Heater/Thermometer

[TheDudeAbides]

I have this thermometer and this Orlushy adjustable heater. They are always off by about 2°. The heater definitely keeps it regulated but not sure which one is more accurate. Any suggestions or tips to determine which, if either of them, is more reliable?

 

[Andy Sager]

2° is not really that much to be overly concerned about but if you really need to know , get yourself an old style internal thermometer ( I like the sinking kind) that goes inside the tank then compare. With what you are showing, that thermometer may be responding to external temps in the room which is affecting the temp of the glass which is why the temp difference. Again, 2° is not really something to be concerned about.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

2° is not really that much to be overly concerned about but if you really need to know , get yourself an old style internal thermometer ( I like the sinking kind) that goes inside the tank then compare. With what you are showing, that thermometer may be responding to external temps in the room which is affecting the temp of the glass which is why the temp difference. Again, 2° is not really something to be concerned about.

Never even thought about that. I figured since the probe is submerged in the water that it would be the most accurate, but hadn’t considered that since it’s suctioned to the inside glass it may read the glass temp a bit as well. I’ll look into the sinking type.

 

[Andy Sager]

Never even thought about that. I figured since the probe is submerged in the water that it would be the most accurate, but hadn’t considered that since it’s suctioned to the inside glass it may read the glass temp a bit as well. I’ll look into the sinking type.

Yeah, it's the simple things that get overlooked with our new "technological world." If you can't find a sinker, get a floater but not a hang on style. This way you can see temps at different parts of the tank.
Just a suggestion: if you go to a store to get the thermometer, look at all of them on the shelf or peg to see which ones agree with each other. A while back, I was in Walmart for a Thermometer and found that of the 6 that were on the peg, 3 of them agreed and 3 of them were all different numbers. I picked the one from the 3 that agreed. So don't just pick the first one on the peg or shelf.

 

[geraldatwork]

I have one of those instant meat thermometers. They are amazing. They work in less than 2 seconds. Great for water changes and making sure the tank temp is accurate. I just installed a Hitauing heater. It’s amazing. The control is outside the tank near the plug. The temperature of the tank never varies by more than 1 degree. Bought it 2 years ago and never put it in until last week.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Stupidly enough, it never crossed my mind to just change the battery in the thermometer. I’ve been using the one that it came with. Changed it the other day, and now it actually matches the temp readings on the heater. Sometimes we overlook the simplest things and go right to in depth troubleshooting lol. Thank you though!

 

[Andy Sager]

Stupidly enough, it never crossed my mind to just change the battery in the thermometer. I’ve been using the one that it came with. Changed it the other day, and now it actually matches the temp readings on the heater. Sometimes we overlook the simplest things and go right to in depth troubleshooting lol. Thank you though!

That's exactly what I meant about overlooking the simple things. Glad that's all it was. Most often is expired test reagents giving weird result. LOL People forget to check the dates.