Crappy magnetic thermometers

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Tel-tru are the coupe de gras of therms but pricy. I used one with my competition BBQ pit but with my stove I just want a little idea of what is going on. Just like to keep things similar from burn to burn and really never questioned the accuracy. Just not that big a deal. As mentioned above - the stove will tell you if it is running right or wrong.
 
One thing about those spring type thermometers like a rutland or condar, is the response time can be slower than other type thermometers.

So might take a little longer for it to heat up and read out the proper temp but then the stove is getting hotter and changing all the time so the spring type are not like an instant feed back devices.
 
I never realized a magnetic thermometer might be adjusted so as to try and represent the flu temp. I'm not sure if the one I'm using on my stove is a stovepipe or stovetop thermometer. Maybe my temp of 700 stovetop on occasion is actually lower. Would the easiest way to check be to put it in the oven?
 
On the other hand, one sometimes wonders how so many folks got along for so many years with no thermometers. Personally, I never used on until we bought our last stove. And I'll give another plus to the condar. We had some rutlands and threw them out.

Then one also has to realize that we aren't trying to keep a thermometer happy, we use the stove to warm our bodies and our homes. Let us never forget what we really want with a wood stove and that is nice heat.

I also run a Condar Medallion and it is always within 50 degrees of my IR gun.
 
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I have two of the Condar Inferno stovetop thermometers, that so many here like. Sitting side by side on the same stove, they always read 50 - 75 degrees different.

edit: I've tried swapping them in-situ... one is definitely reading lower than the other, not location-dependent.
 
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I played with a Tel-Tru and a bi-metal last year. They read pretty close. I swapped them side-to-side and the offset stayed on the same side.
[Hearth.com] Crappy magnetic thermometers [Hearth.com] Crappy magnetic thermometers
 
My Condar thermometer on the stove top is pretty close to the IR thermometer.
 
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