with the thermocouple and save yourself the headache.

mitchell.thomas19d ago

You ever get so used to a tool that you just assume everyone else is the problem? That was me with the IR gun, swearing by it for everything from pipe temps to motor housings. But hearing you lay out that furnace flange mess, and the whole spoon-to-steak comparison, yeah, that lands. I guess I never pushed mine on anything that moves or changes finish mid-read, so I figured the fuss was overblown. Guess I owe the old thermocouple an apology, it never lied to me once.